Texas To Stay In Big Xii

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

Actually the MWC just went from 9 to 10. If Utah goes to the Pac 10, then they're back at 9 and I doubt there's any more movement. It's in the MWC best interest to leave the WAC as a viable conference.

Yep, I miscounted...back to 9.... I am not sure I agree with your WAC statement... Montana (if interested) might be added.... but the problem there is LaTech would love to leave WAC and CUSA might become available. The WAC may be in trouble.

Maybe Texas State gets their wish in all of this..

Edited June 15, 2010 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[gangrene]

Rather that sit pat, wipe the sweat from their brows in relief, I think the smaller conferences, WAC, CUSA and SBC should seize the opportunity to make some major waves of their own. The Big XII is doing away with their conference championship game because the revenue doesn't outweigh the risk of losing a shot at a national championship game. The smaller conferences won't generate that same level of revenue but they also don't face the same risk of losing a conference championship game. I think one or two of these conferences should merge to make the 16 team super conferences all the experts were predicting. The absence of the Big XII championship creates an opportunity for them to showcase their conferences' best teams on a weekend that has very little competition for college football viewers.

[NT80]

I was hoping UT would go PAC 10 and it would be an epic failure.

I'm glad all the prima donnas didn't get to form their SuperConference. Their bandwagon fans gloat enough as it is. One good thing was the message sent to Baylor about what others really think of them.

[MeanGreenTexan]

I'll be serious for once. Is this little more than Texas leveraging their position to get someone else to finance the infrastructure to create their own Notre Dame-like empire in a few years? When the league ultimately falls apart and Texas breaks into their own stratosphere with a super-TV network in place for any conference or, gasp, station looking for an independent program to feature, will the other teams still be happy they played such a subordinate role?

Either way, we're one step closer to the end of amateur college athletics.

Et tu Quoner?

It's all about the Benjamins baby! Say what you want about DeLoss Dodds, the dude knows how to make money.

[Lurker]

For all the talk about the other schools wanting to control their destiny, the rest of the Big 12 is still toting UT's laundry. The conference should be renamed Texas and the Sheep. That way regardless of how many schools leave or join, the name is still accurate.

I wonder if there is any truth to the rumor that aside from Texas, the other schools must remove their helmet logos and put this on it:

Texas will let the schools make the sheep their own color and not require it to be burnt orange.

In case you can't tell, the Aggies and Sooners have really disappointed me. I thought better of them - I guess I should have known.

[Rudy]

Id say the MWC would want to add Nevada to get back to 10, if Utah does leave.

[Cerebus]

I hope I didn't lose too many people on that. The long and short of it is Fox Sports has reportedly promised the 10 Big 12 schools $17 million per year for 18 years. That totals over $3 billion but the greater issue is that the TV landscape is going to be so drastically different in 18 years that it will be impossible to fulfill that agreement.

Yes, exactly, this is what I hear from people who work inside the TV industry. These same people also have doubts as to how they get the money over the next couples.

From what I can tell, FSN is considered very disorganized.

[Cerebus]

Hmmm....

Big12 commish Beebe just admitted the numbers of the new TV deal are projections from Big 12 consultants.

The numbers are NOT from FSN and FSN has not committed to any amount yet.

[NT80]

Hmmm....

Big12 commish Beebe just admitted the numbers of the new TV deal are projections from Big 12 consultants.

The numbers are NOT from FSN and FSN has not committed to any amount yet.

How secure do Iowa State and Baylor feel about the Texas "long-term" commitment if the revenue promises fall short? Missouri would bolt in a millisecond now if the Big10 still offers.

Edited June 15, 2010 by NT80

[Cerebus]

How secure do Iowa State and Baylor feel about the Texas "long-term" commitment if the revenue promises fall short? Missouri would bolt in a millisecond now if the Big10 still offers.

Well they were scared enough already to give the Colo/Neb buyout money to UT/aTm/OU... thats right, the rest of the schools agreed that they shouldn't get part of that $20 million.

I don't understand how you can take a league, remove Nebraska and Colorado, take away the rights to air a title game, and then more than DOUBLE the contract?

In fact, even though Beebe will no longer discuss any numbers, his office did leak earlier this week that they expected the TV rights to go from $20 million a year to $140 million a year.... WHAT?

[Quoner]

How secure do Iowa State and Baylor feel about the Texas "long-term" commitment if the revenue promises fall short? Missouri would bolt in a millisecond now if the Big10 still offers.

They can feel all sorts of things, but what are they going to do about it? TCU could replace Baylor any second and a dog with a box on its head could pretty much cover for Iowa State.

[Cerebus]

Well they were scared enough already to give the Colo/Neb buyout money to UT/aTm/OU... thats right, the rest of the schools agreed that they shouldn't get part of that $20 million.

I don't understand how you can take a league, remove Nebraska and Colorado, take away the rights to air a title game, and then more than DOUBLE the contract?

In fact, even though Beebe will no longer discuss any numbers, his office did leak earlier this week that they expected the TV rights to go from $20 million a year to $140 million a year.... WHAT?

oops, I was wrong, it's not 20 million... its 30 million.

KU, KSU, ISU, BU, Mizzou were all so scared of the B12 blowing up that they agreed to just hand that money over. That is a terrible way to start off conference peace, love and understanding, for ever and ever.

[ColoradoEagle]

Sounds like it buys us some time before the real divorce in a few years.

[LongJim]

Sounds like it buys us some time before the real divorce in a few years.

Bingo.

[Cerebus]

oops, I was wrong, it's not 20 million... its 30 million.

KU, KSU, ISU, BU, Mizzou were all so scared of the B12 blowing up that they agreed to just hand that money over. That is a terrible way to start off conference peace, love and understanding, for ever and ever.

Alright... one more time.

According to Beebe, those schools offered to give up the money, the B12 decided not to allow them to do that.

However, of that 30 million, B12 can only really claim 80% of the revenue they would pass through to those schools next year. The rest of the money, the majority, Nebraska and Colorado would have to CHOOSE to pay. B12 COULD sue them for it, but B12 doesn't know if it would be worth the time or the bad press.

This stuff is confusing.

[gangrene]

Yes, exactly, this is what I hear from people who work inside the TV industry. These same people also have doubts as to how they get the money over the next couples.

From what I can tell, FSN is considered very disorganized.

I don't want to elaborate too much, but FSN works on something closely resembling the good ole boys network. DeLoss Dodds strikes me as someone that fluently speaks the good ole boys language.

FSN has 24 different regional sports networks (14 FSN-branded affiliates) and, for the most part, they all operate independently. They always want special consideration when discussing ratings. Instead of negotiating on a true Nielsen Designated Marketing Area (DMA) basis, they always try to get buyers to exclude non-cable/satellite TV households so they can artificially inflate their ratings. This tactic is not unique to FSN but it is certainly not an industry standard practice, nor is generally accepted.

In addition, they tend to whore out their sports broadcasts with as many in-game sponsorships as they can. Watch a Texas Rangers game and you'll see the Sonic grand slam inning, the Gatorade replay, about four automotive manufacturer sponsorships i.e. "drive of the game" "keys to the game" etc. etc. and several others. There is no limit to the number of sponsorships they'll allow within a given sports property and there's no limit to the number of things they'll slap a corporate logo on. They're probably even out trying to get Barbasol to sponsor the "pie in the face" post-game interview. The true value of these sponsorships tends to be difficult to ascertain and they just throw out random costs without substantiating them. Then, they seal the deal by offering countless tickets. All of it is very much in the "good ole boy" style. Quite frankly, I'm amazed, if not impressed, that they are able to convince so many companies to buy these sponsorships in today's economic environment. However, as a viewer, I'm a bit dismayed by the sponsorship overkill and I think it severely cheapens the viewing experience. I have no doubt they'll try to cram as many of these sponsorships into Big 12(-2) football broadcasts as they possibly can and that's where they think the majority of the TV money promised to the Big 12(-2) schools can be made.

Aside from the advertising perspective, I find Fox Sports broadcasts to be lacking in the quality department. I don't tend to notice sports broadcasters unless they are really bad. And some of the announcers on their football games are absolutely horrible. I mean ESPN+ bad. And I can recall numerous occasions on which a home run, touchdown or other key play was not shown live because someone at FSN was sleeping when the play occurred. However, I'd much prefer a crappy announcer and poor quality broadcast over only having the option of listening to a game on the radio (sorry Dunham).

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with FSN, ESPN or any other sports network nor am I a disgruntled FSN employee. These comments are solely based on my observations/experiences with FSN.