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Author Topic: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal  (Read 3126 times)

brewnewsman

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AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« on: March 19, 2019, 08:20:21 PM »
AAC, ESPN Agree To 12-Year Media-Rights Deal Worth $1B
By Michael Smith and John Ourand
The American Athletic Conference will get $1B for its media rights from ESPN over 12 years, according to sources. The average of $83.3M per year is about four times what the AAC was making in its previous rights agreement with the net, which paid the league just over $20M annually. The new agreement begins in '20-21 and runs through the '31-32 academic year.

The annual per-school average of $6.94M provides each AAC school with nearly $5M more in annual revenue. They did not sign a grant of rights, which would have restricted them from jumping to a conference in the Power Five. SBJ reported in December that the AAC was considering a grant-of-rights, which effectively turns over a school’s media rights to the conference.

The comprehensive deal provides ESPN with rights to all of the AAC’s live programming, except for a small package of basketball games on CBS and some Navy football games on CBS Sports Network. The new contract also calls for some Saturday football games to be broadcast on ABC. Football, along with men's and women's basketball, will remain on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, but the majority of basketball games and a significant number of the football games will go to ESPN+. Other live sports including baseball, softball and soccer also will air on ESPN+. Renewal talks with CBS have not begun.

Jon

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2019, 08:43:18 PM »
MU needs to resurrect football!

Where's Norm Killion when you need him?

cheebs09

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2019, 09:07:46 PM »
I read most basketball games will be on ESPN+ and UCONN fans are upset. I think they are getting less money now than before.

Jockey

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2019, 09:14:08 PM »
AAC, ESPN Agree To 12-Year Media-Rights Deal Worth $1B
By Michael Smith and John Ourand
The American Athletic Conference will get $1B for its media rights from ESPN over 12 years, according to sources. The average of $83.3M per year is about four times what the AAC was making in its previous rights agreement with the net, which paid the league just over $20M annually. The new agreement begins in '20-21 and runs through the '31-32 academic year.

The annual per-school average of $6.94M provides each AAC school with nearly $5M more in annual revenue. They did not sign a grant of rights, which would have restricted them from jumping to a conference in the Power Five. SBJ reported in December that the AAC was considering a grant-of-rights, which effectively turns over a school’s media rights to the conference.

The comprehensive deal provides ESPN with rights to all of the AAC’s live programming, except for a small package of basketball games on CBS and some Navy football games on CBS Sports Network. The new contract also calls for some Saturday football games to be broadcast on ABC. Football, along with men's and women's basketball, will remain on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, but the majority of basketball games and a significant number of the football games will go to ESPN+. Other live sports including baseball, softball and soccer also will air on ESPN+. Renewal talks with CBS have not begun.

Can't be true. A couple guys here on Scoop told me ESPN is running out of money.

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2019, 09:48:42 PM »
Looking at this at money only:

$7 million with football or $4 million without football. I'll take the $4 million.

Big issue, all content behind ESPN+ streaming paywall is terrible. Kinda tough for Penny to recruit kids when their games are hidden behind a paywall, aina?

Cheeks

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2019, 09:51:35 PM »
Looking at this at money only:

$7 million with football or $4 million without football. I'll take the $4 million.

Big issue, all content behind ESPN+ streaming paywall is terrible. Kinda tough for Penny to recruit kids when their games are hidden behind a paywall, aina?

Maybe.  UFC did an exclusive deal with ESPN+ yesterday for PPV.  No longer can you buy UFC fights from Comcast, Directv, DISH, Spectrum...only on ESPN+.  Fans are super Pisa’s, but it might work for them...time will tell.

ESPN is ratcheting up the spend right now for that service.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2019, 10:42:56 PM by Cheeks »
"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2019, 09:57:24 PM »
Maybe.  UFC did an exclusive deal with ESPN+ yesterday for lol PPV.  No longer can you buy UFC fights from Comcast, Directv, DISH, Spectrum...only on ESPN+.  Fans are super Pisa’s, but it might work for them...time will tell.

ESPN is ratcheting up the spend right now for that service.

So is UFC completely included or is it PPV on top?

GoldenWarrior11

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2019, 10:19:03 PM »
This is a huge win for ESPN; they get to retain AAC content for pennies on the dollar to populate its ESPN+ platform.  In 2032, they will be paying under $7 million to each AAC member (while whatever the power conferences will look like will likely be making $40/$50/$60 million per member). 

This is a huge loss for UConn, absolutely.  They are currently spending $7 million annually on travel budgets alone; this new deal won't even cover that.  The UConn Women's Team just got cheated out of a #1 seed because their conference wasn't strong enough.  They have a $40 million deficit.  Their football program is one of the worst in the country.  Now they are locked into a cheap(er) deal until the 2030's.  Wow. 

MU82

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2019, 10:30:40 PM »
This is a huge win for ESPN; they get to retain AAC content for pennies on the dollar to populate its ESPN+ platform.  In 2032, they will be paying under $7 million to each AAC member (while whatever the power conferences will look like will likely be making $40/$50/$60 million per member). 

This is a huge loss for UConn, absolutely.  They are currently spending $7 million annually on travel budgets alone; this new deal won't even cover that.  The UConn Women's Team just got cheated out of a #1 seed because their conference wasn't strong enough.  They have a $40 million deficit.  Their football program is one of the worst in the country.  Now they are locked into a cheap(er) deal until the 2030's.  Wow.

They're not locked in if they drop football and come back to the BEast!
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Cheeks

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2019, 10:43:57 PM »
So is UFC completely included or is it PPV on top?

On top, but the point is you can no longer buy UFC ppv anywhere in the USA except from ESPN+.  They took their wide distribution and killed it all to go in house.

"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

forgetful

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2019, 11:21:59 PM »
AAC, ESPN Agree To 12-Year Media-Rights Deal Worth $1B
By Michael Smith and John Ourand
The American Athletic Conference will get $1B for its media rights from ESPN over 12 years, according to sources. The average of $83.3M per year is about four times what the AAC was making in its previous rights agreement with the net, which paid the league just over $20M annually. The new agreement begins in '20-21 and runs through the '31-32 academic year.

The annual per-school average of $6.94M provides each AAC school with nearly $5M more in annual revenue. They did not sign a grant of rights, which would have restricted them from jumping to a conference in the Power Five. SBJ reported in December that the AAC was considering a grant-of-rights, which effectively turns over a school’s media rights to the conference.

The comprehensive deal provides ESPN with rights to all of the AAC’s live programming, except for a small package of basketball games on CBS and some Navy football games on CBS Sports Network. The new contract also calls for some Saturday football games to be broadcast on ABC. Football, along with men's and women's basketball, will remain on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, but the majority of basketball games and a significant number of the football games will go to ESPN+. Other live sports including baseball, softball and soccer also will air on ESPN+. Renewal talks with CBS have not begun.

That is on the low end of what the AAC was hoping for, and far below what would make football financially tenable.

HouWarrior

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2019, 07:32:25 AM »
Besides MU (undergrad), my second rooting is for UH (lawschool); hence my houwarrior moniker.

UH has been a pleasant surprise in recent years. Under Tom Hermann Sumlin and Briles their football has been the best of the non power five. Signing Dana Holverson away from WVU seems we will continue in the national Top 25 discussions.

Maybe an even bigger surprise has been UH basketball resurgence. Kelvin Sampson has done a great great coaching job....our no 3 NCAA Tourney seed is best since Phi Slamma Jamma days in the early 80s

Our key money backer has been Tillman Fertitta (owns Rockets, Hotels Rest. chains and Casinos).

This ESPN news is good and UHers continue to hope for a Power 5 invite (we think Big 12 should have grabbed us up a couple of years ago).

GO COOGS
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Cheeks

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2019, 08:59:00 AM »
Besides MU (undergrad), my second rooting is for UH (lawschool); hence my houwarrior moniker.

UH has been a pleasant surprise in recent years. Under Tom Hermann Sumlin and Briles their football has been the best of the non power five. Signing Dana Holverson away from WVU seems we will continue in the national Top 25 discussions.

Maybe an even bigger surprise has been UH basketball resurgence. Kelvin Sampson has done a great great coaching job....our no 3 NCAA Tourney seed is best since Phi Slamma Jamma days in the early 80s

Our key money backer has been Tillman Fertitta (owns Rockets, Hotels Rest. chains and Casinos).

This ESPN news is good and UHers continue to hope for a Power 5 invite (we think Big 12 should have grabbed us up a couple of years ago).

GO COOGS

Mack Rhoades did a pretty good job setting things up before he left

"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

Cheeks

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2019, 06:18:11 PM »
From Olurand....full disclosure, I worked with Aresco on NCAA March Madness tv package for multiple years and think highly of him. I disagree with Forgetful, they got what they could out of this deal considering their stature as a league.

 
TAKEAWAYS FROM THE AAC-ESPN DEAL
•   Here are a couple of points from ESPN’s $1 billion deal for American Athletic Conference that really struck me:
o   In the time since ESPN+ launched, ESPN’s Burke Magnus has negotiated more rights deals than any sports media exec I’ve covered. On Monday, I wrote about UFC PPV coming to the streaming platform. Yesterday, it was the AAC. Today, it's the popular Copa América, according to World Soccer Talk. These underscore Disney’s huge commitment to invest in the streaming platform.
o   While Pac-12 Networks struggles to get proper distribution, smaller conferences like the Ivy League -- and now the AAC -- are launching what are essentially their own channels on ESPN+. By 2023, ESPN+ will carry more than 1,000 AAC events across 17 sports. It's a big bet by these conferences to put so much inventory on a startup direct-to-consumer platform, even one that has been as successful as ESPN+ so far.
o   ESPN is committed to produce all AAC football, plus men’s and women’s basketball games. It also will produce most conference championships. Similar to college conference channels, the conference and its schools are on the hook to produce the Olympic sports that will be on ESPN+. Previously, most AAC schools sold online subscriptions to access live baseball, softball, soccer, etc.
o   Usually, conferences hire media consultants to handle these kinds of negotiations. Not AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco. The former CBS exec negotiated directly with Magnus on this deal. I’m told that he kept Ed Desser and John Kosner on speed dial to help formulate a strategy. But this deal was all Aresco. Part of his strategy was to insist that the AAC and ESPN negotiate as if they were starting from scratch, without regard for the previous contract that undervalued the league’s worth.
 




"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

ChitownSpaceForRent

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #14 on: March 20, 2019, 06:33:05 PM »
 Hearing the Copa America rights was a tempter for me to jump into ESPN+ but since it’s only once every 4 years still not worth it.

But ESPN isn’t stupid, you buy enough stuff, you’re bound to pick up viewers. Now if they bought cricket and rugby rights, I’d be all in.

HouWarrior

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #15 on: March 20, 2019, 06:35:11 PM »
Mack Rhoades did a pretty good job setting things up before he left
He was an ideal AD for the up and coming still building/renovating programs...so yes, UH was a good chapter.

After his Missouri move (Helped with their SEC joinder/upgrade) he is now at Baylor --yes?

Baylor.....Seems an odd fit for him and a real mess of a program/culture. They tend to expect more than they get in sports ...and later, get what they deserve.
Waco can be Wacko
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Cheeks

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #16 on: March 20, 2019, 06:47:46 PM »
He was an ideal AD for the up and coming still building/renovating programs...so yes, UH was a good chapter.

After his Missouri move (Helped with their SEC joinder/upgrade) he is now at Baylor --yes?

Baylor.....Seems an odd fit for him and a real mess of a program/culture. They tend to expect more than they get in sports ...and later, get what they deserve.
Waco can be Wacko

Missouri was weird, going through a lot of issues there.  They needed someone clean to get in there and overhaul at Baylor.  They backed up the Brinks truck.  Good man, big part of my personal life.

"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

forgetful

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #17 on: March 20, 2019, 11:04:40 PM »
From Olurand....full disclosure, I worked with Aresco on NCAA March Madness tv package for multiple years and think highly of him. I disagree with Forgetful, they got what they could out of this deal considering their stature as a league.


I think you are misreading what I said. I'm not saying they didn't get what they deserved. I'm saying they got less than they wanted, and less than what is financially tenable in terms of maintaining football programs in that league.

They wanted $8-12M per team (and needed). They got far less.

ChitownSpaceForRent

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #18 on: March 20, 2019, 11:42:29 PM »
Popped over to the UCONN board because that's what I like to do when things continue to go south for them.

A lot of them starting to jump on the drop football and join the Big East bandwagon. When you look at what other conferences get relegated to ESPN+ it's pretty pitiful.

Still have the completely delusional fans who think they're getting a ACC bid in 2022-24, but they seem to be wanting to cut their losses.

Eldon

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #19 on: March 21, 2019, 07:59:27 AM »
I think you are misreading what I said. I'm not saying they didn't get what they deserved. I'm saying they got less than they wanted, and less than what is financially tenable in terms of maintaining football programs in that league.

They wanted $8-12M per team (and needed). They got far less.

Source?

GooooMarquette

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #20 on: March 21, 2019, 08:03:40 AM »
Popped over to the UCONN board because that's what I like to do when things continue to go south for them.

A lot of them starting to jump on the drop football and join the Big East bandwagon. When you look at what other conferences get relegated to ESPN+ it's pretty pitiful.

Still have the completely delusional fans who think they're getting a ACC bid in 2022-24, but they seem to be wanting to cut their losses.

LOL. They might get into a major conference in 3 to 5 years?

The Sultan of Semantics

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #21 on: March 21, 2019, 09:34:08 AM »
I just don't see it happening.

UConn isn't going to draw more eyeballs to sets.  It isn't going to help get the ACC network onto basic cable in NYC like Rutgers did for the Big Ten.  What they have to do is get real good at football quickly, and with their history and their location, I just don't see that happening either.  If I were the ACC (or another conference) looking to expand and pull from the AAC, I would look at Central and South Florida long before I look at UConn.

But my guess is that they'll continue to plug away at FBS football.  I don't think people realize how difficult it is for organizations to say "this didn't work" despite the sunk costs they've put into the program.
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muwarrior69

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #22 on: March 21, 2019, 10:04:58 AM »
Football really killed their once "blue blood" basketball program. Joining the ACC has not done much for Notre Dame, Pitt or Syracuse either. Hell, the ACC is just a two team basketball conference with 2 or 4 wannabes.

...and their football teams really stink.

MU82

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #23 on: March 21, 2019, 10:21:08 AM »
UConn isn't going to draw more eyeballs to sets.  It isn't going to help get the ACC network onto basic cable in NYC like Rutgers did for the Big Ten.

I'd love to know what percentage of NY sports fans give a rat's rump about Rutgers football.

I'm guessing it's even smaller than the percentage of Chicago sports fans who give a rat's rump about Northwestern basketball. Probably even significantly smaller.
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The Sultan of Semantics

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Re: AAC, ESPN Agree To 12yr/$1B media rights deal
« Reply #24 on: March 21, 2019, 10:27:35 AM »
I'd love to know what percentage of NY sports fans give a rat's rump about Rutgers football.

I'm guessing it's even smaller than the percentage of Chicago sports fans who give a rat's rump about Northwestern basketball. Probably even significantly smaller.


Oh I'm sure.  But the addition met its stated objective. 


Football really killed their once "blue blood" basketball program. Joining the ACC has not done much for Notre Dame, Pitt or Syracuse either. Hell, the ACC is just a two team basketball conference with 2 or 4 wannabes.

...and their football teams really stink.

Except for Clemson.  Miami and FSU falling off was unexpected as well.
“True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.” - Clarence Darrow