C-USA Winter Meetings

[theprofessor]

I would want to cover a winning Div-1 program vs writing prep sports in hopes of moving up in my career. I don't get these local writers/reporters.

Jerit Roser parlayed his time on the Tech and GSU beats into a prep writing beat at The Times-Pic. A big jump for him. I think most reporters would like to cover college rather than high school. It's a more intense beat, more prestigious. In a lot of ways it's easier because the SID's offices do a lot of things for you (the biggest one is stats), although it other ways it's tougher because it's more competitive. But you have to remember that all of these reporters have bosses -- sports editors, managing editors, executive editors and on up the chain. It's not like they're making decisions on what they cover.

[Dawg06]

A must-read by CBS Sports: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ot-be-done-yet

Excerpts:

Banowsky: Our deal is to be the conference that really represents the next generation of great programs. We target large markets, generally. We target growth markets. We find universities that have their best ahead of them in terms of potential, that have invested in facilities, that are gearing up and getting ready to go, and then we give them a stage and a platform to participate. That's our strategy. I wouldn't be looking for opportunities that didn't fit into that general bandwidth.

According to a C-USA spokesperson, all current and future athletic directors of C-USA member programs attended the two-day meetings, with the exception of Tulsa interim director of athletics, Kevan Buck. Tulsa has widely been reported as a potential Big East or Mountain West target. According to the spokesperson, Buck cited personal reasons for missing the meetings. Tulsa is guaranteed to be a C-USA member next season, but its future in the conference after that is uncertain.

Banowsky: We want you to be a part of the conference and be respectful of the conference and participate as long as you want to be here. If you have a better opportunity, we understand that. That's life. If they're [Tulsa] with us for 2014, that's terrific because we love those guys and we have a lot of respect for them. If they decide to realign with some of the private schools in the Southwest because of some connections there that have gone back a ways, that's all right, too.

Banowsky: All eight schools have funded the initial payments toward the $2 million entrance fee. We've put those amounts into a reserve and we expect to have more funding, of course, over the next 18 months. It will be up to the schools to decide how they want to use those dollars -- whether to feed them back into distribution or whether to use them for capital for other purposes.

Banowsky and FAU director of athletics Patrick Chun confirmed the amount of the initial payment at $500,000. The rest of the entrance fee can be funded through a payment plan, some of which can come via television revenue. All eight programs added to C-USA were offered the same entrance fee.

According to a press release, C-USA home markets next year will include "a little more than 14.5 million TV households," a 43-percent increase on the former market of 10.1 million homes. Banowsky said that television contracts with Fox Sports Networks, CBS Sports Network and ESPN are set to expire June 30, 2016, but added that C-USA will "probably be talking to them well in advance of that."

Also addressed at the C-USA Winter Meetings was the allocation of playoff revenue for the "group of five" conferences, valued at roughly $86 million. Although nothing has been finalized, there have been ongoing discussions between the conference commissioners.

Banowsky: I think we have significant consensus already on how that should go. A lot of it is going to be in an equal sharing kind of mode, but then there is also going to be some performance elements to it as well.

Banowsky: We're [C-USA and Mountain West] both trying to grow and we're both trying to grow in a way that's stable growth, so we don't do too much too fast. I know for them to have Boise [State] and San Diego State come back into their group and get them to 12 is a lot of movement for them. My sense is that we're all set for 2013 -- in fact I know we're all set for 2013. What happens in 2014, I don't know.

[parialex]

They aren't really going to put Charlotte in the west, are they?

[rebelboi]

They aren't really going to put Charlotte in the west, are they?

no

[parialex]

Makes no sense geographically, though competitively it might. Anyway, that jumped out at me from their table. Hopefully an oversight.

[rebelboi]

add both Charlotte & Old Dominion to East and move Southern Miss to the West

[HogDawg]

Banowsky said C-USA's negotiations with the Mountain West broke down due to "complications" but he did not rule out the possibility of future conversations.

Interesting. Very interesting.

[parialex]

I'm still not convinced that the whole merger talk wasn't an effective ruse by Banowski to prevent the Mountain West Conference from expanding into Texas while C*USA got its ducks in a row.

[rebelboi]

I'm still not convinced that the whole merger talk wasn't an effective ruse by Banowski to prevent the Mountain West Conference from expanding into Texas while C*USA got its ducks in a row.

most likely and I can't see it happening going forward since MWC got Boise & SDSU back

[PawDawg]

I'm still not convinced that the whole merger talk wasn't an effective ruse by Banowski to prevent the Mountain West Conference from expanding into Texas while C*USA got its ducks in a row.

No, it almost happend. There was almost a mega merger of the MWC, C-USA, and the BE. Of course we were going to be included in that big CLUSTER.

[Dawg06]

The News-Star: http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/2...-like-new-day-

Van De Velde serves on the league's television committee, and he said Tech has an opportunity to bundle games not picked up C-USA's television partners (ESPN, CBS and Fox Sports). "Maybe there are one or two games that won't be picked up by (C-USA) partners, now the university has the opportunity to bundle and sell them," Van De Velde said. "We might take the leftover football games and put them with four or five basketball games and televise them statewide, like with Fox Sports New Orleans. "The WAC didn't give us that opportunity. Exposure is tremendous in recruiting and fundraising."

They aren't really going to put Charlotte in the west, are they?

Southern Miss is on Tech's football schedule in 2013, but Van De Velde said the Golden Eagles might join the west division when Old Dominion (2014) and Charlotte (2015) play a full C-USA football schedule. "I don't want to speak for the conference, but when Charlotte and Old Dominion are up and running with their football programs, there's a good chance for Southern Miss to shift to the west (division). "I'm excited about that relationship because the competition goes back decades."

[parialex]

I'm a bit curious on the BVDV comment. If WAC didn't allow for the opportunity to place third-tier rights, how did AggieVision work? Was it just that NMSU couldn't make money from it?

Glad to hear that there isn't a plan to put Charlotte in the west.

[PawDawg]

I'm a bit curious on the BVDV comment. If WAC didn't allow for the opportunity to place third-tier rights, how did AggieVision work? Was it just that NMSU couldn't make money from it?.

How much money could NMSU make from streaming the video? Not much. They probably make a little less than we make off of our silly All Access audio stuff. I can understand charging fans to view games. It's wrong to charge fans to listen to a game like we do.

[parialex]

How much money could NMSU make from streaming the video? Not much. They probably make a little less than we make off of our silly All Access audio stuff. I can understand charging fans to view games. It's wrong to charge fans to listen to a game like we do.

As I understand it, their games play on Fox Sports Houston, Comcast, and elsewhere. I'm not sure what they get paid for it, if anything, but it wasn't (just) streaming.

[PawDawg]

As I understand it, their games play on Fox Sports Houston, Comcast, and elsewhere. I'm not sure what they get paid for it, if anything, but it wasn't (just) streaming.

So you know of NMSU games that ran on FSH, Comcast, or elsewhere that were not already being picked up by the WAC or the opposing team? Which ones?

Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought Aggie Vision was a production that provided game video to their fans. If a network picks it up, they make a few extra bucks, but it ain't The Longhorn Network