Why is Texas flirting with the ACC?

[businesslawyer]

The best way to go would be for the Big East to add MD and BCU to the status quo.

And the best way for you to go to bed happy tonight would be to sleep with a supermodel. You got a plan?

 

[uconnbaseball]

Totally disagree. Joining the ACC would kill UConn sports. We need to stay with other northeast teams.

Chances are that Pitt, West Virginia, Syracuse, etc would also be courted by the ACC. I could see all five "northeastern" football-playing schools in the Big East getting an invitation to the ACC if they lose a member.

Would that make you feel better?

 

[noeynox]

And the best way for you to go to bed happy tonight would be to sleep with a supermodel. You got a plan?

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth"-Mike Tyson

Don't know what made me think of that.

 

[RS9999X]

The problem with the LHN is the major contract holders televise all but 1 or 2 their games. The only way ESPN can make the network work (at the price they want) is by withholding the games from ESPN in Texas. Both parties are looking for an exit.

The Pac-12 did a regional thing. There will be a national network along with six regional channels: Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Southern California, Arizona and Mountain.

This makes more sense: local fans get all their team games except for the National Games.

Now the LHN is adding minor Texas football teams (UTSA and maybe Houston) to try to get placement. The skinny: they bungled the whole deal and are in face-saving mode. As is TAMU.

 

[baggerbob]

From an orange fan, it really doesn't matter which superconference we end up in as long as pitt, syr,uconn,lou are together. All 4 schools will get better in football and whatever conference we're in will automatically become the best basketball conference.

 

[Vowelguy]

Chances are that Pitt, West Virginia, Syracuse, etc would also be courted by the ACC. I could see all five "northeastern" football-playing schools in the Big East getting an invitation to the ACC if they lose a member.

Would that make you feel better?

I don't see the ACC taking on another bad basketball school (eg, Rutgers). I think it'd be Syracuse first, then Pitt/ Louisville / UConn.

 

[Nostical]

I do sleep with a supermodel. I also think UConn pairs with Syracuse, Rutgers and Pitt wherever they land. Oh and yes, I do believe Susan Herbst will take us to the promised land.

 

[UConner]

True, like Mongo, ACC just pawn in game of life.

Great Line, Great Movie...

 

[sportsart]

I do sleep with a supermodel.

Make sure your cell phone doesn't get hacked. Oh wait....I already got pics of her. (grin) See you tomorrow.

 

[Waquoit]

And the best way for you to go to bed happy tonight would be to sleep with a supermodel. You got a plan?

The plan is for the ACC to fall apart after FSU and Clemson join the SEC.

 

[gars44]

And the best way for you to go to bed happy tonight would be to sleep with a supermodel. You got a plan?

Man o man! LOL.

 

[gars44]

I'm all in for TX to the ACC. 100%. Let it shine, baby. Look, Tex is going to need a place to park the Olympic sports. And bball. If/when the b12 explodes, where does Tex go? They want to look east, not west. Eastern time zone, not west. I think it's even money to the ACC. ACC/ESPN have already figured out a way to let Bevo keep the LHN. Death of a conference.

 

[uconnbill]

Sorry you are clueless on this. The ACC doesn't have the pull you, and Swafford thinks it does. No way UConn gets left out with the New Hampshire's of the world.

NEC, NEC, NEC. When West Virginia jumps and Pitt starts looking around and even Broadcast U, that will leave UConn poised with such Northeastern powers as Temple, Villanova, UMass, New Hampshire, etc.

Big time. Big conference. And the ACC and UConn are mutually strengthened in hoops.

 

[FDNY99]

The plan is for the ACC to fall apart after FSU and Clemson join the SEC.

If FSU and Clemson join the SEC...2 from the following BE schools ( Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse) will end up in the Big 10 leaving the rest of the BE schools to get picked up by the ACC. But on the other hand Waquiot we can go back to retro Yankee Conference days and play New Hampshire, Maine, and URI every year while being UMass's annual FCS opponent. The ONLY way MD leaves the ACC is for the Big Ten, and BCU is NEVER coming back! BL was right!

 

[upstater]

If FSU and Clemson join the SEC...2 from the following BE schools ( Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse) will end up in the Big 10 leaving the rest of the BE schools to get picked up by the ACC. But on the other hand Waquiot we can go back to retro Yankee Conference days and play New Hampshire, Maine, and URI every year while being UMass's annual FCS opponent. The ONLY way MD leaves the ACC is for the Big Ten, and BCU is NEVER coming back! BL was right!

Big 10 is not expanding unless Tex and ND sign the dotted line.

 

[buckley503]

Big 10 is not expanding unless Tex and ND sign the dotted line.

But Rutgers can deliver them the NYC market.

 

[PAGS]

Texas is flirting with the ACC because of the TV contract. From what I hear they would be able to keep the "Longhorn Network" up and going due to the exclusive relationship with ESPN. Pac 12 has a joint deal with ESPN/FOX which complicates the rights of their own network. The only other exclusive ESPN conference is the BE....and there not coming here! Or are they???? hah

 

[RS9999X]

SNY has pioneered a successful strategy with UConn, Rutgers and SU as a regional network for NYC, NJ, CT, and upstate NY. It works because they have the Mets and Jets too and fill a hole in Tri-state coverage that NESN and YES and MSG don't fill. Now they ar working on micro-networks

They've added a second feed -- SNY-CT

from the Old BoneYard


Sports Business Journal
By John Ourand, Staff Writer
Published August 29, 2011, Page 3

New York-based SportsNet New York quietly has launched a second feed in Connecticut that will carry many of that state’s sports teams.

The regional sports network has spent the past several months testing the feed, which is branded SNY-CT. It will feature between 100 and 200 additional hours of programming per year.

A separate feed represents a low-cost way for a channel like SNY to further localize content without having to launch a full-fledged channel. All SNY viewers will see Mets games and shows like “SportsNight.” But when SNY shows New York-centric content like high school basketball or repeat programming, its feed in Connecticut will replace that programming with Connecticut-focused sports.

It plans to ramp up its offering fully toward the end of November, with the end of college football and the start of college basketball seasons.

“We think there’s an opportunity in Connecticut — not for a full channel — but to customize parts of SNY for Connecticut viewers,” said SNY President Steve Raab. “It became a natural opportunity for us.”

Raab has considered the idea of launching a separate feed in Connecticut for at least two years. He finally decided to do it after seeing the strong ratings that University of Connecticut sports programming were generating in the state.

For example, 13 UConn basketball games on SNY averaged a 5.0 rating in the Hartford DMA, paced by a February matchup against Providence , which drew a 7.3 rating. Five football games averaged a 2.9 rating in Hartford , topping out with a 6.1 against Cincinnati .(My notes: 5.0 is a homerun. 2.9 is an average ND Comcast game)

Last August, SNY became the official TV home of UConn football and men’s basketball, a move that helped SNY gain cable distribution throughout Connecticut .

“The UConn ratings in Connecticut were really strong,” Raab said. “We were encouraged by that.”

SNY has signed deals with Fairfield University for three games (mostly basketball) and Quinnipiac University for six games (mostly basketball and hockey). It’s also had serious conversations — but no deals yet — with Yale and the AHL’s Sound Tigers.

These are described as programming partnerships that do not involve rights fees.

It also has the rights to re-air UConn football and basketball games and plans to show evergreen programming, like interviews with UConn basketball coaches Geno Auriemma and Jim Calhoun.

SNY executives say the move already has attracted Connecticut-specific advertisers, including People’s United Bank, Town Fair Tire, DiGiorgi Roofing and Siding, and Blimpie.

“It gives Connecticut-specific advertisers a chance to focus on a more narrow audience,” Raab said.

Raab said he has no immediate plans for other feeds in New Jersey and upstate New York . But if the Connecticut feed is successful, he expects to look into those markets.

“This is a big piece for us to bite off and digest,” Raab said. “If it works in Connecticut , are there other areas that will work? Can you create or gain rights to content to make all this hyper localization meaningful? A lot of pieces have to come together.”

 

[jpm25]

Totally disagree. Joining the ACC would kill UConn sports. We need to stay with other northeast teams.

Isn't BC another norteast team? Wouldn't the Addition of Syracuse, Rutgers and UConn give that league balance?

 

[Nostical]

According to my source in Austin, UT Football will become independent and get 8 home games and 4 road games that are guaranteed nat'l television on either an ESPN network, ABC, or LHN. 4 of the 12 game schedule would be against ACC teams each year. The contract would pay UT over $1 Billion.

 

[IthacaMatt]

(supposedly)

Seems like their best option is to stay in the Big XII. Or to be the last one out. Even if several teams leave, the conference could reconstitute with some Mtn West/C-USA teams (Air Force, Boise, ...), and Texas' BCS path gets easier.

Their flirting could only serve to push others to act, when I'd think the Longhorns want everything to stay as is.

Nobody can agree to stay in Texas' conference if Texas has their own network, unless they want to be the Washington Generals and be the designated losers. Only the ACC among the BCS conferences might be willing to let Texas keep its network, since the ACC is next weakest after the Big East, which allows an unequal deal to Notre Dame, allowing them, too, to have their own network. (The Big 12 is close to folding, although if Texas left, the remnants might hang together to try to keep the BCS bid that is attached to the name.)

Texas would never join the Big East obviously, but would like to attach to the academic cachet of the ACC schools like Duke, UNC, Ga Tech, Va. ACC football is down and Miami is in trouble. Fla State might leave for the SEC, if they don't do something big. That's why Texas is talking to the ACC.