(06-30-2015 03:13 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  Keep this report mind when fans suggest/insist that networks are going to automatically increase B12 rights fees if they add new members...or that the AAC's contract is going to somehow quadruple to around $10million/year/school.

ESPN has just made a lot of bad business decisions. The Longhorn Network is a bust and the money they are paying the one trick pony ACC isn't exactly a money maker. Makes you wonder if the ACC Network is going to get a green light...and if not the ramifications on realignment. See FSU's pending threat...

I normally agree with you but in this case I dont think that the deals will decrease but more so that ESPN will have to be more selective in who they buy, though I cant see them allowing their competitors to pick up content on the cheap.

I think you'll see more diversification. Right now ESPN has a pieces or all of the P5 conferences and most of the G5. Fox still needs content, CBS is starving for anything decent and Comcast/NBC has gotten beaten out on everything.

If there is no expansion, I still tend to think the AAC will triple their contract. $6-7 million is where I think we end up, unless were able to raide the MWC and get BYU...then I think we can get more. It may not be from ESPN though.

(07-01-2015 01:47 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  Heck, the whole premise of Fox and Comcast investing in FS1/NBC-SN is to get a piece of the ESPN pie. If ESPN ever starts losing money, why would Fox or Comcast want a bigger piece of that?

Its almost impossible for Disney to lose $$ on ESPN...and the only way that will happen is if cable/sat companies lose 25% or more of their audience to cord cutters and/or (maybe more likely), Disney overspends on upcoming contracts coming due in the next decade.

There will always be value in live sporting events (i.e. especially to advertisers), hence why FOX/NBC Sports will grab almost anything ESPN doesn't want and/or if they outbid ESPN.

Maybe over the next decade or two Disney isn't able to reap the same level of profit margin off ESPN...but odds are, ESPN will always be a money maker for Disney.