The AAC Just Put A Gun To Its Head

[xudash]

Aresco signed a media deal that will kill them.

$1 billion over 12 years for 12 teams.

ESPN+.

Good luck recruiting into that.

Fans will literally be funding this nasty mess through their streaming fees.

It's very bad.

Poor Bearkittens.

[scoscox]

Nice reminder that the Fox deal is awesome

[xudash]

Nice reminder that the Fox deal is awesome

Oh, yes.

[GoMuskies]

Sounds like $7 million/year per team. Not competitive with the big boys, but he's a genius for managing to get that much.

[scoscox]

Sounds like $7 million/year per team. Not competitive with the big boys, but he's a genius for managing to get that much.

But the majority of the programming will be on espn+ which is a disaster. The exposure of national cable and network is worth a lot on top of the direct payout and being on espn+ completely nullifies that

It's good for most of the league, but pretty bad if you're uc, uconn, ucf, etc. pretty much ensures they're going to continue to operate at huge losses

also 7 mill a year in 2030 is gonna be peanuts

[XUGRAD80]

They were only getting around 2 million per year under their current contract, so it’s a big increase. Hard to say just how the ESPN+ thing will work out in the future. Streaming is becoming more and more popular.

[D-West & PO-Z]

They were only getting around 2 million per year under their current contract, so it’s a big increase. Hard to say just how the ESPN+ thing will work out in the future. Streaming is becoming more and more popular.

Yeah I dont think streaming is a big of a disaster as it sounds like. I wouldn't love it but I have a different view on it than I would have even two months ago. I finally cut the cord and got a roku last month and it is extremely easy for me to watch ESPN+ right from my TV. It might suck for the early potions but in the next couple years as more people cut the cord and go to streaming it I dont think it will be looked at as that big of a deal. It might be looked at as just as normal as turning on your cable.

As far as the big increase, my understanding is UC will pretty much be even money wise from the increase because their BE payout payments have ir are ending this year. At least that is what I heard Brendel say on Mo Egger's show the other day, that UC with this increase wont really be seeing anymore money coming in but also wont see a loss from the BE payments stopping now.

[XUGRAD80]

Yeah I dont think streaming is a big of a disaster as it sounds like. I wouldn't love it but I have a different view on it than I would have even two months ago. I finally cut the cord and got a roku last month and it is extremely easy for me to watch ESPN+ right from my TV. It might suck for the early potions but in the next couple years as more people cut the cord and go to streaming it I dont think it will be looked at as that big of a deal. It might be looked at as just as normal as turning on your cable.

As far as the big increase, my understanding is UC will pretty much be even money wise from the increase because their BE payout payments have ir are ending this year. At least that is what I heard Brendel say on Mo Egger's show the other day, that UC with this increase wont really be seeing anymore money coming in but also wont see a loss from the BE payments stopping now.

True...the money from this deal just keeps them even. It helps the bottom feeders much more. UC really needs to get out of that conference if they ever get a chance.

[GoMuskies]

Of course they'll get out if they get a chance to move into the Big XII or similar. Anyone would. But it's a good league. Clearly a cut below the six top conferences, but clearly a step (or 10 depending on the league) above everything else as well. I miss the days when the A-10, C-USA, the WAC and the Mountain West (depending on the era) were all clearly major conferences. More of a good thing is better than less of a good thing. Now the AAC is basically the only major conference outside the top 6 "power" leagues. I thought the Mountain West would keep pace, but sadly it has not. The A-10 is a shell of its former self, and the C-USA and WAC are LITERALLY shells of their former selves.

[scoscox]

They were only getting around 2 million per year under their current contract, so it’s a big increase. Hard to say just how the ESPN+ thing will work out in the future. Streaming is becoming more and more popular.

Streaming is popular. Paying extra for premium streaming channels is not. Espn+ has about 2 million subscribers. That is horrible

[fellahmuskie]

Yeah I dont think streaming is a big of a disaster as it sounds like. I wouldn't love it but I have a different view on it than I would have even two months ago. I finally cut the cord and got a roku last month and it is extremely easy for me to watch ESPN+ right from my TV. It might suck for the early potions but in the next couple years as more people cut the cord and go to streaming it I dont think it will be looked at as that big of a deal. It might be looked at as just as normal as turning on your cable.

As far as the big increase, my understanding is UC will pretty much be even money wise from the increase because their BE payout payments have ir are ending this year. At least that is what I heard Brendel say on Mo Egger's show the other day, that UC with this increase wont really be seeing anymore money coming in but also wont see a loss from the BE payments stopping now.

At the same time, UC will net continue to lose money on football, as it has for the past several years.

I'm not smart enough to run the numbers, but let's assume UC does not get into a bigger conference. Won't they be in dire financial straits 12 years from now due to football bleeding money?

[xubrew]

The majority of the games will be on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU. I believe six football games, including the championship game, will air on ABC.

The majority of the games will also be on ESPN Plus. Unlike before, where you didn’t need a plus account to watch streams of ESPN/2/U games, you will for most of these. It’s my understanding that ESPN is looking to go that route in future contracts with other conferences.

This is much better than what they had before.

[xudash]

Streaming is popular. Paying extra for premium streaming channels is not. Espn+ has about 2 million subscribers. That is horrible

This.

Gents, the reality of it is that this is a horrible deal for the schools that care: Houston, UCF, Memphis, and UC. I would put UCONN in that group but it's too far gone to matter at this point when it comes to football.

This isn't about "increasing from $2mm to $7mm" and considering that "better". This was always about the AAC not now or ever having enough leverage with a media partner to secure a truly lucrative deal, wherein LUCRATIVE is defined as providing enough cash flow to enable an athletic department to at least truly break even, if not be in the black, so to speak.

It would have been BAD and not horrible had it only stopped at the financial terms of it, especially because, as I understand it, the schools wanting out didn't "GOR" themselves. But the deal became HORRIBLE when they hit them with this financial package AND stuck them on ESPN+. Nobody with a clue doubts that streaming is coming, but come on. It isn't busting down the door in 2020. The AAC is at a critical point of survival. It's already bleeding to death financially. Now it has to go out and recruit players who will consider that they'll be playing in a viewer pool that tops out at 2 million total for the entire platform! No casual viewers, etc.

Brew, I'm not reading anywhere that the "majority" of their games are going to end up safely on those platforms. I would love for you to cite sources for that statement if you can. I'm not challenging you; I just am taking most of what I'm offering from the UCONN and Houston boards. They are not very happy with all this.

Aresco didn't exactly have a good day at the office on this one.

[xubrew]

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2019/03/19/AAC.aspx

That kind of mentions it, but I’m mostly relying on what a friend at ESPN told me. No more than half the games will be on Plus, and even some of those will be available on the networks as well.

Any game that doesn’t suck will probably not require a plus account.

[GoMuskies]

So, basically, any game that anyone is going to be watching anyway is going to be on one of the real networks.

[xudash]

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2019/03/19/AAC.aspx

That kind of mentions it, but I’m mostly relying on what a friend at ESPN told me. No more than half the games will be on Plus, and even some of those will be available on the networks as well.

Any game that doesn’t suck will probably not require a plus account.

Okay. Good for the better members of the AAC. Some of their games will be treated normally for a while. In the meantime, they get to continue to bleed to death financially.

[scoscox]

Which isn’t good for exposure. Basically that’s what they currently have. Anyway most reports I saw were that the majority of games will be on plus. That’s just not good if you consider yourself any type of major conference

https://mobile.twitter.com/AlexPutterman/status/1108098841847521281

[xubrew]

So, basically, any game that anyone is going to be watching anyway is going to be on one of the real networks.

Yep, basically.

Tulsa’s and Tulane’s home buy games will be on Plus. All of the good games and some of the mediocre games will be on the networks.

[scoscox]

That would clash with the reporting that a [B]majority[B] of the football and basketball games will be on plus

[GoMuskies]

That would clash with the reporting that a [B]majority[B] of the football and basketball games will be on plus

Is the reporting that they will exclusively be on Plus? Or will games be on the over the air network while being streamed on Plus?

Also, a majority of the games are going to be shitty games, so it also may not be inconsistent from that standpoint!

[outsideobserver11]

Basically they will be even in the amount of games on ESPN/2/U/ABC as they were this year. But all of the other games will now be headed to ESPN+ instead of on ESPN 3. ESPN 3 is slowly being phased out anyway. They will also be showing a ton more other sports on ESPN+ for the conference too. I'm willing to bet that the majority of games for UC, Houston, UCF, and Memphis will still be on the national networks just as they were this year. However, games such as Tulane vs Tulsa will now require a subscription to ESPN+ instead of just streaming on ESPN3.

Also, the league still has to negotiate the CBS portion of this deal too. All said and done, I'm willing to bet the league ends in the ballpark of $8.5 Million a year for teams with both basketball/football in the league. Definitely no where near Power 5 money, but there is now a sizeable gap between the AAC and the other G5 conferences.

Also of note, while no GOR was signed (smart decision) ESPN also gave themselves an out clause if one of the major properties leaves the conference. I think about everyone thinks there will be some sort of movement around 2024 when deals are ending, how that affects the AAC remains to be seen though. The most common thought is that the Big 12 gets shredded and the best of the AAC end up combining with the remnants of the Big 12 which would form a fairly decent conference.

[sirthought]

.......................................

[paulxu]

but the majority of basketball games and a significant number of the football games will go to ESPN+.

Somehow I think that would hurt basketball recruiting.