Media Deal Not As Bad: $9M Annually

Side Show Joe · June 4, 2016

WKU AD Stewart: New C-USA TV deal 'still a very good package'

New deal includes 4 networks, $5 million annual revenue decrease

By BRAD STEPHENS bstephens@bgdailynews.com
Updated 1 hr ago

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Western Kentucky athletic director Todd Stewart knew the summer of 2016 wouldn’t be an ideal time for Conference USA to have to renegotiate a TV deal.

With consumers’ cable cord-cutting leading to networks tightening their financial belts, league members were prepared for the new deal to include a drop in TV revenue.

“It’s not a good time to be a free agent,” Stewart said.

The deal C-USA announced last week includes $9 million for the league per season for the length of the two-year contract. That’s a drop from the $14 million the league made per year in its previous deal.

http://www.bgdailynews.com/sports/wku/wku-ad-stewart-new-c-usa-tv-deal-still-a/article_73962054-bbd6-533d-8c7a-a4bfa55bc6e9.html

Harry · June 4, 2016

Better than had been originally projected. Thanks for sharing this. If C-USA can show that 2015-16 was a mirage we could build on this. We have to do our part.

Ben Gooding · June 4, 2016

So 642k per school a year. That's not very good either. The good have to remain good and bad (us) must step their game way up. The Florida schools are a real killer in just about every imaginable way possible. They have nothing to bring to the table.

southsideguy · June 4, 2016

yep we don't want to be everybody's homecoming date in the conference again.

Ben Gooding · June 4, 2016

In something that relates, the big12 just approved a championship game. They were somehow able to go through the loophole of needing at least 12 teams and split divisions to do so. And Of course the appeal to have the game was about $. Then of course the decision to reinstate the game was about $. They are estimated to make 20M as a conference off of this game alone, 2M a school. Off one game. Here some are, semi-celebratory, over 642K per school over the course of a season. The NCAA should not have wavered to the big12 on this decision. They are helping the rich get more rich. It's a systematic issue that needs to be broken apart and put back together.

So, why would the big12 expand? They have no reason to. They get to keep their schools intact, UT is tied up in the LHN and no one can budge away from it, they now get revenue money off of a champ game, and this gives them that extra game to "prove" themselves on championship Saturday in order to state a case for the playoff. The NCAA needs to be stripped of its power and it's a damn shame that the government of our country will have to be the one's to do it in the event that it ever happens.

ColoradoEagle · June 6, 2016

I'm just glad the games will be back on ESPN. That first year with Fox Sports 1 was amazing, and they treated the conference like a valuable commodity. Last year, though, we did a 1:30 PM kick in the middle of September to be on Fox College Sports Central, a channel most people don't even know exists. I'd rather deal with ESPN's ignorance than Fox's horrible scheduling.