Colorado back to Big XII

[faninmonroe]

All of this and Rice is going to the PAC12 with their new AD, Tommy McLelland.

[Bulldog Tom]

All of this and Rice is going to the PAC12 with their new AD, Tommy McLelland.

I think a lot has to happen for Rice to get into the PAC 12, but who knows. Tommy always seems to fall up. It’s funny, no way he would ever have led us to the AAC, yet he ends up there.

[Bulldog Tom]

PAC 12 commissioner to present tv deal to presidents in the next 48 hours. We will quickly find out if a major realignment is in the works.

[Bulldog Tom]

PAC 12 meeting tomorrow morning to lay out tv deal. Special board meeting at Arizona scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

[Bulldog Tom]

Here is some background:

The cash portions of the 2 deals are relatively close.

This came up recently for ULM's AD. He talked about it on the morning drive show in Ruston a few weeks ago. ULM's budget of $18.5 million is a full $10 million behind USM's $28.5 million budget, the next lowest in the Sun Belt.

When asked about the impact of the Belt's new TV deal on their budget he told a group of boosters that the cash portion was $1 million.

Another million is non-cash, like the value ESPN puts on access to the ESPN+ platform or the value they give to the conference for having championship games on ESPN, ESPN2, or ABC. Or the value given to any equipment ESPN might provide to maintain the quality standards they want to see on ESPN+. Some of the Belt schools include this value in their budgets.

It's similar to the apparel deals many of the Belt schools or CUSA schools have with Adidas. Most of it isn't in cash, it's almost all in apparel. But the full dollar value is included in everybody's budget.

What ULM's AD told his boosters is also what Dr. Wood said in his talks at the Tech tour stops over the summer regarding all these deals. He used the exact same numbers regarding CUSA and the Sun Belt.

CUSA's new deal with CBS/ESPN of $750,000 in cash per school, per year. There is a look-in at the end of the 2023-24 year that could increase the deal. CUSA's deal is just behind the cash portion of the MAC's deal with ESPN (some games subleased to CBS) at $833,000 per school, per year in cash and the Belt's deal with ESPN, which is $1,015,000 in cash per school, per year. The Belt's next look-in with ESPN is at the end of the 2026-27 school year.

The AAC's new deal with ESPN is for $6,940,000 in cash per school, per year. The 6 new additions to the league will take reduced amount of $4,627,000 per school, per year for 3 years. They will each receive a full share beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. It was believed in 2021 the AAC's deal would be cut with each of the 6 new additions taking less money permanently. But AAC commish Mike Aresco was able to convince ESPN to maintain the full deal, partially because there are outs for the AAC in the deal if it was cut by ESPN. He talked about this extensively in an interview several months ago on SiriusXM.

So....

AAC = $6,940,000 in cash (6 new schools get $4,627,000 per year for 3 years and get the full amount in 26-27)
Sun Belt = $1,015,000 in cash (next look-in with ESPN in 26-27)
MAC = $833,000 in cash (ESPN deal with some games sub-leased to CBS Sports Network)
CUSA = $750,000 in cash (CBS/ESPN deal with look-in at the end of the 2023-24 year)

Thanks for the research. I knew we had the worse deal financially, but I thought we were at 50% of the SBC, but we are almost at 75% of their deal. Still not expecting a bump, but perhaps the viewership to get more money is so low, maybe we can get more money.

[Bulldog Tom]

All of this and Rice is going to the PAC12 with their new AD, Tommy McLelland.

And, Skip goes to Northwestern as special assistant to the head coach. Termed a temporary assignment and he will go back to being a minor league head coach after the college season.

[glm47]

And, Skip goes to Northwestern as special assistant to the head coach. Termed a temporary assignment and he will go back to being a minor league head coach after the college season.

A do nothing job. No one is more qualified than Skip.

[Bulldog Tom]

PAC 12 meeting tomorrow morning to lay out tv deal. Special board meeting at Arizona scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

What we think know for sure is the proposed deal is streaming with Apple, there was no agreement of the PAC 12 schools to accept the offer, another meeting will take place soon for a vote, Arizona’s Board of Regents are holding a special meeting at 3:30 where they will immediately go into Executive Session (not public). It seems the proposal has escalators based on how many people subscribe to Apple for the package and that is what the Presidents needed time to digest and why no agreement was made today.

What they didn’t announce publicly so far is the amount. Guesses are $20-22 million per school. Also, no mention of length of Apple’s offer. Can’t say I would be excited if I was an Arizona, Arizona State or Utah fan. They could probably leave this week for more money, way better exposure, a better football conference and arguably the best basketball conference.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out as more information becomes available.

[revf]

What we think know for sure is the proposed deal is streaming with Apple, there was no agreement of the PAC 12 schools to accept the offer, another meeting will take place soon for a vote, Arizona’s Board of Regents are holding a special meeting at 3:30 where they will immediately go into Executive Session (not public). It seems the proposal has escalators based on how many people subscribe to Apple for the package and that is what the Presidents needed time to digest and why no agreement was made today.

What they didn’t announce publicly so far is the amount. Guesses are $20-22 million per school. Also, no mention of length of Apple’s offer. Can’t say I would be excited if I was an Arizona, Arizona State or Utah fan. They could probably leave this week for more money, way better exposure, a better football conference and arguably the best basketball conference.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out as more information becomes available.

The Arizona fan base seems less than ecstatic about an Apple TV deal or a Prime Video TV deal. My guess is it's not the best. Arizona, Arizona St, and Utah might be better off moving to the Big-12 and going for exposure to more Central Fan Bases (and more TV eyeballs) vs playing late nights.

BYU, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona St, Utah, Texas Tech, and two others creates a nice little east division.

[THEarmada]

I’m just hopeful that we end up in a regional conference with peer schools that we can develop rivalries with. With the current TV deals, NIL, transfer portal, an insurmountable two tier system is almost inevitable.

[techman05]

Arizona, ASU, and Utah headed for Big12. Teams talking to Big10. Close to 3 mega conference and then the rest of us.

[PawDawg]

Where do the ACC teams end up?

We are in an athletic rut with our AD, President, and CUSA token.

[techman05]

Is the Big East still a conference? Maybe they join together?

[techman05]

But after a quick glance, none of the Big East teams have football.

[sportdawg]

Is the Big East still a conference? Maybe they join together?

AAC was splintered from Big East. Basketball schools kept the name.