Reputable Boneyard Posters: UConn To Big East For 2021...

[Hall2012]

Meaning that the 100 million was dependent upon teams 11 and 12 being SLU and UD?

Yeah that doesn't make sense.

The way I understood it was they would essentially add on equal shares for each school added up to 2. So with UConn joining, they'll get their media rights share without diluting everyone else's. I'm no expert and could obviously be wrong, but it seems to make sense.

[Husky_U]

Thanx for the votes!

Matt Norlander
‏@MattNorlander

I was told Big East presidents already held their call this morning to formally vote and approve for UConn to rejoin the league.

The next step, as @CBSSports previously reported, will be for UConn’s Board of Trustees to vote this into action. That’s scheduled for Wednesday.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Meaning that the 100 million was dependent upon teams 11 and 12 being SLU and UD?

Yeah that doesn't make sense.

The way I understood it was they would essentially add on equal shares for each school added up to 2. So with UConn joining, they'll get their media rights share without diluting everyone else's. I'm no expert and could obviously be wrong, but it seems to make sense.

I agree with Hall2012's interpretation.

Butler, Creighton, Xavier join new Big East - Rachael Cohen, Associated Press - March 20, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — The breakaway basketball schools kept the Big East name and the conference tournament in Madison Square Garden. In return, they left behind tens of millions of dollars to the football members. That was easy to do with a lucrative television contract awaiting.

The new Big East launched as a 10-member league Wednesday with the additions of Butler, Creighton and Xavier and a 12-year deal with Fox. The agreement is worth about $500 million with the possibility of increasing to $600 million were the league to add more members, according to a person with knowledge of the details. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the value of the agreement was not made public.

($500,000,000)/(12 years) = $41,666,667 per year to the Big East for TV rights

Assume that the Big East Conference keeps 10% for expenses and overheads: $41,666,667 - $4,166,667 = $37,500,000 per year to be split by the schools

($37,500,000 per year)/(10 schools) = $3,750,000 per year per school

It is my understanding that if ANY one or two school join the Big East prior to the expiry of the present TV rights contract, Fox will pay the Big East Conference an additional pro-rata amount for each school (up to two schools). The additional payment to the Big East would be $4,166,667 per school per year, meaning that UConn in this instance would get about $3,750,000 per year unless UConn's contract with the Big East provides for a 'less-than-full -share' in the Huskies' first season(s) in the expanded Big East.

[adoraz]

I don't think it really matters what the contract says as I'm sure it's being renegotiated right now. That clause was meant to give the Big East flexibility if we needed to add a St. Louis or Dayton. Fox will look to extend our contract, and in the process everyone will earn more money. UConn is likely the only addition that will add money per school.

[gtmoBlue]

See Jet915's post earlier in this thread.

According to at least the source in his post, our current contract grossly undervalues actual BE output over these last 6 years.
This new window offers the opportunity to renegotiate for optimal increase(s) in media compensation.
Upticks in the overall compensation package, fine tuning content outputs, plus taking into consideration the new inputs of UConn content.
Could fuel significant increases in Conference and per school compensation.

Of schools which are available and considered fits...UConn and Gonzaga are the 2 which move the money needle.

[adoraz]

See Jet915's post earlier in this thread.

According to at least the source in his post, our current contract grossly undervalues actual BE output over these last 6 years.
This new window offers the opportunity to renegotiate for optimal increase(s) in media compensation.
Upticks in the overall compensation package, fine tuning content outputs, plus taking into consideration the new inputs of UConn content.
Could fuel significant increases in Conference and per school compensation.

Of schools which are available and considered fits...UConn and Gonzaga are the 2 which move the money needle.

Yeah that post was pretty reassuring, but I'm a bit skeptical given the lack of a strong source. I figured that Fox might have overpaid for us to start their network, but if we've been worth more than our contract then that'd be incredible. We should find out soon once our contract is revisited.

[kayako]

Yeah that post was pretty reassuring, but I'm a bit skeptical given the lack of a strong source. I figured that Fox might have overpaid for us to start their network, but if we've been worth more than our contract then that'd be incredible. We should find out soon once our contract is revisited.

Only thing that I can come up with (obviously I am not privy to any information that poster claims to have), is that Big East basketball generally has better ratings than Pac 12 on Fox. Given uconn's presence now, plus more inventory with 20 game conference schedule, it's not crazy to at least hope for a raise.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

The agreement is worth about $500 million with the possibility of increasing to $600 million were the league to add more members, according to a person with knowledge of the details.

I don't think it really matters what the contract says as I'm sure it's being renegotiated right now. That clause was meant to give the Big East flexibility if we needed to add a St. Louis or Dayton. Fox will look to extend our contract, and in the process everyone will earn more money. UConn is likely the only addition that will add money per school.

Adoraz – please do not be offended if I enlighten you on some basic legal principles:

”I don't think it really matters what the contract says . . .” - It matters very much. See Breach of Contract.

”I'm sure it's being renegotiated right now . . . “ – I would not be sure of that at all. The excerpt from Rachael Cohen’s article indicates that the possibility of expansion is already covered in the now-signed contract offered by Fox TV and accepted by the presidents of the ten Big East institutions. The excerpt implies that under the terms of the contract, the Big East Conference is entitled to expand by as many schools as it wishes, but the total additional payout to the Big East cannot exceed $100 million over the 12-year life of the contract. It is extremely likely that the possibility of future expansion is covered in great detail in the contract, as expansion is both a foreseeable and expected event during the life of the contract.

Fox TV Contract Year. Basketball Season

1. 2013-14 . . . . . 7. 2019-20
2. 2014-15 . . . . . 8. 2020-21
3. 2015-16 . . . . . 9. 2021-22
4. 2016-17 . . . . 10. 2022-23
5. 2017-18 . . . . 11. 2023-24
6. 2018-19 . . . . 12. 2024-25

”That clause was meant to give the Big East flexibility . . . “ – To a limited extent, yes, but that was not the primary purpose of the clause. Please recall that the contract was written by Fox TV and offered to the Big East. The contractual clauses covering ‘Possible Future Expansion of the Big East’ simply limit the financial expose of Fox TV to a maximum of $100 million over the 12- year life of the contract, regardless of how many schools are added to the Big East during that time period. The additional amount to be paid to the Big East will have already been specified and agreed in the contract.

”Fox will look to extend our contract . . .” – Agreed, but the terms and conditions of the current contract will still remain in place until the end of the 2024-25 season, as there is no financial incentive nor legal reason for Fox TV to offer a ‘better deal’ to the Big East prior to the expiration of the present TV Rights contract.

” . . . and in the process everyone will earn more money.” – This is supposition, subject to future market forces, trends, and competition.

”UConn is likely the only addition that will add money per school.” – I do not agree. Please post links to your references.

For those of you who wish to learn more about the market forces driving TV Rights contracts, please see the following two excellent articles:

Why ESPN Hemorrhaging Subscribers Will Impact The Next Wave Of National TV Deals - Maury Brown, Senior Contributor, Forbes - May 8, 2017

Even As ESPN Cuts Costs, An ACC Network Could Be Money Well Spent - Chris Smith, Forbes Staff- May 10, 2017

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

This new window offers the opportunity to renegotiate for optimal increase(s) in media compensation.

Upticks in the overall compensation package, fine tuning content outputs, plus taking into consideration the new inputs of UConn content.

Could fuel significant increases in Conference and per school compensation.

I doubt it.

If, as I strongly suspect, the current TV Rights contract between Fox and the Big East includes detailed provisions to be implemented in the event of Big East Conference Expansion prior to 2025, there will be no incentive whatsoever for Fox to renegotiate the existing contract.

Also, the Big East Conference no longer has any leverage over Fox in future TV Rights contract negotiations. The Big East is stuck with Fox TV for the foreseeable future because the only alternative to Fox is ESPN, who has effectively declared ‘war’ on the Big East Conference:

ESPN, ACC officials in Charlotte introduce soon-to-launch network, signature programs - Charlotte Business Journal - March 20, 2019

Say hello to ACCN, as in the ACC Network, an ESPN-owned cable channel that goes on-air in August, 2019. ESPN’s main broadcast campus in Bristol, Connecticut, will be headquarters for ACCN. The main draw will be live sports — 1,300 games and events annually — featuring the 15 schools in the Greensboro-based conference.

McCollum and her co-workers have 9,000 hours a year to fill with ACC games and related programming.

Big Ten Network, owned by Fox Sports and the conference, started in 2007 and is based in Chicago. SEC Network, like ACCN an ESPN-owned channel, followed in 2014. SEC Network is located in Charlotte as part of ESPN’s 38,000-square-foot offices and studios in Ballantyne. Big Ten and SEC Network each have distribution in the range of 60 million homes, with SEC Network slightly ahead.

Big Ten schools receive $50 million each from media rights and other shared revenue, including the dedicated network, while the SEC stands at $43 million. In 2016-17, the most recent data available for ACC revenue, each school received less than $30 million.

New 10-year deal with ESPN will bring Ivy League sports to the world stage – The Columbia Spectator – October 11, 2018

After years of broadcasting games across a myriad of television channels and separate networks, the Ivy League will partner with ESPN to concentrate over 1,100 events across 30 sports on a single platform. The deal, announced on April 4, will run for 10 years starting this fall and should completely revamp the Ivy League sports fan experience.

Now, for just $4.99 per month, viewers can watch almost every Ivy League sporting event. At least 24 major events will be live on an ESPN primary network over the course of the 2018-2019 academic calendar, and all the rest can be found on the platform that made this deal possible, ESPN+.

ESPN+ is where the subscription comes in—for less than $60 per year it gives access to not only the Ivy League, but also MLB, NHL and MLS games, Grand Slam tennis, Top Rank boxing, PGA Tour golf, additional college sports, international rugby, cricket, varied analysis programming, and the full library of ESPN Films. It launched on April 12 as part of an ESPN App and espn.com redesign and gained over a million subscribers in its first five months.

A major upside of this deal for both sides, Harris noted, is the introduction of new markets.

“[Subscribers] are getting more content besides the Ivy League. And our games show up when you look for other games—they're right by US Open Tennis, they're right by the Power 5 football games, they're right by Major League Baseball and NHL games,” Harris said. “So the opportunity for a more casual fan to say, 'Hey, Princeton and Columbia are playing, let me watch this game' has gone up exponentially.”

The exposure for a rapidly improving brand was just as key. The deal with ESPN seems to be coming at the perfect time for an athletic conference more than ready to make a national impression.

Ivy League . . . Atlantic Coast Conference

Dartmouth College • Hanover, New Hampshire
Boston College • Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Harvard University • Cambridge, Massachusetts
Brown University • Providence, Rhode Island
Yale University • New Haven, Connecticut
Columbia University • New York City, New York
Syracuse University • Syracuse, New York
Cornell University • Ithaca, New York
Princeton University • Princeton, New Jersey
University of Pennsylvania • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
University of Louisville • Louisville, Kentucky
University of Notre Dame • Notre Dame, Indiana

Both ESPN and Fox Sports know that ESPN would be shooting themselves in the financial foot if ESPN tries to outbid Fox Sports for the next Big East Conference TV Rights Contract, as anyone who is watching a Big East game on TV is NOT watching an ACC or Ivy League game on TV.

Also, any TV Rights contract between ESPN and the Big East conference could/would be interpreted as an attempt by ESPN to establish a TV Rights monopoly in the Northeastern United States, and thereby subjecting ESPN to antitrust litigation.

United States Antitrust Law

The main statutes are the Sherman Act of 1890, the Clayton Act of 1914 and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. These Acts, first, restrict the formation of cartels and prohibit other collusive practices regarded as being in restraint of trade. Second, they restrict the mergers and acquisitions of organizations that could substantially lessen competition. Third, they prohibit the creation of a monopoly and the abuse of monopoly power.

[JPSchmack]

Speaking of the Bona poster, this is going to be the opposite of what he's been suggesting. Instead of bringing in a cupcake to give the middling teams wins, we're bringing in a school that is going to pimp smack the teams in the bottom half of the league. With the 20 game schedule giving teams only 11 games to build up their record, this is likely to result in somebody becoming a real doormat, and not just DePaul. Of course, this depends on UConn becoming a beast again, but 20 games is a lot, and someone is going to have to swallow those losses.

HAHAHAHA. You got 3 bids plus the bid-stealer. Look up the definition of "Zero-Sum Game"