The "Come To Jesus" Conferences Thread

Mad Hatter · January 14, 2016

Helmet stickers.

Mike Jackson · January 15, 2016

On 1/14/2016 at 4:05 PM, untjim1995 said:

Apogee and the Super Pit are wonderful venues, no doubt. And we will be playing in them for years to come. But it would be very wise to understand that our place in the college athletics landscape is not going to be with the Power Conference teams or even those that could get affiliated with them because of their budgets and history. If we hadn't basically give up on I-a football in the early 80's, it could very well be different today, but we didn't do that and it killed off too many resources (i.e., giving fans and alumni). Its a lot like the guy who never saved his entire work life and now wants to retire in the next ten years and live like his buddies do because of how much they saved. In the end, you can save more for the next decade, but your buddies got a large head start on you that will never allow you to catch up. At that point, it becomes all about changing your expectations to a more realistic view. That's what we have here now. We can still enjoy Mean Green sports, but its not going to be against the teams we all dream of them playing against on a level field. Its just not how college sports works.

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Great points in untjim1995's comment and other posters comments in this thread. However I think my major point was not totally clear. These P5 schools will cost themselves money also. People are cutting their pay TV services left and right. As a UNT fan/alumni I don't follow P5 teams except very casually. However when UNT plays them in a given season I am more likely to watch them. So if "bodybag" games go away permanently there is even less reason for me follow what is going on with any P5 school. Also these money moves have killed off some rivalry games that makes college football uniquely more passionate than NFL ball. I may not have followed Nebraska, Colorado, or Oklahoma but games between those old Big 12/Big 8 foes were appointment television for me. The same could be said all the more strongly for Texas vs Texas A&M just because I am Texas native. Texas vs Arkansas also; I mean we have a city that borders the two states that rivalry is a part of their culture; Texarkana. I only mentioning the rivalries in my region but the new greed landscape has ended (or but on major hiatus) way too many entertaining rivalries and I am sick of it. At some point the players are going to start getting paid and there are probably at least 5 schools in every Power 5 conference that will have a hard time managing that new financial reality. (Sure the players in the same conference will have equal pay but many schools won't be able to provide the other things recruits are looking for) So either they might have to drop down or just accept being the punching bag of their conference rival schools with more money and more football tradition. Looking down the road I see a college football landscape that is uninspiring arms race between the 15-20 programs that make so much money they can't ever cry poverty. I see a future that might include Texas State, UTSA, UNT, Rice and SMU dropping football all together. UTEP could make a go of it in FCS but football fans in the metropolitan areas in Texas could care less about FCS. They would rather follow the local powerhouse high school team. Hell the Denton High Broncos out drew UNT at Fouts Field when UNT played FCS football. And if you walked around during a Friday night Denton High Bronco game then offering a $100 to tell you who NTSU was playing Saturday you would most likely be able to keep that $100 the whole night. This new cheaper CUSA contract is just a sign of things to come. And I think there will be a lot of P5 school fans that will be very disappointed.

Christopher Walker · January 15, 2016

On 1/14/2016 at 9:07 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Helmet stickers.

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Underrated.

Arkstfan · January 15, 2016

If you want to see the future, look at music.

World is full of music acts making a living (and many many more who are engaged in a hobby)

Mega acts like a Taylor Swift make huge guaranteed money. The music distributors pay her fat money because she drives people to their sales sites. Then she gets paid for every download and listen on top of that.

Successful but not mega acts will get a few bucks guaranteed just keep them going but they pretty much get paid based on the download and listen.

Then you've got the vast remainder and they don't get anything unless someone downloads or listens.

That is the future of sports TV.

Mega acts like Texas, Alabama, Michigan get paid to drive people to the site and get paid for viewership.

The G5 will get paid a nuisance fee to help offset the cost of moving a game to Friday or Tuesday or kicking off at some weird hour. The bulk of the money will be based on viewership.

The FCS and the rest will pay 100% of their production costs and then get paid by the view.

You as the consumer will have a variety of packages to pick from you can get SEC, or LHN or just a run of the mill package. So let's say Harry pays $35 for the basic NET-ESPN, he gets a handful of decent games similar to what ESPN offers today plus ESPN3. ESPN is doling out say 1/2 cent per minute for what he watches. During September Harry watches 12 hours of games. At the end of the month ESPN cuts a check for $3.60 to the seller of the rights of that 12 hours and NET-ESPN has $31.40 left over to cover their costs and make a profit.

In 2014 the MAC averaged 3500 viewers per streamed game. In this hypothetical situation that would be $3675 per game. What if a game is on ESPNU and draws 200,000 viewers? That would produce $210,000 for the game. Tuesday night ESPN drawing a million viewers? $1.05 million.

No one watches, you don't get paid. Many watch you get good money.

Your satellite and cable box are already collecting that data, ESPN just needs to get the data either from them or rely on Nielsen.

HarringtonFishSmeller · January 15, 2016

On 1/15/2016 at 2:58 PM, Arkstfan said:

If you want to see the future, look at music.

World is full of music acts making a living (and many many more who are engaged in a hobby)

Mega acts like a Taylor Swift make huge guaranteed money. The music distributors pay her fat money because she drives people to their sales sites. Then she gets paid for every download and listen on top of that.

Successful but not mega acts will get a few bucks guaranteed just keep them going but they pretty much get paid based on the download and listen.

Then you've got the vast remainder and they don't get anything unless someone downloads or listens.

That is the future of sports TV.

Mega acts like Texas, Alabama, Michigan get paid to drive people to the site and get paid for viewership.

The G5 will get paid a nuisance fee to help offset the cost of moving a game to Friday or Tuesday or kicking off at some weird hour. The bulk of the money will be based on viewership.

The FCS and the rest will pay 100% of their production costs and then get paid by the view.

You as the consumer will have a variety of packages to pick from you can get SEC, or LHN or just a run of the mill package. So let's say Harry pays $35 for the basic NET-ESPN, he gets a handful of decent games similar to what ESPN offers today plus ESPN3. ESPN is doling out say 1/2 cent per minute for what he watches. During September Harry watches 12 hours of games. At the end of the month ESPN cuts a check for $3.60 to the seller of the rights of that 12 hours and NET-ESPN has $31.40 left over to cover their costs and make a profit.

In 2014 the MAC averaged 3500 viewers per streamed game. In this hypothetical situation that would be $3675 per game. What if a game is on ESPNU and draws 200,000 viewers? That would produce $210,000 for the game. Tuesday night ESPN drawing a million viewers? $1.05 million.

No one watches, you don't get paid. Many watch you get good money.

Your satellite and cable box are already collecting that data, ESPN just needs to get the data either from them or rely on Nielsen.

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Excellent points.

I see cable disappearing already, and a la cart viewing taking over. If I had the option just to pay for a sports channel or two, I'd just do that. Hulu, Apple TV, etc. are already there, basically. The "networks" are sacking up to it bit by bit as well.

Either way, those school in our position just need to win to keep the interest of alumni and student body. Hopefully, with enough winning, the word gets out and spreads beyond your base.

Step one, for us, though, is: win.

Christopher Walker · January 15, 2016

On 1/15/2016 at 2:58 PM, Arkstfan said:

If you want to see the future, look at music.

World is full of music acts making a living (and many many more who are engaged in a hobby)

Mega acts like a Taylor Swift make huge guaranteed money. The music distributors pay her fat money because she drives people to their sales sites. Then she gets paid for every download and listen on top of that.

Successful but not mega acts will get a few bucks guaranteed just keep them going but they pretty much get paid based on the download and listen.

Then you've got the vast remainder and they don't get anything unless someone downloads or listens.

Expand

Mmm. That's not entirely true. Digital music in any form is no longer seen as profitable any more; physical can be but is dwindling save for vinyl. In fact, most see downloads and streaming as more of a kind of business card that leads to the real source of income in touring. Source: I moonlight as a talent-buyer for a club and major music festival.

Harry · January 15, 2016

This is such an interesting topic. I can tell you this, my days of paying $200+ a month for Uverse TV are coming to an end. I watch a fair amount of games but honestly do not watch near enough TV to justify that much money. I notice that my YouTube watching has gone through the roof and I also enjoy Netflix. The biggest issue I face is my internet is bundled with the Uverse and my cell phones in a family package. Also my wife likes to DVR a lot of specific network programs on Bravo and MTV etc.

i received a text from AT&T offering me unlimited data plans yesterday. My guess is that they are going to try and tie that to a contract on the Uverse TV package to help protect against Apple TV. I also understand that there are internet providers like google that you can use for just Internet. I totally think we will see a huge shift to al la carte pricing but it takes time to figure out how to best match up with what you have right now.

Arkstfan · January 15, 2016

I'm grandfathered unlimited data with ATT both UVerse and mobile (and if an interesting sports event is on during the work day yes I play it on my iphone). Uverse offers a bare bones TV package that is just local channels and pretty cheap. I did that for a time under a special offer even though I'm Direct for my TV.

As for DVR'ing check if those programs are on Hulu, if so that's your DVR.

On 1/15/2016 at 4:13 PM, Christopher Walker said:

Mmm. That's not entirely true. Digital music in any form is no longer seen as profitable any more; physical can be but is dwindling save for vinyl. In fact, most see downloads and streaming as more of a kind of business card that leads to the real source of income in touring. Source: I moonlight as a talent-buyer for a club and major music festival.

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Well it's not that it is unprofitable, it is that it is very low margin and if you aren't producing high volume you don't make much profit.

But yeah if you aren't a mega act the money is in ticket sales and merchandise... oddly the circumstance G5 schools find themselves in.

TIgreen01 · January 15, 2016

On 1/15/2016 at 4:47 PM, Arkstfan said:

I'm grandfathered unlimited data with ATT both UVerse and mobile (and if an interesting sports event is on during the work day yes I play it on my iphone). Uverse offers a bare bones TV package that is just local channels and pretty cheap. I did that for a time under a special offer even though I'm Direct for my TV.

As for DVR'ing check if those programs are on Hulu, if so that's your DVR.

Well it's not that it is unprofitable, it is that it is very low margin and if you aren't producing high volume you don't make much profit.

But yeah if you aren't a mega act the money is in ticket sales and merchandise... oddly the circumstance G5 schools find themselves in.

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So how do you watch sports with a bare bones uverse package? Do you add the sports package and HD premium tier for another $20-30/month?

Arkstfan · January 15, 2016

On 1/15/2016 at 9:18 PM, TIgreen01 said:

So how do you watch sports with a bare bones uverse package? Do you add the sports package and HD premium tier for another $20-30/month?

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Never asked. They gave me a cheaper deal to have the bare bones UVerse than what I could get for internet and phone, soon as the special ran out canceled it. I was getting TV from Direct at that point. But UVerse internet does get you ESPN3 content.

Stan R · January 15, 2016

I just cancelled FIOS cable recently (outrageously expensive with DVR ) and went to SlingTV and never looked back. It's got ESPN/ESPN2 and a handful of others, CNN, HGTV, etc. for $20 bucks a month and I also have netflix. Done.