Big 12 begins TV Deal Negotiations

[Muskie]

Link (https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/34492879/sources-fox-espn-open-talks-big-12-conference-next-television-deal)

The Big 12 plans to engage in discussions with Fox and ESPN about the league's next television contract, the conference announced Wednesday.
The conference said in a release that it would "be entering into discussions with its multi-media partners to explore an accelerated extension of its current agreements." Sources had previously told ESPN that the two networks had agreed to the talks.

[xubrew]

This is interesting (if that's the right word).

Under their old deal, they had the option of adding schools, and for each school added ESPN and Fox would have had to increase the amount of money it paid to the conference for each school that the conference added. This was back when it looked like they were going to add Cincinnati, and Memphis, and perhaps even two more to get to either 12 or 14. They decided not to. The reason they decided not to was because they felt that maintaining a good relationship with the networks would be important to future negotiations.

Well, now that they don't have Oklahoma and Texas....I wonder how they now feel about their previous decision to not add more schools. I guarantee you the networks aren't thinking "We need to pay them as much as we always have so we can maintain a good relationship for future negotiations."

[XUGRAD80]

This is interesting (if that's the right word).

Under their old deal, they had the option of adding schools, and for each school added ESPN and Fox would have had to increase the amount of money it paid to the conference for each school that the conference added. This was back when it looked like they were going to add Cincinnati, and Memphis, and perhaps even two more to get to either 12 or 14. They decided not to. The reason they decided not to was because they felt that maintaining a good relationship with the networks would be important to future negotiations.

Well, now that they don't have Oklahoma and Texas....I wonder how they now feel about their previous decision to not add more schools. I guarantee you the networks aren't thinking "We need to pay them as much as we always have so we can maintain a good relationship for future negotiations."


You might want to rethink that….

Going UP from 42 to 50 million per school…..without Texas and Oklahoma….with the new contract.

[X-band '01]

It's a short term bump, but it's going to be half of what the B1G gets in their new TV deal. The SEC will command that kind of money when they redo their TV deal for their members but not conferences like the ACC/Big 12/Pac-12.

[xudash]

You might want to rethink that….

Going UP from 42 to 50 million per school…..without Texas and Oklahoma….with the new contract.

I’m coming up with $38mm, which still beats what analysts thought the haircut would be:

“The once-beleaguered Big 12 has stabilized its future by coming to terms with ESPN and Fox Sports on a six-year media rights agreement worth a total of $2.28B, an annual average of $380M, according to sources.”

[STL_XUfan]

I’m coming up with $38mm, which still beats what analysts thought the haircut would be:

“The once-beleaguered Big 12 has stabilized its future by coming to terms with ESPN and Fox Sports on a six-year media rights agreement worth a total of $2.28B, an annual average of $380M, according to sources.”

Six years seems like a good length too. Probably get them to the next conference shakeup and will be in a position to renegotiate to be as competitive as possible to keep/add teams.

[XUGRAD80]

I’m coming up with $38mm, which still beats what analysts thought the haircut would be:

“The once-beleaguered Big 12 has stabilized its future by coming to terms with ESPN and Fox Sports on a six-year media rights agreement worth a total of $2.28B, an annual average of $380M, according to sources.”

If you add in CFPlayoff money and NCAA payouts, it comes to around 50 million per school verses the current 42 million they get for the same package….a pretty good increase. (AND well over the current 7 million per school that the current AAC affiliation pays out to schools like UC.)

The point being that despite what many here thought would happen, the B12 will actually get more money per school in the future, not less…..even though Texas and Oklahoma are leaving and there will be an additional number of schools in the league. If this shows nothing else, it certainly shows that when it comes to TV contracts that college football is still the king. Xavier, and the BE schools, will never get that kind of money coming in form their TV contracts.

[Xville]

If you add in CFPlayoff money and NCAA payouts, it comes to around 50 million per school verses the current 42 million they get for the same package….a pretty good increase. (AND well over the current 7 million per school that the current AAC affiliation pays out to schools like UC.)

The point being that despite what many here thought would happen, the B12 will actually get more money per school in the future, not less…..even though Texas and Oklahoma are leaving and there will be an additional number of schools in the league. If this shows nothing else, it certainly shows that when it comes to TV contracts that college football is still the king. Xavier, and the BE schools, will never get that kind of money coming in form their TV contracts.

Where are you getting those numbers? It’s 380 divided by 12 which rounded off is 32. If your team is in the playoff you get paid out, the conference total gets 6 million and for bowls 4 million per team. Let’s say big 12 gets 1 in and 7 more bowl teams. That’s 34 million dollars so 414 million divided by 12 is 34.5 per team. It’s not anything close to 50million even with March madness dollars

[xudash]

If you add in CFPlayoff money and NCAA payouts, it comes to around 50 million per school verses the current 42 million they get for the same package….a pretty good increase. (AND well over the current 7 million per school that the current AAC affiliation pays out to schools like UC.)

The point being that despite what many here thought would happen, the B12 will actually get more money per school in the future, not less…..even though Texas and Oklahoma are leaving and there will be an additional number of schools in the league. If this shows nothing else, it certainly shows that when it comes to TV contracts that college football is still the king. Xavier, and the BE schools, will never get that kind of money coming in form their TV contracts.

No problems with what you posted.

I am only concerned about the value of the media rights component. I understand that football money will always exceed basketball money, but football expenses absolutely dwarf basketball expenses.

Beyond all of that, I’m looking for bits and pieces of indications that suggest that the Big East might be well positioned for a media agreement increase, especially with the addition of UConn, as well as the possible addition of Gonzaga.

[xudash]

Where are you getting those numbers? It’s 380 divided by 12 which rounded off is 32. If your team is in the playoff you get paid out, the conference total gets 6 million and for bowls 4 million per team. Let’s say big 12 gets 1 in and 7 more bowl teams. That’s 34 million dollars so 414 million divided by 12 is 34.5 per team. It’s not anything close to 50million even with March madness dollars

Thanks for the correction. I am the one that went too quickly with the math error. It is 32, not 38.

[XUGRAD80]

Where are you getting those numbers? It’s 380 divided by 12 which rounded off is 32. If your team is in the playoff you get paid out, the conference total gets 6 million and for bowls 4 million per team. Let’s say big 12 gets 1 in and 7 more bowl teams. That’s 34 million dollars so 414 million divided by 12 is 34.5 per team. It’s not anything close to 50million even with March madness dollars

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34910144/big-12-nears-six-year-228b-tv-extension-deal-espn-fox

Read the article where it says that it’s safe to assume that the OVERALL revenue will increase to nearly 50 million per school……starting in 2025-2026. The TV package is only PART of that number, but it’s still an INCREASE over the last contract. Which is in direct conflict with what many here predicted would happen with Texas and Oklahoma leaving. Some here seemed to imply that the B12 would fade away and/or become a lesser conference after they left. They couldn’t seem to imagine that any TV folks would see the B12 as a valuable property, and thus predicted that they wouldn’t get a contract that was worth very much. Many predicted that the contract would be a decrease in revenue. Instead they got a contract that is an increase and will place them only behind the B10 and SEC in terms of payout per school.

Me thinks that the anti-UC bias that some have clouds their judgment from time to time and keeps them from objective thinking. Me thinks that many seem to underestimate the popularity of college football across the nation.

[Xville]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34910144/big-12-nears-six-year-228b-tv-extension-deal-espn-fox

Read the article where it says that it’s safe to assume that the OVERALL revenue will increase to nearly 50 million per school……starting in 2025-2026. The TV package is only PART of that number, but it’s still an INCREASE over the last contract. Which is in direct conflict with what many here predicted would happen with Texas and Oklahoma leaving. Some here seemed to imply that the B12 would fade away and/or become a lesser conference after they left. They couldn’t seem to imagine that any TV folks would see the B12 as a valuable property, and thus predicted that they wouldn’t get a contract that was worth very much. Many predicted that the contract would be a decrease in revenue. Instead they got a contract that is an increase and will place them only behind the B10 and SEC in terms of payout per school.

Me thinks that the anti-UC bias that some have clouds their judgment from time to time and keeps them from objective thinking. Me thinks that many seem to underestimate the popularity of college football across the nation.

Gotcha. I still don’t know where espn is getting those numbers because they don’t add up, but I’ll take their word for it I guess. Don’t understand how you go from 380 million to over 600 a year even with ncaa units and playoff payouts.. seems like creative math to me.

Regardless, big 12 will continue to be a fine conference. They aren’t ever going to be the big 2 but no one ever will be.

[Muskie]

I don't think the Big 12 is going to die. I do wonder if the revenue from the deals will be shared with the basketball programs in the Big 12. Sure the universities will get the money, but since these deals are disproportionately based on football it's not hard for me to imagine a majority of the funds begin earmarked to spend on football.

[xubrew]

You might want to rethink that….

Going UP from 42 to 50 million per school…..without Texas and Oklahoma….with the new contract.

They're getting A LOT more than what I guessed they would get. Good for them! I don't quite get it, but good for them!

[xubrew]

Ten years ago I would have never guessed the TV/media contracts would have gotten to the point that they have. I thought that eventually a network would sign a deal that paid out a shit-ton of money, and they would then lose a ton of money, and the bubble would burst, and we would have hit the ceiling, and that would be sort of where it would all plateau. I suppose that could still happen, but I would have never guessed it would have gotten as big as it has. When you look at ratings and active streams there are not more people watching sports today than there were twenty years ago. It's not as if the audience has substantially grown. If the audience was continuing to grow, then I could see the money would be growing right along with it, but the money has grown at a much higher rate than the size of the audience has.

But for the schools, they should get as much money as they can. If ESPN and Fox want to pay that much, then good for the Big 12!

[UCGRAD4X]

Ten years ago I would have never guessed the TV/media contracts would have gotten to the point that they have. I thought that eventually a network would sign a deal that paid out a shit-ton of money, and they would then lose a ton of money, and the bubble would burst, and we would have hit the ceiling, and that would be sort of where it would all plateau. I suppose that could still happen, but I would have never guessed it would have gotten as big as it has. When you look at ratings and active streams there are not more people watching sports today than there were twenty years ago. It's not as if the audience has substantially grown. If the audience was continuing to grow, then I could see the money would be growing right along with it, but the money has grown at a much higher rate than the size of the audience has.

I thought the same thing 10 or 15 years ago about microbrewerys.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Where are you getting those numbers? It’s 380 divided by 12 which rounded off is 32. If your team is in the playoff you get paid out, the conference total gets 6 million and for bowls 4 million per team. Let’s say big 12 gets 1 in and 7 more bowl teams. That’s 34 million dollars so 414 million divided by 12 is 34.5 per team. It’s not anything close to 50million even with March madness dollars

Not to mention the Big 12 has only got into 50% of the CFP, and that is all from one team, a team who is leaving.

However I get how the CFP will likely expand and every major conference will get at least 1. Don't know if that will effect the money situation?

[D-West & PO-Z]

Yeah the Big 12 has positioned itself nicely. Imagine what they would have got if OU and Texas stayed!

But UC should be very excited about being a member of the Big 12.

Like someone else said they will never be close to SEC and Big Ten, but no one will be, and 3rd isn't bad.

I do look forward to seeing UC take some lumps, at least initially in football and basketball as their competition goes WAY up on a weekly basis. If they can keep Fickell, I think he will get good recruits though (he does already). Jury still out on the OTHER Miller in town.