Interesting Article from Marshall writer

[domangue]

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sport...inoes-vs-C-USA

"East Carolina and Tulane haven't formally withdrawn from Conference USA," said Courtney Morrison-Archer, C-USA's Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs. "They have one full year to do that."

Imagine paying C-USA an exit fee of $7 million and, then, giving the Big East an additional $2.5 entrance fee just to make what has become a lateral move.


It might just be all eyes on the television deal when the Big East meetings happen in a couple of weeks.

[StrayDawg]

The Tulane AD is still saying that they are committed to the Big East, but that is exactly what I would expect him to say. If things fall apart in the next few months, then they still have CUSA membership in their back pocket.

http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf..._river_default

[parialex]

I consider it unlikely for a host of reasons. Two of the other four winning CUSA schools are in the new conference with a third angling for an invite. The BE is sitting on a lot of money to help incoming schools with their obligations if conference survival depends on it. And if ECU goes it might.

With that said, the conference seriously needs to extend the ECU invite to all sports. CUSA bent over backwards for them and the BE needs to show some goodwill and not take them for granted.

[parialex]

A few other possible things to note:

[1] Having announced their departure to the BE, I am relatively sure that both Tulane and ECU are on the hook for the same $5m that Boise is (and UH and SMU are) if they back out. The author calls the agreement "informal" but I don't think that's the case. So that brings the exit/entrance down from $9.5m to $4.5m.

[2] A while back, a lot of people were saying that charter members were not on the hook for the whole exit fee. That UH (we technically joined in '96, though are considered charter members because we signed on with everyone else) and Memphis paid less to get out than UCF and SMU. I remember that the exit fee was a big deal for UCF and not a big deal for us, though I'm not sure if that's why. My guess is that this is urban legend, as I am pretty sure that Louisville and Cincinnati did pay exit fees. But I thought I would throw this out there as it would pertain to Tulane and could change their calculus entirely.

[3] Assuming that #2 is wrong (or even if it's right, as it pertains to ECU), I don't think the exit fee for them is $7m. I believe that it's tied to the TV contract(s) and goes down year-to-year after that contract was signed. UCF and company were left with the hefty exit fee because they left right after the contract was signed. Tulane and ECU are leaving a year later, so if I am right it's going to be less than $7m for them.

[4] The assertion that C*USA-to-BE is a "lateral" move is left wanting. If the two have similar TV deals, then maybe so, but I don't think that's the case. The BE represents a less stable situation, but one with greater upsides and (if ECU doesn't leave) few downsides. So long as UH and SMU don't go west and take Tulsa off the table with them.

[hookdown]

The Tulane AD is still saying that they are committed to the Big East....

They are until they reach that point they are not.... :icon_wink:


And that is the way it is with every school.

[LT]

our cusa exit fee = ?

[HogDawg]

[4] The assertion that C*USA-to-BE is a "lateral" move is left wanting. If the two have similar TV deals, then maybe so, but I don't think that's the case. The BE represents a less stable situation, but one with greater upsides and (if ECU doesn't leave) few downsides. So long as UH and SMU don't go west and take Tulsa off the table with them.

I guess this is where I call "bullshit". Why do you --or any other UH or SMU fan for that matter-- believe the nBE "TV deal" will be any better than it would have been if you all had stayed in CUSA? Why would ESPN pay more for a TV deal with the "Big East" that includes the same suspects that were in CUSA?? This is especially true now that Boise St has chosen to leave the nBE.

Where's the value for the TV networks? At the end of the day, it's still the same SMU & Tulane that can't draw flies in Dallas and New Orleans, the same "Memphis" that is a perennial loser in football, and the same Houston --well, you get the point. Why would ESPN suddenly wake up one day and say, "Hey, let's pay these guys a lot more money now because they have a new conference name!".

[parialex]

I guess this is where I call "bullshit". Why do you --or any other UH or SMU fan for that matter-- believe the nBE "TV deal" will be any better than it would have been if you all had stayed in CUSA? Why would ESPN pay more for a TV deal with the "Big East" that includes the same suspects that were in CUSA?? This is especially true now that Boise St has chosen to leave the nBE.

First, the question of how much we get in BE versus how much we would have gotten by staying in Conference USA is actually moot. The Conference USA we left is no longer an option. It will be worth more, per team, than the current Conference USA.

Second, the Big East is not saddled with some of the teams that Conference USA is. Tulane and Memphis don't help, but replacing Marshall, Rice, and UAB in favor of Temple and USF is a plus. The BE can pick and choose which teams from C*USA it wants in order to maximize value. Conference USA is saddled with established membership.

Third, branding does indeed matter. The first iteration of Conference USA (1.0) was actually a pretty solid conference. We beat the MWC champion in the Liberty Bowl more years than not. But it had no brand. No familiarity. Teams that were relative non-entities when they were in Conference USA (Louisville, Cincinnati, and USF) were suddenly seen as <i>more valuable</i> when they left our conference. The same is true of Sun Belt teams now in C*USA. If the BE ends up absorbing most of C*USA for C*USA 3.0, it will still attract TV dollars more in line with C*USA 2.0 than with the conference they just left.

Fourth, it's not a bad time to be in the market. This will help both the MWC (which stands to make more money with inferior membership - in terms of marketability - than the previous conference) and BE.

But! We don't have to take one another's word for it. If teams that left C*USA start scrambling back, it will appear that the TV money is not there. If they don't start scrambling back, we'll be able to directly compare the two.