Conference Realignment Will Be Shaped By Tech Firms Not Television

[Salsa_Verde]

A different perspective on college football media rights. The article predicts power moving away from traditional providers and athletic conferences. 

“When conference TV rights begin to expire in six or seven years, my Amazon source says that Amazon and Netflix could easily be prepared to spend ten times what the networks are projected to have available.”

 

https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/Article/Conference-Re-alignment-future-football-Ohio-State-Texas-Oklahoma-Notre-Dame-Alabama-Michigan-SEC-Pac-12-Big-10-ACC--118642101

Edited June 13, 2018 by Salsa_Verde

[Harry]

Wow -- great find!  Interesting stuff.

On a personal note, I have officially cut the cord.  My wife bitched about it for bit, because she likes to DVR her shows etc but now my streaming provider has a virtual DVR setup so she has quieted down.  It's SO much cheaper and I can watch stuff on my computer, my phone ...  My only fear is that they are going to eventually jack up internet cost to make up the difference.

 

I liked this part of the article:

  Quote

“Instead, we would want to identify 30 or 40 teams that command the biggest audience. That may be by reputation or location, but generally we all know that there are members in every one of these conferences that frankly don’t move the needle."

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So while we may not ever be in that elite "Big Dog" group of 40 teams he speaks to.  But we sure as hell should be trying to position ourselves to be in the next group below it.   And you won't have a system where schools like SMU can choose to bring along programs like Tulsa to their conference on a whim.  If it is based on eyeballs I think our numbers give us the potential to be well placed in future conference scenarios.

[greenminer]

  On 6/13/2018 at 11:26 PM, Harry said:

Wow -- great find!  Interesting stuff.

On a personal note, I have officially cut the cord.  My wife bitched about it for bit, because she likes to DVR her shows etc but now my streaming provider has a virtual DVR setup so she has quieted down.  It's SO much cheaper and I can watch stuff on my computer, my phone ...  My only fear is that they are going to eventually jack up internet cost to make up the difference.

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How are you getting sports?
 

  Quote

 

I liked this part of the article:

So while we may not ever be in that elite "Big Dog" group of 40 teams he speaks to.  But we sure as hell should be trying to position ourselves to be in the next group below it.   And you won't have a system where schools like SMU can choose to bring along programs like Tulsa to their conference on a whim.  If it is based on eyeballs I think our numbers give us the potential to be well placed in future conference scenarios.

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What? Never heard this before.

[Salsa_Verde]

  On 6/13/2018 at 11:26 PM, Harry said:

 

 

I liked this part of the article:

So while we may not ever be in that elite "Big Dog" group of 40 teams he speaks to.  But we sure as hell should be trying to position ourselves to be in the next group below it.   And you won't have a system where schools like SMU can choose to bring along programs like Tulsa to their conference on a whim.  If it is based on eyeballs I think our numbers give us the potential to be well placed in future conference scenarios.

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I thought that too. The SMU fan base simply isn’t there, across all sports. North Texas has a great opportunity to leap ahead. The amount of alumni and hopefully continued winning will put North Texas in a great position. These firms are going to be looking for content and have the money to do so. Thursday night football is going to be streamed on Amazon and Hulu streamed the NBA Finals. It’s a very exciting and interesting time. 

[MCMLXXX]

The article mentions 26 "big dogs" by name and the list does not include LSU.

If realignment happens does this mean they will geaux nowhere?

Edited June 15, 2018 by MCMLXXX

[LongJim]

  On 6/14/2018 at 1:08 AM, greenminer said:

How are you getting sports?
 

 

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My wife and I cut cable almost 2 years ago.  We have only added it back during college football season, but if you use a streaming device like Roku, you can access most content from ESPN, BeIN, etc. using that.  I am going to see if I can remain totally cable-free through football season this year.

[greenminer]

Disney and Comcast are in the middle of a bidding war for Fox (not all of it, but the deal would include Fox Sports).

I suspect this would be a huge push to get sports to primarily be streaming (rather than cable), and maybe impact conference alignment, too?

Another thought would be, is this a domino in the chain of events needed to separate P5 into their own division?

I thought it was interesting that Comcast's offer is all-cash!

Lots of changes are happening this year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/business/media/comcast-fox-disney-bidding-war.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/comcast-bids-65-billion-for-21st-century-fox-assets.html
 

 

[greenminer]

  On 6/15/2018 at 12:57 PM, LongJim said:

My wife and I cut cable almost 2 years ago.  We have only added it back during college football season, but if you use a streaming device like Roku, you can access most content from ESPN, BeIN, etc. using that.  I am going to see if I can remain totally cable-free through football season this year.

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Thanks.

I know that to watch/stream ESPN3, you have to validate that you have a TV service provider.  Having just internet service isn't enough.

Does regular ESPN via Roku work the same way, or is it different?

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

--- Just maybe people including television should take a look at SMU crowds before think they have a following or should have any influence.. The "Old Grey Mustang" isn't what it used to be... ( when it was cheating).

[LongJim]

  On 6/15/2018 at 2:48 PM, greenminer said:

Thanks.

I know that to watch/stream ESPN3, you have to validate that you have a TV service provider.  Having just internet service isn't enough.

Does regular ESPN via Roku work the same way, or is it different?

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Well, we have Sharter for our internet, and yes, espn does want to verify that you are with a carrier, but our connection is internet only, so not sure how it works with other ISPs.

[greenminer]

  On 6/15/2018 at 10:11 PM, LongJim said:

Well, we have Sharter for our internet, and yes, espn does want to verify that you are with a carrier, but our connection is internet only, so not sure how it works with other ISPs.

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Based on this article, you still have to have some subscription beyond your regular ISP, such as a SlingTV or a YouTube TV account.

 

[Salsa_Verde]

  On 6/15/2018 at 1:53 AM, MCMLXXX said:

The article mentions 26 "big dogs" by name and the list does not include LSU.

If realignment happens does this mean they will geaux nowhere?

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“Again, back to my friend at Amazon. “We’re still seven or eight years away,” he said, “but if we had to restructure the landscape today, we would not start by negotiating with a conference. We don’t care about the SEC, Big 12 of Big 10 as a whole. In our opinion, those entities are not our focus.“Instead, we would want to identify 30 or 40 teams that command the biggest audience. That may be by reputation or location, but generally we all know that there are members in every one of these conferences that frankly don’t move the needle.”

This is the part of the article that intrigues me. That tech firms could care less about the Vanderbilt’s and SMU’s of the world. They’re looking for programs that can bring volume in the the form of viewers. I think this is how North Texas can be in a better position in the future. I’m sure LSU will be ok. 

[Pavlovs Eagle]

  On 6/15/2018 at 2:48 PM, greenminer said:

Thanks.

I know that to watch/stream ESPN3, you have to validate that you have a TV service provider.  Having just internet service isn't enough.

Does regular ESPN via Roku work the same way, or is it different?

Expand  

I have been using Direct TV Now since the beginning of the year. They we're giving free Apple TV's if you prepaid 3 months at $35 a month. I personally love it. I have it on an Apple TV, a Roku Stick, and a Roku 4k box on three different TV's. It was a great day dropping off those giant Spectrum boxes at their office.

 During football season I'll up my package. Can be done from the website without speaking to anyone. And it can be lowered from the website without speaking to anyone after football season.

Edited June 18, 2018 by Pavlovs Eagle