Woman's basketball doesn't matter, I mean no one watches it, right?

[CL82]

Apparently ESPN disagrees since it is renegotiating the American's TV deal in part due to the loss of UConn woman's basketball.

ESPN, however, considered UConn basketball — particularly the historically dominant women’s program — a blue-chip asset. In fact, a person with knowledge of the talks said ESPN had actually negotiated to increase the number of UConn women’s games it could air in 2020 prior to news of the school’s departure. The network’s history as a rights holder for UConn dates back to the school’s previous stint in the Big East.

 

[chrissaran]

Women's college basketball games are more popular, depending on the program, than professional games.

 

[meyers7]

Hmmm, getting the feeling it's going to be much harder to watch UCONN in the BE.

 

[slug25]

Makes me long for the tedious WCPB fund drive days

 

[CTrefugee]

Women's college basketball games are more popular, depending on the program, than professional games.

That's not saying much. NBA is boorrrrring.

 

[billybud]

The full Women’s Final Four averaged 2.48 million viewers. ESPN said in a press release that the average was up from last year, but did not disclose the percentage.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Hmmm, getting the feeling it's going to be much harder to watch UCONN in the BE.

Most likely. Hopefully we don't lose SNY. Fox Sports probably isn't going to have a Geno Show or UConn pre and post game shows. You can bet ESPN will still show any games where UConn is the road team against the ACC or SEC though. The ND game for example will still be on ESPN when it's in South Bend, and on Fox Sports when at XL or Gampel.

 

[meyers7]

Most likely. Hopefully we don't lose SNY. Fox Sports probably isn't going to have a Geno Show or UConn pre and post game shows. You can bet ESPN will still show any games where UConn is the road team against the ACC or SEC though. The ND game for example will still be on ESPN when it's in South Bend, and on Fox Sports when at XL or Gampel.

I've already lost that.

 

[Alydar]

Fox's contract with the Big East goes until 2025. My worry is that the mens games will take precedence in any conflict with the women and as a result the UConn games will be on one of the foxsports regional streams, none of which are offered by my cable Co. I get FS1 & FS2. I worry that this might become a battle between Fox sports and the cable/streaming Co. with UConn fans stuck in the middle. I am in the process of cutting the cable and need advise as to which streaming services offer those regional fox streams. ???

 

[MSGRET]

Fox's contract with the Big East goes until 2025. My worry is that the mens games will take precedence in any conflict with the women and as a result the UConn games will be on one of the foxsports regional streams, none of which are offered by my cable Co. I get FS1 & FS2. I worry that this might become a battle between Fox sports and the cable/streaming Co. with UConn fans stuck in the middle. I am in the process of cutting the cable and need advise as to which streaming services offer those regional fox streams. ???

I believe that the Big East games, both the men's and women's are shown only on Fox, FS1 and FS2.

 

[MSGRET]

I don’t have FS2. Is that something you can stream as long as you’re paying for Fox on your cable?

Sorry, I have no idea, maybe someone else might know. With DISH I get all three.

 

[JordyG]

I don’t have FS2. Is that something you can stream as long as you’re paying for Fox on your cable?

As long as you have a cable provider you should be able to stream Fox Sports.

 

[weyuo]

Apparently ESPN disagrees since it is renegotiating the American's TV deal in part due to the loss of UConn woman's basketball.

ESPN, however, considered UConn basketball — particularly the historically dominant women’s program — a blue-chip asset. In fact, a person with knowledge of the talks said ESPN had actually negotiated to increase the number of UConn women’s games it could air in 2020 prior to news of the school’s departure. The network’s history as a rights holder for UConn dates back to the school’s previous stint in the Big East.

That's not why the contract is being renegotiated. If the women's program played that big of a part in the TV negotiations UConn would still be in the AAC. But on the contrary, because the women's program was so undervalued UConn had no choice but to leave. It wasn't the only reason but I am sure it was one of the reasons.

 

[CL82]

That's not why the contract is being renegotiated. If the women's program played that big of a part in the TV negotiations UConn would still be in the AAC. But on the contrary, because the women's program was so undervalued UConn had no choice but to leave. It wasn't the only reason but I am sure it was one of the reasons.

Mmm I think you have that backwards. ESPN is stating that UConn basketball and in particular UConn WBB is a blue blood product and the loss of it materially impacts the value of the AAC deal. If it had no value, ESPN would not need to regotiate the contract based on diminished value.

 

[CTBballfan243]

UConn Women’s basketball has value. The problem is that ESPN did not want to pay for it. UConn would still be in the AAC If they had paid.

 

[bennyskid]

Don't assume that ESPN's *stated* reasons for wanting to renegotiate are the *actual* reason. ESPN's real reason for renegotiating is that the AAC rights *in general* aren't worth what ESPN thought they were worth a few years ago. But you can't just walk in and say, "the market for third-rate college football sucks these days, so I want to cut this contract down". You need a legit trigger, and ESPN thinks that UConn WBB is that trigger. Only ESPN and maybe a few industry insiders know for sure what UConn WBB is really worth - only they have the numbers on the advertising sold and production costs.

My bet - a few high-profile games are worth money, the rest are just cheap filler. Probably none of the AAC in-conference games are worth real dollars to ESPN, but the rights to UConn's big non-conference home games are worth something. UConn should end up at least as well in the BE, once all the dust settles.

 

[Waquoit]

UConn Women’s basketball has value. The problem is that ESPN did not want to pay for it. UConn would still be in the AAC If they had paid.

If ESPN didn't pay for it, why are they reopening the terms of the deal? It isn't that ESPN didn't want to pay UConn, the AAC didn't want to pay UConn. They considered UConn WBB to be the equal as ECU WBB. Giving UConn a deal for the WBB wouldn't be unprecedented, they give Navy FB a separate deal.

 

[diggerfoot]

Whoever is carrying UConn games in the next four years, when Bueckers arrives, will be glad they did.