C Rod

You might be on to something...

"Man I wish you were here today, we'd throw you some deep shots right now" Looks like we're about to land a WR and coach is fired up about it. https://twitter.com/SethLittrell/status/1339257403309654017?s=20

The current college football business model is in trouble. Something has to give... https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/10/16/the-covid-19-pandemic-is-revealing-the-regressive-business-model-of-college-sports/amp/

The Fox Sports Go app has the game and you can stream the replay anytime but you first have to provide them with your cable subscription information in order to access. https://www.foxsportsgo.com/get-app

The Fox Sports Go app has the game and you can stream the replay anytime but you first have to provide them with your cable subscription information in order to access. https://www.foxsportsgo.com/get-app

Seth can make one move and completely change the narrative. Bring in Mason Fine as our new QB coach.

Ooooof. Kickoff is scheduled right when my brother is getting married. Man this sucks. He'll understand...

My money is on Kason Martin. He may not start the season as the starter but I can see him overtaking Bean & Aune by mid-season. It's worth noting he was the lone QB to not throw an interception last Saturday. He also threw a 60 yd TD and his performance earned praise from coach after the scrimmage. The fact that coach Littrell made a point to mention Kason alongside Bean & Aune to me says this is a real 3-man race for the spot. Apparently Kason has practiced well up to this point and continues to make a good argument for playing time.

IMO, playing for money games at this point is a pipe dream. OU, TCU, and Baylor filled their openings on 9/12 with opponents who were already on the schedule. It was more of a reshuffle of dates and game location (TCU is now hosting SMU.) In this COVID climate and financial crunch, I can't see any P5 team willing to pay us money to play them. We're UNT and we don't have any leverage. If the shoe is on the other foot, are we willing to pay another FCS school to come play at Apogee on 9/12? I highly doubt it. My bet is 9/12 stays open on the schedule and we use it as a prep week for SMU.

Tulsa is having a rough week... https://www.fox23.com/news/local/university-tulsa-football-practice-paused-after-eight-players-test-positive-covid-19/H3WPYFCJU5AZDPXGCDWMBWETSE/ Hot off the press: https://tulsaworld.com/sports/college/tu/watch-now-bill-haisten-as-derrick-gragg-departs-his-successor-must-accept-tu-s-uniqueness/article_6292f024-4f8b-50aa-80f5-3b6368e9c41d.html

I disagree. We're slated to receive $1.25 MILLION dollars from TAMU. We're in a severe budget crunch due to Covid-19. 1.25 M would go a long way to help offset the current financial losses.

There’s about to be an uprising in South Carolina... https://apple.news/AVV1BQMLfSjel3pVXCkrtoQ

This is a sobering read: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/coronavirus-in-college-football-hospitalizations-deaths-projected-by-data-analysts-if-fbs-plays-in/amp/

Pat Forde just dropped Part 2 of America, Realigned. Here's his take on the 12 team playoff: https://www.si.com/college/2020/06/30/college-football-playoff-realignment-bracket

The loss to Rice last year continues to haunt us. Haha.

https://www.bgdailynews.com/sports/wku/wku-athletics-faces-over-1-million-in-budget-cuts/article_503954f6-392c-5fba-8663-6b98eddea459.html Tough decisions are ahead. If WKU is already “cutting to the bone”, G5 schools will be lopping off entire body parts if there is no football this fall. Let’s be real, the potential for college football this fall is looking bleaker by the day. Heck, the reduction in ticket sales may already be a fatal blow to some programs. Out of financial necessity, some Universities will be forced to cut additional sports teams, putting them under the required 16 teams for FBS eligibility. Cough::Tulsa::cough I hope with us being a large public university in DFW, we can weather this storm and take Tulsa’s place in the AAC.

Don’t shoot the messenger but Governor Abbott just threw cold water on the campfire yesterday. Attendance will be capped at 50% capacity if college football returns this fall. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/3180765001

Well said and I couldn't agree more. If I were Coach Littrell, I'd offer Mason a year-to-year job as an Asst. QB Coach with an opt-out clause if/when the NFL calls. I'd have him lift weights and workout with the team so he can continue to develop into a NFL body and keep his skills sharp. He would be assigned a dedicated film crew to showcase his arm talent and leadership abilities, on tape. Because of Mason Fine's unique background, he is the ultimate underdog story and his journey should be told in cinematic fashion. Netflix and ESPN+ are yearning for sports documentary content like this and it's a proven way to gain national exposure. (Example: LAST CHANCE U on Netflix https://youtu.be/rFzvBYFrhOc) From a team perspective, the QB room would benefit greatly under his tutelage and leadership from an, "I've been in the trenches with you" and a "you better not let me outwork you" mindset. His corporate knowledge of our offense would only help to further develop our young QBs. At the end of every practice when the defense is gassed, I would unleash Mason on the 1st team DBs to build their 4th quarter readiness. Iron sharpens iron. It would also send a powerful message to future recruits and their parents that we take care for our own and will do everything in our power to help them to chase their dreams. From my perspective it would be a win-win for both Mason and UNT... but I'm just a filmmaker so what do I know.

LMAO, I'm glad you don't run UNT's marketing department. Here is the case I would make to AAC Commissioner, Mike Aresco. UNT is a university on the rise. Just look at our expansion in DFW. We now have campuses in Denton, Frisco, Fort Worth, and Dallas. A Tier One research university with nearly 40,000 students makes us one of the nation's largest universities; which better positions us to survive economic downturns. (Fingers crossed) Our facilities are top-notch and both our football and basketball teams have had success in recent years. Sure, we're not where we want to be just yet, but our improvements can't be denied. I know SMU likes to drape Dallas on the front of their jersey and remind us we're not the prettiest girl at the dance, but truth is, we're the one's f*cking the prom king. https://www.unt.edu/notices/unt-dallas-cowboys-partner-offer-professional-mba-cowboys-way-official-notice-president. Being a strategic partner with the most valuable football franchise in the world is a clear win and advantage over other schools from C-USA, MWC, and Sun Belt. President Neil Smatresk understands the power of the halo effect and he's using it masterfully to our advantage. It's no secret the AAC is moving their headquarters to Dallas. https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2020/05/20/college-athletic-conference-finalizes-plans-for-more-to-north-texas/ Do a quick Google Maps search and you'll see their new headquarters will literally be 3 minutes down the road from the current Big 12 headquarters. This is a brilliant power move by Mr. Aresco and the AAC. If I were him, I would take it a step further and drop Tulsa and add UNT in order to lock up the DFW Metroplex. Suck on that Big 12. Let's not forget that DFW is projected to lead the nation in population growth this coming decade. The battle for the DFW Metroplex is just getting started. https://dallas.culturemap.com/news/city-life/01-09-20-dfw-lead-population-growth-2020-2029-cushman-wakefield/ As AAC Commish, I would be cautious of raiding the MWC and enlarging the AAC travel footprint even further. The new landscape of college football is seeking to reduce travel costs, not add to them. This aggressive action could also open the door to the MWC gaining a strategic foothold in Texas by swooping up UTEP and UNT as replacements. Unintended consequences can be a bitch. My last point is rivalries matter and put cheeks in seats. The annual UNT vs SMU game only grows in importance if both schools reside in the same conference/division. Why not lean into the local rivalry and pour gasoline on the bonfire? Move the annual game to the end of the season, and it takes on a whole new level of intensity and local interest. Thanksgiving game, anyone?

As long as we have sports, ESPN will definitely be around well into the future. In just one year, (Q1 2019 - Q1 2020) ESPN+ grew their monthly membership from 1.4M subscribers to 6.6M subscribers. To date ESPN+ has a subscriber count of 7.9M, and climbing. This rapid growth is not a sign of a struggling business model. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1054451/espn-plus-subscriber-us/ 7.9M subscribers x $4.99 monthly fee = $39.4M per month in revenue, which equates to $473M per year... and climbing. And this doesn't even factor in the millions of dollars of revenue generated from corporate TV advertising sales. Disney has wisely position ESPN+ to be the Netflix of sports entertainment and they are leading the pack by several miles. ESPN+ allows ESPN to go straight to the consumer and cut out the expensive cable company. That is a recipe for more profits, not less.

UConn is paying the AAC an exit fee of $17M to leave for the Big East. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/college/university-of-cincinnati/2019/07/26/opinion-why-did-aac-cave-uconn-exit-fee-negotiations-big-east-basketball-football-fbs-fcs/1840567001/

I agree. IMO, this is the most plausible path for us to jump to the AAC. We need Tulsa to fold like a deck of cards so we can take their place.

Follow the money. AAC has 11 years left on a lucrative 12 year TV deal with ESPN. Each school makes an average of $7M per year. Adding more schools to AAC would dilute each school's share of the pie. And from all reports, AAC is in no hurry to fill the vacancy left by UConn last year. If AAC wants to reduce travel costs, they can easily schedule games with eager schools in the C-USA and Sun Belt. C-USA and Sun Belt TV deals are laughable compared to AAC. The C-USA TV deal pays us a paltry $200K per year. I couldn't find the exact numbers for Sun Belt but it's in the same ballpark. This disparity is why writers aren't suggesting an AAC merger with either conference.

More chatter on the subject coming from UL Lafayette: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/sports/ul_lafayette/article_17575f02-9c7a-11ea-9bda-33d894e3e2ea.amp.html