Numbers For New TV Deal Per Virginia Pilot Reporter $2.8mm Per Year

TreeFiddy · June 8, 2016

http://pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/football/conference-usa-tv-revenue-to-plummet-to-million-per-year/article_1dd435cb-800e-574d-be6d-0afa42d957e7.html

If this is true ($200k per school), then the price of poker just went up. Still not sure if these numbers are correct, but they are definitely a little troubling if true. It looks like the league said 'no thanks' to mid week games, which I am sure drove the number way down. Personally, I am glad the league does not want to play mid week games and become the MAC. That is no way to build interest.

I hope the university is ready to step up and cover the shortfall in TV $'s. With our size, this could actually be a good thing for us in the end if it forces out some of the smaller schools and shrinks the overall pool of teams. If we can weather the storm, we could come out in better shape than we are today.

Ryan Munthe · June 8, 2016

Turning down mid week hurts in the short term but benefits in the long term. Mid week games are more embarrassing than anything.

Ben Gooding · June 8, 2016

I agree 100%. We just have to weather the shit storm that is tv revenue first. The hiring of Littrell and firing of RV brings hope that we actually might be able to.

Arkstfan · June 8, 2016

Not getting a deal done until after schedules had been made for the season pretty much precluded doing much of anything in the midweek arena.

Travis · June 8, 2016

I am ok with midweek games. I just wish they weren't always at home (it feels like to me).

Boise State has made it clear that TV games are a priority no matter when they take place. It hasn't impacted their program. But, we are a different breed.

Cerebus · June 8, 2016

The most important part, IMHO:

Quote

As expected, the league is ramping up its streaming of sports events, embarking on an ambitious proposal to modernize its streaming services.

Every school will upgrade its in-house telecasts of games, which are streamed for a fee on school Web sites. C-USA will take over the broadcast from the individual schools and make all games available for a fee.

The goal is to make those broadcasts match the quality on ESPN, and then have them distributed on several streaming services.

Schools will be required to upgrade broadcast facilities to meet ESPN standards.

That means adding additional cameras – at least six for football games and four for basketball – as well as upgraded production facilities. Broadcasts must be in HD.

Very good move for the conference to require this to happen. We'll have a big leg up on a lot of CUSA schools because Apogee is a dream to broadcast from. Would have been almost impossible in Fouts.

TreeFiddy · June 8, 2016

58 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

The most important part, IMHO:

Very good move for the conference to require this to happen. We'll have a big leg up on a lot of CUSA schools because Apogee is a dream to broadcast from. Would have been almost impossible in Fouts.

I wonder about the time frame. I suppose until the other schools upgrade, we may have some difficulty finding our away games.

VideoEagle · June 8, 2016

3 hours ago, Arkstfan said:

Not getting a deal done until after schedules had been made for the season pretty much precluded doing much of anything in the midweek arena.

It's not a single year contract so if scheduling was the issue then mid-week games could start in a later year.

The last contract required midweek games and no one liked them. I would be shocked if the money offered for the midweek games simply wasn't enough to justify the pain. There is a lot of data available now on whether or not midweek games really build your brand or not. Since the MAC has been playing them for sometime now, I'm thinking it's more "not."

Someone wrote Boise plays midweek games, but not in the last few years. They played ONE in 2014 and that was one of the Kickoff Classic games against Mississippi in the Georgia Dome. Those aren't usually part of a TV contract!

To me it appears the Presidents looked at what they give up for midweek games in attendance and what they were being offered in cash and decided to pass. Building rivalries, increasing attendance and increasing donations and local advertising will bring in more money for a G5 team than TV contracts will. The biggest drawback of streaming is educating people on how and when to watch the games. Good use of social media will fix that.

Arkstfan · June 8, 2016

21 minutes ago, VideoEagle said:

It's not a single year contract so if scheduling was the issue then mid-week games could start in a later year.

The last contract required midweek games and no one liked them. I would be shocked if the money offered for the midweek games simply wasn't enough to justify the pain. There is a lot of data available now on whether or not midweek games really build your brand or not. Since the MAC has been playing them for sometime now, I'm thinking it's more "not."

Someone wrote Boise plays midweek games, but not in the last few years. They played ONE in 2014 and that was one of the Kickoff Classic games against Mississippi in the Georgia Dome. Those aren't usually part of a TV contract!

To me it appears the Presidents looked at what they give up for midweek games in attendance and what they were being offered in cash and decided to pass. Building rivalries, increasing attendance and increasing donations and local advertising will bring in more money for a G5 team than TV contracts will. The biggest drawback of streaming is educating people on how and when to watch the games. Good use of social media will fix that.

It's a two year deal so half of it was basically off the table.

Boise played six Friday night games in 2015. They are scheduled for four Fridays and one Thursday this year. Compare that to 2014 when Boise played one Thursday and two Fridays,

AState has a Friday home game and you'd think the school had suggested Baylor players gang rape the pope for halftime entertainment because of the interference with high school football. Friday's are great for me because my interest in high school football begins and ends with who is signing with AState but I'd rather play a Thursday or Tuesday as play Friday because the guys we are recruiting are playing Friday.

Cerebus · June 8, 2016

5 minutes ago, Arkstfan said:

Baylor players gang rape the pope for halftime entertainment

TreeFiddy · June 8, 2016

Friday night ain't exactly mid week and to me the willingness to move your games to alternate days is a sign of jumping the shark. I was under the impression that the MAC plays tue/wed nights.

If we have to take less TV money and still get to play on Saturdays, then I am fine with that as long as the school/boosters are willing to continue to fund the program at necessary levels.

Ryan Munthe · June 8, 2016

I'd be fine with Friday, since I've never understood nor do I like the high school football fetish. But I would never want them because too many people would use them as an excuse for not showing up.

Ben Gooding · June 8, 2016

46 minutes ago, Ryan Munthe said:

I'd be fine with Friday, since I've never understood nor do I like the high school football fetish. But I would never want them because too many people would use them as an excuse for not showing up.

Because I am betting you didn't play high school ball.

Ryan Munthe · June 8, 2016

2 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

Because I am betting you didn't play high school ball.

You thought wrong. My brother played at one of the biggest HS football programs in Georgia, as well. There's nothing wrong with high school ball, my issue is more or less the bizarre pseudo-professional vibe of a bunch of teenagers playing football.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Ryan Munthe

baberuthbomber8 · June 8, 2016

Honest, question... I would like to see us play on Saturdays, but throwing in a mid-week game that would be on ESPN or something could actually be nice if we were descent because it would be something a lot of people/ potential recruits could watch as well.. So isn't that a worthy trade off if ESPN paid more to us for us to play SMU or someone on a Thursday, if we got more? and we were half-way descent lol...

Cerebus · June 9, 2016

23 hours ago, TreeFiddy said:

I wonder about the time frame. I suppose until the other schools upgrade, we may have some difficulty finding our away games.

WKU reporter tweeted that the $2.8M figure is the actual cash payout, the earlier $9M dollar figure is "total value", which includes production costs for TV.

Seems like ESPN is going to eat the costs, or help the school underwrite the costs, or even possibly help them come up to standards.

That would explain the $9M -> $2.8M dollar change.