SNY ratings up

[upstater]

UCONN and Missouri definitely before WVU, but WVU would be considered too. Does Texas have any kind of a historical rivalry with anyone in the Big Ten besides Nebraska? WVU does, with some of those rivalries going back 100 years.

WVU doesn't cut it academically--would not be considered.

 

[dayooper]

UCONN and Missouri definitely before WVU, but WVU would be considered too. Does Texas have any kind of a historical rivalry with anyone in the Big Ten besides Nebraska? WVU does, with some of those rivalries going back 100 years.

Not sure any WVU rivalry, except the Backyard brawl, would register on the the Big10's list. Even the Brawl wouldn't be enough to get WVU into the Big10. I'm also confident that the academic differences would rule out WVU from the Big10 too. I know USNWR isn't the best indicator of rating, but the difference between WVU and the next lowest school (Nebraska) is pretty big (WVU is 183 and Nebraska is 110). The population of WVU is pretty small too (1.9 million).

 

[Seaa Blue]

You beat me to it @dayooper. You're also showing much more patience with this. Well done.

Anyone would take Texas (except if "strings attached" is an issue), rivalries, or not.

 

[uconnfan68]

UCONN and Missouri definitely before WVU, but WVU would be considered too. Does Texas have any kind of a historical rivalry with anyone in the Big Ten besides Nebraska? WVU does, with some of those rivalries going back 100 years.

Why on earth would Missouri consider leaving the SEC? What am I missing?

 

[Ldandy]

UCONN and Missouri definitely before WVU, but WVU would be considered too. Does Texas have any kind of a historical rivalry with anyone in the Big Ten besides Nebraska? WVU does, with some of those rivalries going back 100 years.

As a fan I would be in favor of adding WVU to The B1G. They bring good football and basketball to any conference and would have ready made rivalries with PSU, UMD, RU, and OSU. That said fans don't make these decisions, and to those that do they would have no shot. Weak research/academics and far too small of a population to make monetizing cable boxes pay off for The BTN. Both Missouri and Uconn would be way ahead of WVU, but no one would come before UT. Despite all of their baggage they bring an academic pedigree and the population of a smallish country. Simply too much money to ignore.

 

[huskyniner]

Concerning the women's team, but relevant nonetheless.

From SI.com: Who will replace Chris Berman on Sunday Countdown?

2. Along with its otherworldly success on the court—106 consecutive wins as of this writing—the UConn women’s basketball team has found an unexpected audience in New York City. SNY (the home of the New York Mets) aired 17 of UConn’s 29 regular season games this season and the network said that live game viewership set a record in the New York City market. For the season, the UConn women averaged an 0.42 household rating in New York, breaking the previous high by 83% and beating the men’s college basketball teams that air on competitors MSG Network and YES Network. “I think what we saw this year somewhat unexpected is the growth outside of Connecticut,” said SNY president Steve Raab. “Based on the feedback we get, the winning streak has transcended the sports fan in New York.”

SNY officials said SNY has approximately 50 people working on its UConn women’s programming, including season-long shows, and a reporter who will travel with the team during the postseason. That’s an impressive number given ESPN gets UConn’s highest-profile games given its college basketball contracts.​

 

[IMind]

To go back to the $50 million per year B1G number... my thought is that's a ceiling. You're seeing the high water mark for B1G. If ratings and results become more important in a revenue model that isn't based strictly on the raw numbers of cable boxes. If it becomes more important for the content to actually be watched then an AD like UConn becomes more valuable.

This is all fantasy at this point and it's contingent on UConn having winning basketball and football programs.... but that's a world in which UConn may be able to get in to a P5.

If things stay the same then I think the best we can hope for is to join what's left of the Big 12 if Texas and/or Oklahoma are invited to another conference. Actually my semi-plausible pie in the sky scenario is that UConn is the second school that gets into the B1G when they add Texas in 2024.

 

[Ldandy]

To go back to the $50 million per year B1G number... my thought is that's a ceiling. You're seeing the high water mark for B1G. If ratings and results become more important in a revenue model that isn't based strictly on the raw numbers of cable boxes. If it becomes more important for the content to actually be watched then an AD like UConn becomes more valuable.

This is all fantasy at this point and it's contingent on UConn having winning basketball and football programs.... but that's a world in which UConn may be able to get in to a P5.

If things stay the same then I think the best we can hope for is to join what's left of the Big 12 if Texas and/or Oklahoma are invited to another conference. Actually my semi-plausible pie in the sky scenario is that UConn is the second school that gets into the B1G when they add Texas in 2024.

Good post. I agree that The B1G is at its high water mark for revenue generation under the current model. It is unrealistic for conferences to believe that they can continue to land these ridiculously high paying deals beyond the near term. Where is the value to the guy writing the check? If you compare the ROI of the current AAC Deal versus the current Big 12 Deal it is quite eye opening.

I think the turning away from these mega deals will come when both The PAC and Big 12 try to negotiate their next contracts. The value in ratings simply does not back up the dollars being expended by ESPN/Fox for these products. JMO but I think the low balling of bids on the next generation of deals could set off the next wave of realignment/consolidation.

I agree that content and content generators will become more important in the new media future. Those conferences capable of producing and controlling their own content will have a major advantage over their competitors in the next phase. This is where I believe The B1g has positioned itself well ahead of everyone else. Sure The PAC owns its own network, but distribution is spotty, and interest in the product is low. The ACC and SEC have deals, but they are entirely dependent on ESPN. The B1G has distribution, partial ownership, and a product that sells. They have the winning formula.

The idea that they signed a shorter term Tier 1/2 Deal than their competition was quite telling as well. This allows them flexibility to explore all distribution avenues much quicker than their competitors, and to potentially retain more quality programming that they can market direct to consumers via The BTN and their BTN+ streaming service. This is where a school like Uconn with quality content to provide could become highly valuable asset to The B1G IMO. Obviously these are big ifs, but if The Big 12 implodes, it is entirely possible that OU/OSU or OU/KU could end up in The SEC. If that occurred Uconn would make a great partner for UT under this new media model.

 

[businesslawyer]

The real question is whether, when told that Big Ten/Pac Ten/SEC revenues are going to go down with renewals, the Michigans and 'Bamas and USCs say "o.k." Or whether they do the one thing left to drive per team revenues up, which is to either (i) form their own national mega conference, or (ii) threaten to do so to get the Vandys and Northwesterns and Wash States to take less than a pro rata share.

 

[Seaa Blue]

The real question is whether, when told that Big Ten/Pac Ten/SEC revenues are going to go down with renewals, the Michigans and 'Bamas and USCs say "o.k." Or whether they do the one thing left to drive per team revenues up, which is to either (i) form their own national mega conference, or (ii) threaten to do so to get the Vandys and Northwesterns and Wash States to take less than a pro rata share.

Highly unlikely in the Big Ten that the distribution would change. As important as athletics are, it's still just a fraction of the overall budget and the "have's" will also tend to have far greater expenses to go with the revenue. So I think all is well.

If the SEC wants to do a super-mega club deal with Texas and friends, I could see the Big Ten saying "that's not us." on the other hand, if the Big 12 crumbles I'm not so sure that the Big Ten stays on the sideline.

 

[Sea Goat]

The real question is whether, when told that Big Ten/Pac Ten/SEC revenues are going to go down with renewals, the Michigans and 'Bamas and USCs say "o.k." Or whether they do the one thing left to drive per team revenues up, which is to either (i) form their own national mega conference, or (ii) threaten to do so to get the Vandys and Northwesterns and Wash States to take less than a pro rata share.

I agree if the paradigm shift takes hold, content (thus ratings) become paramount. In that scenario the weak players in the P-5 have to accept less than their more highly "rated" or "valuable"conference mates. But if that is going to happen, I think their will be an effort for a total re-shuffling of the deck in P-5 and the dregs of each P-5 conference will necessarily be second class citizens or left out completely. Trouble is that with GOR's in place it's going to be hard to dislodge some weak players for a long time.