Non-Key Tweets

[superjohn]

Because they don’t pay crap and they are only respected by fans of teams in the league. Unfortunately The other major conferences get the prime broadcasting. BE doesn’t get much respect.

First part is true but second part is bullcr^p, basketball fans around the country absolutely respect the Big East.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Okay - I didn't want to but I must respond to this drivel... In point of fact, the ACC was playing chess and the Big East and their PC overlords were playing checkers. Marinatto (RIP) was totally out flanked by Swofford and ESPN. Being a product of the PC athletic department, he had zero interest or experience with football. There was no recognition regarding the supremacy of football and how that impacted TV deals. But, how could there be? Marinatto was third straight PC guy at the helm of the conference. Sadly, He was clueless and as a result the BE imploded.

I am tired of these ignorant takes banning the conference going away on one guy.

BCU and Miami tried to kill off the Big East, and got a lot of help from the ACC and ESPN. There was literally nothing anyone in the Big East could have done to handle it better than they did. Despite the betrayal, the Big East was able to add a lot of programs with potential and survive as a BCS conference.

 

[noeynox]

First part is true but second part is bullcr^p, basketball fans around the country absolutely respect the Big East.

Big East is the real deal. Once UConn came back and relieved Nova of having to to do all the heavy lifting, the league regained its legitmacy.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Because they don’t pay crap and they are only respected by fans of teams in the league. Unfortunately The other major conferences get the prime broadcasting. BE doesn’t get much respect.

Literally NO ONE THAT MATTERS thinks "prime broadcasting" is going to be a thing for much longer. And I am using "literally" correctly when I say that.

 

[goldendomer]

First part is true but second part is bullcr^p, basketball fans around the country absolutely respect the Big East.

Big East basketball is my favorite to watch. Of course I watch ND in the ACC, but I miss playing those schools.

 

[pj]

After reading Trev Alberts' interview, we should be a hard pass on any offer to join the Big 12 that is not a full share or very close to it. Literally no one in the industry thinks these media deals are sustainable, so why would UConn leave a conference that works for us to join a far flung league of misfits and castoffs that will be scrounging for dollars by the end of the decade, unless we are getting paid to do it?

You have to look at a deal holistically. You don't pass on an offer solely based on a revenue number. If the money is low, but higher than Big East money, you demand that the exit fee be even lower. You get the B12 competition and profile for football, raise the university's stature and prove its worth, and be prepared to exit as soon as there is a better deal. With ACC disruption, that will come. As soon as there is a threat to move, you can negotiate to normalize the B12 payments or make the jump.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You have to look at a deal holistically. You don't pass on an offer solely based on a revenue number. If the money is low, but higher than Big East money, you demand that the exit fee be even lower. You get the B12 competition and profile for football, raise the university's stature and prove its worth, and be prepared to exit as soon as there is a better deal. With ACC disruption, that will come. As soon as there is a threat to move, you can negotiate to normalize the B12 payments or make the jump.

The Big East is going to lower the exit fee if we are not making enough in the Big 12? That logic makes no sense at all.

Alberts is not the only one that thinks that football will split off from the other sports. If that happens, then isn’t the Big East the best option for our other sports?

 

[JohnFSilver]

It is precisely responsive to a bunch of old men arguing that female athletes should just deal with the consequences of a conference alignment decision that was made with absolutely no regard for them.

I think there is a case there for this.

 

[superjohn]

I think there is a case there for this.

Why are you playing along with him?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Literally NO ONE THAT MATTERS thinks "prime broadcasting" is going to be a thing for much longer. And I am using "literally" correctly when I say that.

It isn’t going to go away as fast as you think, or likely ever. The TV spectrum is still out there and very valuable. We know from ratings that sports on streaming only get a fraction of the viewers as sports on linear. Yes, it’s probably coming over time, but it will still be important when these TV deals are over.

 

[hoopsfan22]

It isn’t going to go away as fast as you think, or likely ever. The TV spectrum is still out there and very valuable. We know from ratings that sports on streaming only get a fraction of the viewers as sports on linear. Yes, it’s probably coming over time, but it will still be important when these TV deals are over.

Streaming sports is still too painful from subpar production quality to the crap MLB is pulling and it's only going to get worse. If that's the future, then sports are screwed except for a very narrow minority of truly diehard fans who will jump through all of the hoops and pay up to see every game.

 

[CL82]

Streaming sports is still too painful from subpar production quality to the crap MLB is pulling and it's only going to get worse. If that's the future, then sports are screwed except for a very narrow minority of truly diehard fans who will jump through all of the hoops and pay up to see every game.

I've watched UConn baseball on UConn +. It's a decent broadcast. As streaming becomes more commonplace you will see better commentators and production values. UConn among many others, has shown it can be done.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I've watched UConn baseball on UConn +. It's a decent broadcast. As streaming becomes more commonplace you will see better commentators and production values. UConn among many others, has shown it can be done.

I find the spreading out of games onto exclusive services the bigger pain which is what MLB is doing this season: some games on MLB.tv, some are just blacked out so you better have cable, some on Apple TV, some on Peacock, etc. I guess MLB makes more money by selling the parts than just selling the whole package of games. Reminds me of the B1G's new TV contract in spreading out the games to every major network because they could rake in more money than just selling half the games to ESPN and the other half to Fox/BTN.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I find the spreading out of games onto exclusive services the bigger pain which is what MLB is doing this season: some games on MLB.tv, some are just blacked out so you better have cable, some on Apple TV, some on Peacock, etc. I guess MLB makes more money by selling the parts than just selling the whole package of games. Reminds me of the B1G's new TV contract in spreading out the games to every major network because they could rake in more money than just selling half the games to ESPN and the other half to Fox/BTN.

That's the game. Production quality is fine if they want it to be. The issue is achieving universality of access. The network TV channels have it. ESPN has it. FSI falls just short of it. Everything else? Peacock isn't going to have it. Paramount+ isn't going to have it. Hulu isn't going to have it. Apple isn't either. Amazon is closer. The theory is: people want all of X team's games and so will sign up for 3-4 streaming services. No. They won't.

I said it before in these threads, the reason live sports is so valuable is because it's the only thing people watch live. Everything else is DVR or streamed at the time of your choosing. That makes live sports the most valuable thing for advertising supported platforms. It's much less valuable to a subscription-based platform. We've seen that people have very low tolerance for subscription + ads. MLS works better because soccer struggles with advertising compared to U.S. sports with stoppages.

TNT/TBS cover the NCAA tournament free to all of us, with heavy advertising. Let's say Amazon buys those rights. It will need to sell ad space, because that's the value of live sports. I expect Apple and Amazon to come out with a free tier access to the platform. Put the non-advertising supported content behind a pay tier, but broadcast the advertising supported content to anyone on the app. That's what they have to do. In some respects they have that with Fire TV and Apple TV, but they don't have a free "channel".

 

[CL82]

I find the spreading out of games onto exclusive services the bigger pain which is what MLB is doing this season: some games on MLB.tv, some are just blacked out so you better have cable, some on Apple TV, some on Peacock, etc. I guess MLB makes more money by selling the parts than just selling the whole package of games. Reminds me of the B1G's new TV contract in spreading out the games to every major network because they could rake in more money than just selling half the games to ESPN and the other half to Fox/BTN.

Yeah I hear you are. It certainly makes hopping around during the game a little more challenging. Eventually though they will all likely be part of your integrated television menu (without separate signs) and thus not harder to access than different channels on cable.

Has anyone downloaded Yukon plus onto their TV. I tried but couldn't gHas anyone downloaded UConn+ onto their TV. I tried but couldn't get it. My LH is notoriously "dumb" as smart TVs go though.

 

[UConnJim]

That's the game. Production quality is fine if they want it to be. The issue is achieving universality of access. The network TV channels have it. ESPN has it. FSI falls just short of it. Everything else? Peacock isn't going to have it. Paramount+ isn't going to have it. Hulu isn't going to have it. Apple isn't either. Amazon is closer. The theory is: people want all of X team's games and so will sign up for 3-4 streaming services. No. They won't.

I said it before in these threads, the reason live sports is so valuable is because it's the only thing people watch live. Everything else is DVR or streamed at the time of your choosing. That makes live sports the most valuable thing for advertising supported platforms. It's much less valuable to a subscription-based platform. We've seen that people have very low tolerance for subscription + ads. MLS works better because soccer struggles with advertising compared to U.S. sports with stoppages.

TNT/TBS cover the NCAA tournament free to all of us, with heavy advertising. Let's say Amazon buys those rights. It will need to sell ad space, because that's the value of live sports. I expect Apple and Amazon to come out with a free tier access to the platform. Put the non-advertising supported content behind a pay tier, but broadcast the advertising supported content to anyone on the app. That's what they have to do. In some respects they have that with Fire TV and Apple TV, but they don't have a free "channel".

The world is changing quickly and I don't think people understand the changes. There are 200 million Amazon Prime members globally with ~150 million Prime members in the US. With Prime, you get Prime Video for free. There are approximately 124 million TV households in the US, so Prime Video already has the ability to reach at least the same number of TV households in the US.

Prime Video showed 15 NFL Thursday Night football games (with commercials) last year and the average viewership was ~10 million. And, the median age of the viewers was the lowest for the NFL since 2013. I would call Prime Video's first NFL season a success.

ESPN currently has about 74 million subscribers versus a peak of 100 million and the decline continues at ~1 million subscribers per Q. That is why ESPN has pushed ESPN+ to try to stabilize the subscriber base and it is why ESPN is trying to partner with sports leagues to stabilize their content. And, yes, all games streamed on ESPN+ and Amazon include commercials.

 

[BlueandOG]

The world is changing quickly and I don't think people understand the changes. There are 200 million Amazon Prime members globally with ~150 million Prime members in the US. With Prime, you get Prime Video for free. There are approximately 124 million TV households in the US, so Prime Video already has the ability to reach at least the same number of TV households in the US.

Prime Video showed 15 NFL Thursday Night football games (with commercials) last year and the average viewership was ~10 million. And, the median age of the viewers was the lowest for the NFL since 2013. I would call Prime Video's first NFL season a success.

ESPN currently has about 74 million subscribers versus a peak of 100 million and the decline continues at ~1 million subscribers per Q. That is why ESPN has pushed ESPN+ to try to stabilize the subscriber base and it is why ESPN is trying to partner with sports leagues to stabilize their content. And, yes, all games streamed on ESPN+ and Amazon include commercials.

Excellent description! Let’s hope someone at UConn is planning for this

 

[Forte]

 

[hoopsfan22]

Speaking of Prime... does anyone know what the speed and fees are for shipping if you don't have Prime? Thinking of dumping it, but not if it means my packages cost $15 and a week a to get to me.

 

[Revrat]

The only reason this is out there is to push the PAC 4 to the Big 12. Otherwise, just announce the deal. same as all the previous rumors. I'm not even sure how SDSU pays to get out of the setup that they just renewed.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The world is changing quickly and I don't think people understand the changes. There are 200 million Amazon Prime members globally with ~150 million Prime members in the US. With Prime, you get Prime Video for free. There are approximately 124 million TV households in the US, so Prime Video already has the ability to reach at least the same number of TV households in the US.

Prime Video showed 15 NFL Thursday Night football games (with commercials) last year and the average viewership was ~10 million. And, the median age of the viewers was the lowest for the NFL since 2013. I would call Prime Video's first NFL season a success.

ESPN currently has about 74 million subscribers versus a peak of 100 million and the decline continues at ~1 million subscribers per Q. That is why ESPN has pushed ESPN+ to try to stabilize the subscriber base and it is why ESPN is trying to partner with sports leagues to stabilize their content. And, yes, all games streamed on ESPN+ and Amazon include commercials.

Sure, and Prime got there because they offered free shipping on Amazon orders. That's how they built that subscriber base. But they also have a FireTV user base. Apple has an Apple TV user base and an Apple+ user base. What Apple and Amazon have in common is that they are platforms. You can get STARZ, BBC, AMC+, MAX, Showtime, and dozens more via Prime, plus rent movies in the rental market. Apple+ does the same thing. It's meant as a Hub for where you consume everything, not just Apple+. But Apple doesn't have the free shipping hook and other benefits (books etc.) that Prime has.

 

[upstater]

The only reason this is out there is to push the PAC 4 to the Big 12. Otherwise, just announce the deal. same as all the previous rumors. I'm not even sure how SDSU pays to get out of the setup that they just renewed.

Why would they need a push?

 

[JeepCSC]

Prime's solo Thursday Night telecast was still significantly (~30%) lower than the previous year's which was available on Fox/NFL network/Prime. It wasn't disastrous all things considered. But there are still hurdles to overcome for the foreseeable future.

 

[Revrat]

Speaking of Prime... does anyone know what the speed and fees are for shipping if you don't have Prime? Thinking of dumping it, but not if it means my packages cost $15 and a week a to get to me.

Why would they need a push?

Are they there yet? The way it looks to me is that every time we are about to get a bid it leaks and someone else jumps. Been like that since this all started. Especially with the Big 12. seems like that's their way of saying last chance to jump to anyone else that might be hoping for something bigger but maybe willing to jump if they get spooked as a last resort. It's not like anyone else from the PAC really was excited about the big 12. They went as far as saying they didn't want it then a few days later they were all over it.

 

[bendm]

this might be his best one yet.

what makes the AAC more appealing than the MW to the PAC4? once the pac4 merges with MW and renegotiates its tv deal they can just poach Rice and Tulane and/or SMU.