UConn fans watch TV

[upstater]

I hope everyone here realizes that the only reason we get to see UConn play each and every game is because SNY is paying ESPN the significant rights fees to broadcast to this market. If you look at Cuse and PC and fans from the other conferences, there's a lot of grousing about not being able to watch the games.

What does it come down to? Why does SNY pay up for UConn, when other cable stations won't do the same for the schools they sometimes cover (i.e. CNY or NESN)?

I'd love to see the cable ratings for the 6 pm Firday games (ESPN2 v. FS1) but that's a tough time. You're either at happy hour, stuck in traffic, or making dinner for the kids.

 

[Rumrunner]

Also, while it's beating the dead horse, the AAC is raking in UCONN's share of women's basketball revenue. SNY is now just paying ESPN instead of UCONN.

UCONN's deal with SNY ($1.2 million/year) has effectively been assigned to ESPN. SNY put out a release basically stating that. Curiously, the article by the women's beat writer for the Courant doesn't mention who gets the money.

This should be known as Manuel's $1 million blunder.

http://articles.courant.com/2013-11...20131107_1_uconn-women-sny-cbs-sports-network

The day UConn joined the American Athletic Conference, its four-year deal with SNY to televise men's and women's basketball and its related content ended.

"There was a clause in the original deal stating that if UConn joined another conference during the term [four years], then [the deal] would be null and void," UConn spokesman Patrick McKenna said.

http://articles.courant.com/2013-11...20131107_1_uconn-women-sny-cbs-sports-network

Now this excuse doesn't add up. UCONN didn't join a new conference. If anything has been shown, UCONN is in the same conference as before, just with a new name. That was a big factor in the exit fee dispute. The former Big East teams left.

The ability to monetize UCONN's tv brand has been a big failing on Manuel's part. UCONN is the only school in the AAC that can command subscriber rates, yet Manuel was unable/unwilling/clueless to get some carve out from the AAC.

There's no question that with the ratings share that UCONN receives in Connecticut, plus its nat'l appeal, that ESPN is making a ton of money off UCONN. UCONN's share of AAC tv revenue is $2 million a year.

This is the worst deal in sports.

There is nothing UCONN can do about it now. However, I really hope that someone in the AD is looking ahead to when the contract with ESPN is up for renewal and will be ready to do something creative and smart for UCONN's benefit.

 

[arnie3]

I hope everyone here realizes that the only reason we get to see UConn play each and every game is because SNY is paying ESPN the significant rights fees to broadcast to this market. If you look at Cuse and PC and fans from the other conferences, there's a lot of grousing about not being able to watch the games.

What does it come down to? Why does SNY pay up for UConn, when other cable stations won't do the same for the schools they sometimes cover (i.e. CNY or NESN)?

I'd love to see the cable ratings for the 6 pm Firday games (ESPN2 v. FS1) but that's a tough time. You're either at happy hour, stuck in traffic, or making dinner for the kids.

Same grumbling on the Kansas board. The ratings must be good for men and women.

 

[upstater]

Also, while it's beating the dead horse, the AAC is raking in UCONN's share of women's basketball revenue. SNY is now just paying ESPN instead of UCONN.

UCONN's deal with SNY ($1.2 million/year) has effectively been assigned to ESPN. SNY put out a release basically stating that. Curiously, the article by the women's beat writer for the Courant doesn't mention who gets the money.

This should be known as Manuel's $1 million blunder.

http://articles.courant.com/2013-11...20131107_1_uconn-women-sny-cbs-sports-network

The day UConn joined the American Athletic Conference, its four-year deal with SNY to televise men's and women's basketball and its related content ended.

"There was a clause in the original deal stating that if UConn joined another conference during the term [four years], then [the deal] would be null and void," UConn spokesman Patrick McKenna said.

http://articles.courant.com/2013-11...20131107_1_uconn-women-sny-cbs-sports-network

Now this excuse doesn't add up. UCONN didn't join a new conference. If anything has been shown, UCONN is in the same conference as before, just with a new name. That was a big factor in the exit fee dispute. The former Big East teams left.

The ability to monetize UCONN's tv brand has been a big failing on Manuel's part. UCONN is the only school in the AAC that can command subscriber rates, yet Manuel was unable/unwilling/clueless to get some carve out from the AAC.

There's no question that with the ratings share that UCONN receives in Connecticut, plus its nat'l appeal, that ESPN is making a ton of money off UCONN. UCONN's share of AAC tv revenue is $2 million a year.

This is the worst deal in sports.

There is nothing UCONN can do about it now. However, I really hope that someone in the AD is looking ahead to when the contract with ESPN is up for renewal and will be ready to do something creative and smart for UCONN's benefit.

With the way these TV deals are written, then UConn's change to the AAC is perceived as a new c0nference, because the deals are written according to how many teams leave/stay. In any case, the AAC would be considered new whether it's the same conference or not.

Now the question becomes, since SNY voided the deal (astonishing, given the very high ratings) why couldn't UConn renew it?

One answer might be that ESPN gave word to SNY that it was raising rates on subbed games. But wait: ESPN didn't own the rights to UConn women's games.

So.... Aresco sold away the women's rights. To ESPN. After promising he wouldn't do such a thing (i.e. he acknowledged that the UConn women had value that the rest of the conference simply did not give). If that is true, then Aresco screwed UConn, and ESPN is now reaping big profita by getting that $2 million a year instead of UConn.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

With the way these TV deals are written, then UConn's change to the AAC is perceived as a new c0nference, because the deals are written according to how many teams leave/stay. In any case, the AAC would be considered new whether it's the same conference or not.

Now the question becomes, since SNY voided the deal (astonishing, given the very high ratings) why couldn't UConn renew it?

One answer might be that ESPN gave word to SNY that it was raising rates on subbed games. But wait: ESPN didn't own the rights to UConn women's games.

So.... Aresco sold away the women's rights. To ESPN. After promising he wouldn't do such a thing (i.e. he acknowledged that the UConn women had value that the rest of the conference simply did not give). If that is true, then Aresco screwed UConn, and ESPN is now reaping big profita by getting that $2 million a year instead of UConn.

How could Aresco sell rights that never were the property of the Old Big East? Unless the folks at Storrs ceded those rights to the league.
Shouldn't someone in the state legislature have oversite.

 

[upstater]

How could Aresco sell rights that never were the property of the Old Big East? Unless the folks at Storrs ceded those rights to the league.
Shouldn't someone in the state legislature have oversite.

Well, I suppose, UConn could have seceded from the AAC at that point under no penalty of exit, since those rights were never part of the old contract. But the teams collectively have the right to determine what rights they will sell. It's not a matter of each school deciding.

So, what I want to know is, what changed? Because Aresco 6 months ago was talking about UConn's special situation with women's bball and that it had to be taken into account.

 

[CL82]

I suspect that those rights weren't included previously because no one thought they had value. We got them the way you give your buddy the raisins your mom packed in your lunch. The SNY deal established that they had value so ESPN included them in the new deal.

 

[upstater]

I suspect that those rights weren't included previously because no one thought they had value. We got them the way you give your buddy the raisons your mom packed in your lunch. The SNY deal established that they had value so ESPN included them in the new deal.

Great point, CL82. They basically grabbed UConn's $1.8m a year and said, "Give me that s---."

And the state pols look on.

 

[ctchamps]

Disagree. UConn appeared to be heading to the ACC and that didn't turn out. The Catholic schools opted to break away. Maintaining the last thee football schools, USF, Cincinnati and UConn as the remaining BE schools allowed for the trade off that took place in which the Catholic schools got the name of the BE and the three last BE schools got the revenues that the BE had in their coffers.

Because it was publicly known that UConn's intentions were not loyal to BE members, UConn was prudent in allocating its monies from the SNY deal to ESPN to get favorable (relative to many other conferences) opportunities for the AAC to be on ESPN and get more national exposure. This helped all the schools that elected to make up the AAC (which really is the BE with a name change whereas the BE is really a new conference which bought the BE name). So the real calculation has to be the net revenues UConn received from the old rendition of the BE (NCAA monies from tournaments plus monies universities had to pay the BE to leave early) minus the loss of monies they formally received from SNY.

 

[upstater]

Disagree. UConn appeared to be heading to the ACC and that didn't turn out. The Catholic schools opted to break away. Maintaining the last thee football schools, USF, Cincinnati and UConn as the remaining BE schools allowed for the trade off that took place in which the Catholic schools got the name of the BE and the three last BE schools got the revenues that the BE had in their coffers.

Because it was publicly known that UConn's intentions were not loyal to BE members, UConn was prudent in allocating its monies from the SNY deal to ESPN to get favorable (relative to many other conferences) opportunities for the AAC to be on ESPN and get more national exposure. This helped all the schools that elected to make up the AAC (which really is the BE with a name change whereas the BE is really a new conference which bought the BE name). So the real calculation has to be the net revenues UConn received from the old rendition of the BE (NCAA monies from tournaments plus monies universities had to pay the BE to leave early) minus the loss of monies they formally received from SNY.

The money is lower regardless.

But this is almost irrelevant to the fact that this issue was openly talked about by both Aresco and Manuel as one in which UConn was insisting on maintaining its women's revenues. Somewhere, somehow, something went horribly wrong.

 

[WestHartHusk]

The money is lower regardless.

But this is almost irrelevant to the fact that this issue was openly talked about by both Aresco and Manuel as one in which UConn was insisting on maintaining its women's revenues. Somewhere, somehow, something went horribly wrong.

I would just like to reiterate here that I have been calling Aresco a liar since day 1. I have seen his type a hundred types: all talk, no results, paid like he gets results, gets promoted because he gets paid like he gets results. Only after he leaves do you realize you have been duped. This guy has been UConn since the jump, yet the University goes ahead and honors this clown with an award.

 

[B1GEast]

Once we leave the AAC, this will all be a mute point

 

[ctchamps]

The money is lower regardless.

But this is almost irrelevant to the fact that this issue was openly talked about by both Aresco and Manuel as one in which UConn was insisting on maintaining its women's revenues. Somewhere, somehow, something went horribly wrong.

The distribution for the next four years is close to 16 million/yr plus the lousy ESPN 1.2 mill deal, but that never happens if USF, Cinci and UConn don't stick together and that doesn't happen if no one accepts an invite into the old rendition of the BE. It probably was a trade off agreement by all parties. Certainly USF and Cinci didn't have to give up anything to get the same distribution as UConn, but UConn came out net plus all things considered. And maybe Cinci and USF worked something out with UConn regarding the distributions because of the SNY loss. I don't buy that UConn got screwed by Aresco or Warde. It got hurt by all the CR that passed them by but given what options were remaining the deal made was optimized.

 

[upstater]

The distribution for the next four years is close to 16 million/yr plus the lousy ESPN 1.2 mill deal, but that never happens if USF, Cinci and UConn don't stick together and that doesn't happen if no one accepts an invite into the old rendition of the BE. It probably was a trade off agreement by all parties. Certainly USF and Cinci didn't have to give up anything to get the same distribution as UConn, but UConn came out net plus all things considered. And maybe Cinci and USF worked something out with UConn regarding the distributions because of the SNY loss. I don't buy that UConn got screwed by Aresco or Warde. It got hurt by all the CR that passed them by but given what options were remaining the deal made was optimized.

Ah, it won't be $16 million a year. UConn, USF and Cincy are splitting $60 million over 7 years.

I'm just saying that this deal is 100% the opposite of what Warde and Aresco publically promised.

 

[AtlHusky]

...this will all be a mute point

I hear that point loud and clear! (I think you meant moot point )

And while we're on the subject, anyone else think it's time for bigeastconf to take on a new moniker?

 

[ctchamps]

Ah, it won't be $16 million a year. UConn, USF and Cincy are splitting $60 million over 7 years.

I'm just saying that this deal is 100% the opposite of what Warde and Aresco publically promised.

The total of 6o mill a combo of NCAA distributions and buy outs by departing members?

 

[upstater]

The total of 6o mill a combo of NCAA distributions and buy outs by departing members?

It was 100 million, the league took a huge chunk, gave 10 million to the new members, then left 60 for the old BE 3. That's exit fees and NCAA credits.

 

[B1GEast]

I hear that point loud and clear! (I think you meant moot point )

And while we're on the subject, anyone else think it's time for bigeastconf to take on a new moniker?

mute, moot, you're correct. If I change the BE name, I'll have to start from scratch on the board

 

[CL82]

Once we leave the AAC, this will all be a mute point

Once I win at MegaMillions, I won't need to work, until then...