ESPN Out for B1G TV Rights

[iowastatefan1929]

So they locked up all the good over the air network slots.
Great, and no this is not good from my perspective, that was our only hope to get some good over the air network slots.

 

[Yellow Snow]

ESPN bid around $180 million (I think) this time around for B1G games. They knew they weren't going to get the top games, so when B1G came back at them for twice that $$$ figure, they walked.

So @Gonzo where do you think this will end up money wise for B10?

700 million apparently from NBC and CBS? What is Fox chipping in?

 

[WhoISthis]

For the amount the BIG is rumored to have wanted ESPN to pay for not even getting the top games they absolutely should have walked. They have the SEC, so it's not like they were going to be shut out of the two primary leagues. That price tag isn't worth it for what ESPN would be getting. It is for a player like NBC or CBS who doesn't have anything to go on since CBS is losing the SEC.

Agree, there is no way they pay that for the Iowa and MN types.

They've known for awhile that they were likely to be out imo, so I wonder what their resultant moves are. There was some speculation if ESPN still had BIG stake, you'd see more cooperation between the networks in realignment. Which could have meant a pause.

If this is a sign of ESPN and FOX still adversarial, and with ESPN a lot of budget headroom to make moves. Do they make a 3rd conference to remove shoulder games, and build the SEC so that their lineup has more likelihood of better matchups to pull viewers?

There is a battle for ratings now, and that makes consolidation even more important imo

 

[HFCS]

Adding more teams will not increase the per team payout unless the teams alone exceed that payout. There aren't any of those whales left on the board. Add teams to stabilize the conference and ensure a power conference tag, but don't go beyond that. More teams just means the denominator is larger too.

There are two left for big 12 but they look down on big 12 and aren’t “stabilize” adds but the opposite.

I think just AZ and CU alone could slightly increase payout per school. The “all four corner schools” would lock up #3 most valuable conference some day and stabilize greatly but wouldn’t increase $ per school.

 

[spierceisu]

So they locked up all the good over the air network slots.
Great, and no this is not good from my perspective, that was our only hope to get some good over the air network slots.

I agree. If we go to games on ESPN, the SEC will get all of the bigger networks and good time slots with many of the Big 12 games probably going to be on ESPN+. Based off of what I have watched on ESPN+ so far I would almost rather go to Amazon or Apple instead. ESPN+ gets the games, but the commentators (no offense to Blum) are not up to the same standard as other channels. I keep thinking back to the game at West Virginia last year where the announcers were terrible and the sideline reporter was a weird wrestling reporter or something like that.

 

[PickSix]

After sleeping on this for a night or two, I think the Big 12's going to be just fine. No way that FOX will be content with just one big college football game, and probably not CBS either. As much as they shelled out for the B1G, it's still only one time slot on each network. Having the Big 12 serve as the second part of a double header on these networks should be compelling enough to keep folks from switching the channel.

I just think with the level of investment these networks are putting in to attract college football fans, it makes sense to have other games to keep the eyeballs on your network.

It won't be B1G money, but hopefully we can position ourselves firmly as the #3 conference.

 

[BCClone]

Adding more teams will not increase the per team payout unless the teams alone exceed that payout. There aren't any of those whales left on the board. Add teams to stabilize the conference and ensure a power conference tag, but don't go beyond that. More teams just means the denominator is larger too.

Unless those teams offer you something you don’t have. The PAC has 4-5 games a week to offer for the at dark slot. They only need 1-2. If a conference can grab a couple teams and offer 1-2 a week now, that could make those couple of teams value worth more than the collective of the PAC.

 

[WhoISthis]

No way that FOX will be content with just one big college football game, and probably not CBS either. As much as they shelled out for the B1G, it's still only one time slot on each network. Having the Big 12 serve as the second part of a double header on these networks should be compelling enough to keep folks from switching the channel.

I just think with the level of investment these networks are putting in to attract college football fans, it makes sense to have other games to keep the eyeballs on your network.

That could just mean BIG expansion, although if you're a FOX conference, it is nearly one and the same to the networks. More scheduling constraints, but also more efficient cost structure.

Imo, if you're trying to have more inventory and make the other slots as valuable as possible, you'd want to take the best of the rest and put the BIG (or SEC brand when talking ACC), have those games matter more to the biggest collective of fans. UW/Oregon/Stanford etc likely help you pull more fans as matchups if as a BIG matchup.

Whatever they do to fill, it has potential to cannibalize some the T1 spots they sold, which is why there were rumors FOX had little interest in PAC or Big 12. If you're going to cannibalize a BIG game, a conference that FOX basically has equity in due to BTN ownership stake, doing it with other BIG games makes some sense imo

 

[BCClone]

I think this big payout to the big ten actually proves that ND will not be in a conference. If NBC can splash 350MM for a game a week, you don’t think 75MM for probably the highest valued teams 7 games is going to happen. It probably locked it up for ND. NBC is paying more for the big ten per game than what ND is requesting.

 

[cyfan92]

SEC and ACC have time slots to fill on their own networks. I'd rather have a game on ESPN 2 than on FS1. You get the publicity on College Gameday versus the less watched FOX show.

The Big 12 needs the Pac 10 to die and the cards will fall into place for us to go north of $50M per year in revenue.

 

[Gonzo]

So @Gonzo where do you think this will end up money wise for B10?

700 million apparently from NBC and CBS? What is Fox chipping in?

No idea other than reported estimates of $1.25 bill/year. I've seen recent reports if it pushing to $1.5 bill/year, that'd put Fox and if rumors are correct Apple in at $800 mill/year, seems a bit higher to me.

 

[Clonehomer]

Unless those teams offer you something you don’t have. The PAC has 4-5 games a week to offer for the at dark slot. They only need 1-2. If a conference can grab a couple teams and offer 1-2 a week now, that could make those couple of teams value worth more than the collective of the PAC.

Oh yeah, the collective PAC is a non-starter. The question is do you want 2, 4, or 6 teams? The previous poster talked about a $70M payout (which seems very high IMO). So let's start with gobbling up UA and CU. Does Utah give you $70M in additional revenue? Maybe Oregon does, but even that is questionable. So IMO, you go to 16 with the best 4 PAC teams and then stop. If you can get Washington and Oregon to agree to a long GOR, then they make sense. If not, get the 4 corners and be done. Might not maximize your revenue without UW and UO, but you're going to end up more stable in the end and the map looks better while you're at it.

 

[KennyPratt42]

No idea other than reported estimates of $1.25 bill/year. I've seen recent reports if it pushing to $1.5 bill/year, that'd put Fox and if rumors are correct Apple in at $800 mill/year, seems a bit higher to me.

The $1.25b/yr estimate seems about right to me based on the leaked information/individual figures. That would put the per school payout for 16 schools at ~$78m/yr.

 

[Clonehomer]

SEC and ACC have time slots to fill on their own networks. I'd rather have a game on ESPN 2 than on FS1. You get the publicity on College Gameday versus the less watched FOX show.

The Big 12 needs the Pac 10 to die and the cards will fall into place for us to go north of $50M per year in revenue.

I think we'll know before kickoff of the first game this fall what the future is with the PAC. Schools are giving some leeway with extending the TV negotiating window, but now that the Big10 seems close to being done, anyone who's going to offer will be offering soon. If ESPN doesn't provide a saving offer now that the Big10 is off their radar I think the AD's will realize they're done and it's time to find a home. But, maybe ESPN will offer and they do what the Big12 has done and just limp along staying in the game to see if someone else folds first.

 

[Clonehomer]

The $1.25b/yr estimate seems about right to me based on the leaked information/individual figures. That would put the per school payout for 16 schools at ~$78m/yr.

For TV alone? That would mean they'll eclipse the $100m per school when other revenue is added.

 

[BCClone]

For TV alone? That would mean they'll eclipse the $100m per school when other revenue is added.

The other income has been running around 7-12 MM per year. You are looking at a huge increase there. Remember, the head office usually skims 10% for themselves. That would mean 70MM per team for broadcast and another 10-15MM for other stuff probably. So 80-85MM with those numbers.

 

[WhoISthis]

The other income has been running around 7-12 MM per year. You are looking at a huge increase there. Remember, the head office usually skims 10% for themselves. That would mean 70MM per team for broadcast and another 10-15MM for other stuff probably. So 80-85MM with those numbers.

They're going to get a huge part of the expanded CFP revenue

 

[jdcyclone19]

I had seen ESPN offered $300M and the conference wanted $350M and apparently got it from someone else.

Thats the entire PAC10 contract value that was offer for just 1 B10game. Thats mind blowing to thing about. All the P10 games vs 1 B10 game.

 

[isucy86]

Unless those teams offer you something you don’t have. The PAC has 4-5 games a week to offer for the at dark slot. They only need 1-2. If a conference can grab a couple teams and offer 1-2 a week now, that could make those couple of teams value worth more than the collective of the PAC.

I posted yesterday that the Pac12 after dark spot at 10:30pm ET on ESPN was the 12th most watched TV slot during the 2021 CFB season. One week last season, instead of it's after dark spot, ESPN showed the LSU vs. Auburn game at 9pm ET. It was the 6th most watched game that weekend.

That raises the question, why invest any money in the Pac12 for the 10:30pm slot? Why not just televise an SEC game at 9pm ET and get significantly higher ratings at no additional cost? My guess is that experiment by ESPN wasn't accidental.

If Disney really wants an after dark slot for west coast viewers. They can show the game on ESPN2 and offer the Pac12 some money, although that isn't going to be break the bank $ for the Pac12.

 

[ISU_Guy]

if the Big Ten is at 100M and the Big12 is in 3rd place at 30-40M, then I think we will be ok, but that is a lot of money separating us. I can't imagine teams like purdue, Ill, Iowa getting 50-60M per year just on TV revenue. They are going to be able to pay coaches whatever they want.