Thoughts on latest Jacobs column

[Gampeltiles]

Between the Big East and the AAC, only one is a terrible deal for the network- and it ain't the AAC.

Fox Sports buys out the AAC's current TV contract and fixes this. Stranger things have happened.

 

[pnow15]

I am still trying to figure out how you keep increasing revenue by shrinking fan bases. So, If you UConn dies as a power and UMass drops football and New England passes on Boston College(as it will do) how does ESPN make up for the millions of fans who no longer chose to follow college football and basketball and turn to the pros. This is not just a New England problem. Boise State fans, BYU fans, San Diego St fans, Tulane fans, Cincinnati fans, Nova fans, Georgetown fans, Army fans, Navy fans etc., etc. Many people like myself and most of you reading this will just say screw them and watch the Celts and the Sox and the Pats. This P-5 cartel will shrink the size of the college football market and may very well destroy the joy of the NCAA B-Ball tournament when smaller colleges can not recruit at a level to compete with semi-pros playing in the P-5. Cinderella will have been permanently deflowered. Right now ratings have been great because many college fans do not realize that their schools are about to be excluded from any meaningful competition based not on merit but on ESPN cash. When the crap hit the college fans, the backlash could be staggering for ratings. And don't be surprise if congress does not step into this mess with antitrust legislation as other networks Fox and CBS start to talk with their congressmen.

 

[pj]

I am still trying to figure out how you keep increasing revenue by shrinking fan bases. So, If you UConn dies as a power and UMass drops football and New England passes on Boston College(as it will do) how does ESPN make up for the millions of fans who no longer chose to follow college football and basketball and turn to the pros. This is not just a New England problem. Boise State fans, BYU fans, San Diego St fans, Tulane fans, Cincinnati fans, Nova fans, Georgetown fans, Army fans, Navy fans etc., etc. Many people like myself and most of you reading this will just say screw them and watch the Celts and the Sox and the Pats. This P-5 cartel will shrink the size of the college football market and may very well destroy the joy of the NCAA B-Ball tournament when smaller colleges can not recruit at a level to compete with semi-pros playing in the P-5. Cinderella will have been permanently deflowered. Right now ratings have been great because many college fans do not realize that their schools are about to be excluded from any meaningful competition based not on merit but on ESPN cash. When the crap hit the college fans, the backlash could be staggering for ratings. And don't be surprise if congress does not step into this mess with antitrust legislation as other networks Fox and CBS start to talk with their congressmen.

Not only that, but by depriving UConn of a place in their college athletics universe, they are depriving the state of Connecticut as a whole of its only local athletic rooting interest. Pro franchises are unsustainable here due to the nearby presence of New York and Boston, but UConn can be a dominant college sports program. No other equally large market has neither a pro nor P5 sports team.

I doubt Congress will step in but if UConn is left out, UConn and the state of Connecticut should file an antitrust lawsuit in Hartford to assure a friendly jury. Gene Defilippo's comments about intentionally keeping UConn out of the ACC (and hence the P5) in order to give BC a stronger position in New England are a smoking gun admission of anti-competitive intent.

UConn can point to investments and value in athletics on the order of $1 billion, and antitrust lawsuits can get treble punitive damages, so $4 bn is on the order of the magnitude of a potential lawsuit. Split among 65 P5 programs that would be $61 million each. I think just the credible threat of a lawsuit ought to get UConn an invite somewhere. If it doesn't, they should absolutely proceed. Just the discovery on all the P5 machinations would be fascinating.