The network inserted the clause in case the AAC’s football powerhouse — UCF — left for a bigger conference. Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston and USF also were seen as likely AAC schools to be poached by bigger conferences if realignment took hold again.


https://awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/espn-ca...um=twitter

Ken mentioned a clause but didn’t quote it. I smell BS. I think we’ll talk with them in good faith, but the understanding is that one low hanging team leaving doesn’t trigger any such clause.


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ESPN will likely put to bed the idea that the conference is going to deliver less content and split the same check fewer ways. My guess is they come to the AAC with a short list of acceptable schools they can expand with, the AAC will get to split the exit and entry fees paid, ESPN gets the volume it negotiated for, and the AAC doesn't suffer the indignity of having their new contract pro-rata'd down before it even goes into effect.

I just don’t see the American staying at 11. This is the chance to the American and ESPN to become G5 kingmakers. Adding schools protects the conference and ESPN from whatever happens with Texas and Oklahoma down the line.

I believe going big is th he way go. Everyone added is going receive a significant increase in revenue and TV exposure.

VCU and Dayton should be locks on the basketball side of things. I like Marshall and then Colorado State and Air Force as all sports members if the goal is go to 14/16.

No -blank-.

Y’all act like ESPN are fools. They knew damn well when they signed the paperwork the conference would evolve at some point and they made sure they had a say in it.

I’m sure they will want another school but I don’t know which ones they will prefer. I feel strongly we won’t stay at 11.

(06-25-2019 09:48 PM)SMUleopold Wrote:  No -blank-.

Y’all act like ESPN are fools. They knew damn well when they signed the paperwork the conference would evolve at some point and they made sure they had a say in it.

I’m sure they will want another school but I don’t know which ones they will prefer. I feel strongly we won’t stay at 11.

I mean, to be fair Navy's AD and (I think) the Cincinnati paper are both out there pushing the "we'll probably stay at 11" line. It's not crazy to address it when conference ADs are on record stating it.

(06-25-2019 09:16 PM)HoustonRocks Wrote:  The network inserted the clause in case the AAC’s football powerhouse — UCF — left for a bigger conference. Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston and USF also were seen as likely AAC schools to be poached by bigger conferences if realignment took hold again.


https://awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/espn-ca...um=twitter

This article is written by folks with a Memphis quality education. I kid i kid.

(06-25-2019 09:52 PM)Bogg Wrote:  

(06-25-2019 09:48 PM)SMUleopold Wrote:  No -blank-.

Y’all act like ESPN are fools. They knew damn well when they signed the paperwork the conference would evolve at some point and they made sure they had a say in it.

I’m sure they will want another school but I don’t know which ones they will prefer. I feel strongly we won’t stay at 11.

I mean, to be fair Navy's AD and (I think) the Cincinnati paper are both out there pushing the "we'll probably stay at 11" line. It's not crazy to address it when conference ADs are on record stating it.

Stories also say that one school can't trigger it.

I don't think any of them know. Even the guy who broke the contract story got some major stuff wrong. I'm going with the Navy AD, he's been a straight shooter, and well, you know, he signed the contract

(06-25-2019 09:52 PM)wavefan12 Wrote:  

(06-25-2019 09:16 PM)HoustonRocks Wrote:  The network inserted the clause in case the AAC’s football powerhouse — UCF — left for a bigger conference. Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston and USF also were seen as likely AAC schools to be poached by bigger conferences if realignment took hold again.


https://awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/espn-ca...um=twitter

This article is written by folks with a Memphis quality education. I kid i kid.

Perhaps, but it’s also poor form on your part to use the words “Memphis” and “quality“ in the same sentence.

New article (4 hours old as I type this) from Hartford Courant seems to think the contract is still binding on ESPN as is. (See excerpt below)

https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-foo...story.html

- As for the AAC’s next move, speculation about what school could replace UConn was rampant as soon as news of the Huskies’ departure leaked last weekend. But the conference might very well stand pat with 11 football members. The league’s television contract doesn’t change with the loss of one school.

(06-25-2019 09:31 PM)Bogg Wrote:  ESPN will likely put to bed the idea that the conference is going to deliver less content and split the same check fewer ways. My guess is they come to the AAC with a short list of acceptable schools they can expand with, the AAC will get to split the exit and entry fees paid, ESPN gets the volume it negotiated for, and the AAC doesn't suffer the indignity of having their new contract pro-rata'd down before it even goes into effect.

Exactly what I think. I believe ESPN was disturbed by the talk of standing pat and pocketing the UConn share. ESPN saw that attitude as an abuse of the spirit of the freshly signed deal. ESPN leaked this story to The Sports Business Journal as a shot across the AAC bow to nip that talk in the bud. My guess is aresco will muzzle the schools and we will hear no more “standing pat” talk. The next story we hear will be that a number of schools ESPN and the league find attractive have informed the AAC of their interest and the AAC is in the early stages of exploring if any of these options might be a good fit for the league.

UAB will be the team unless BYU or Army will join.

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(06-25-2019 10:57 PM)Indiana Bones Wrote:  New article (4 hours old as I type this) from Hartford Courant seems to think the contract is still binding on ESPN as is. (See excerpt below)

https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-foo...story.html

- As for the AAC’s next move, speculation about what school could replace UConn was rampant as soon as news of the Huskies’ departure leaked last weekend. But the conference might very well stand pat with 11 football members. The league’s television contract doesn’t change with the loss of one school.

This would be in line with the Navy AD who said we would see an increased distribution per school and that we should not add, just to add.

(06-25-2019 11:04 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(06-25-2019 09:31 PM)Bogg Wrote:  ESPN will likely put to bed the idea that the conference is going to deliver less content and split the same check fewer ways. My guess is they come to the AAC with a short list of acceptable schools they can expand with, the AAC will get to split the exit and entry fees paid, ESPN gets the volume it negotiated for, and the AAC doesn't suffer the indignity of having their new contract pro-rata'd down before it even goes into effect.

Exactly what I think. I believe ESPN was disturbed by the talk of standing pat and pocketing the UConn share. ESPN saw that attitude as an abuse of the spirit of the freshly signed deal. ESPN leaked this story to The Sports Business Journal as a shot across the AAC bow to nip that talk in the bud. My guess is aresco will muzzle the schools and we will hear no more “standing pat” talk. The next story we hear will be that a number of schools ESPN and the league find attractive have informed the AAC of their interest and the AAC is in the early stages of exploring if any of these options might be a good fit for the league.

Yeah, too bad it sounds like the contract doesn't say that. ESPN can be upset, we're stuck for 12 years in this deal and so are they. We'll see since we don't want to just slap them in the face, but I doubt the Navy AD will be letting ESPN decide his programs future and therefore the AAC's, especially when they make more money off CBS than ESPN. I don't see UCF's AD just rolling over either, he's already been poking the powers that be in the eye.

(06-25-2019 11:41 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  

(06-25-2019 11:04 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(06-25-2019 09:31 PM)Bogg Wrote:  ESPN will likely put to bed the idea that the conference is going to deliver less content and split the same check fewer ways. My guess is they come to the AAC with a short list of acceptable schools they can expand with, the AAC will get to split the exit and entry fees paid, ESPN gets the volume it negotiated for, and the AAC doesn't suffer the indignity of having their new contract pro-rata'd down before it even goes into effect.

Exactly what I think. I believe ESPN was disturbed by the talk of standing pat and pocketing the UConn share. ESPN saw that attitude as an abuse of the spirit of the freshly signed deal. ESPN leaked this story to The Sports Business Journal as a shot across the AAC bow to nip that talk in the bud. My guess is aresco will muzzle the schools and we will hear no more “standing pat” talk. The next story we hear will be that a number of schools ESPN and the league find attractive have informed the AAC of their interest and the AAC is in the early stages of exploring if any of these options might be a good fit for the league.

Yeah, too bad it sounds like the contract doesn't say that. ESPN can be upset, we're stuck for 12 years in this deal and so are they. We'll see since we don't want to just slap them in the face, but I doubt the Navy AD will be letting ESPN decide his programs future and therefore the AAC's, especially when they make more money off CBS than ESPN. I don't see UCF's AD just rolling over either, he's already been poking the powers that be in the eye.

The contract also said the Big12 can expand with a pro rata share. In 2016, the same reporter with the same news outlet ran the story that ESPN and FOX were unhappy with the Big12 and felt the Big12 was abusing the pro rata clause for G5 expansion. They said it was a cash grab. The 2016 Big12 expansion was DOA that day.

We dont know what the contract says, but Ourland has been right on most every story so far on this kind of stuff. If you notice--you havent heard a word from Aresco. This stuff has all been coming from "sources"...which probably means AD's within the conference who may be getting a bit ahead of themselves.

(06-26-2019 12:32 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(06-25-2019 11:41 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  

(06-25-2019 11:04 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(06-25-2019 09:31 PM)Bogg Wrote:  ESPN will likely put to bed the idea that the conference is going to deliver less content and split the same check fewer ways. My guess is they come to the AAC with a short list of acceptable schools they can expand with, the AAC will get to split the exit and entry fees paid, ESPN gets the volume it negotiated for, and the AAC doesn't suffer the indignity of having their new contract pro-rata'd down before it even goes into effect.

Exactly what I think. I believe ESPN was disturbed by the talk of standing pat and pocketing the UConn share. ESPN saw that attitude as an abuse of the spirit of the freshly signed deal. ESPN leaked this story to The Sports Business Journal as a shot across the AAC bow to nip that talk in the bud. My guess is aresco will muzzle the schools and we will hear no more “standing pat” talk. The next story we hear will be that a number of schools ESPN and the league find attractive have informed the AAC of their interest and the AAC is in the early stages of exploring if any of these options might be a good fit for the league.

Yeah, too bad it sounds like the contract doesn't say that. ESPN can be upset, we're stuck for 12 years in this deal and so are they. We'll see since we don't want to just slap them in the face, but I doubt the Navy AD will be letting ESPN decide his programs future and therefore the AAC's, especially when they make more money off CBS than ESPN. I don't see UCF's AD just rolling over either, he's already been poking the powers that be in the eye.

The contract also said the Big12 can expand with a pro rata share. In 2016, the same reporter with the same news outlet ran the story that ESPN and FOX were unhappy with the Big12 and felt the Big12 was abusing the pro rata clause for G5 expansion. They said it was a cash grab. The 2016 Big12 expansion was DOA that day.

We dont know what the contract says, but Ourland has been right on most every story so far on this kind of stuff. If you notice--you havent heard a word from Aresco. This stuff has all been coming from "sources"...which probably means AD's within the conference who may be getting a bit ahead of themselves.

And you'll recall they paid a lot of money to get rid of that pro rata clause for the big xii.

As I said we won't just slap them in the face to do it. But I don't think we're just taking someone to help out ESPN with + inventory. The conference will make this choice. ESPN will influence it, but the board likes to give super powers to ESPN that aren't really there. ESPN got a very favorable contract out of us, probably in large part because UConn and others were fighting things instead of being focused on bringing in the max contract they could get working together. UConn bolting is going to have the conference looking a little more collectively. If ESPN recommends someone borderline they might get them, but we aren't just taking someone because ESPN told us so.

(06-26-2019 01:22 AM)Foreverandever Wrote:  And you'll recall they paid a lot of money to get rid of that pro rata clause for the big xii.

They really didn't. I think it was in the neighborhood of 100k/team/year on a media deal that pays out a total of something like 30 million per team per year, which is a borderline rounding error. The Big 12 got a face-saving payment from ESPN after they got threatened out of taking any additional members, and I don't believe Fox paid anything.

What you can technically do and what's advisable are two different things - don't piss off your media partner or you'll wind up buried on + and your TV slots will be at very unattractive times until you agree to work with them. Having your basketball team tip off on Sunday evening because they need weekend content is something they can technically do as well.

(06-25-2019 11:41 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  Yeah, too bad it sounds like the contract doesn't say that. ESPN can be upset, we're stuck for 12 years in this deal and so are they. We'll see since we don't want to just slap them in the face, but I doubt the Navy AD will be letting ESPN decide his programs future and therefore the AAC's, especially when they make more money off CBS than ESPN. I don't see UCF's AD just rolling over either, he's already been poking the powers that be in the eye.

None of us have seen the contract, but it's pretty likely it's for a specified number of schools with specific numbers of games. Which means you can't stand pat at 11 without ESPN's approval.

I could see them approving 11, clawing back 1/12 of the contract and calling that equitable if that's what the AAC wants to do. If Boise, BYU, Army aren't interested, then that may make the most sense for ESPN and the AAC schools, rather than take whoever is left in the CUSA/MAC/Sun Belt bar at closing time.

(06-26-2019 01:22 AM)Foreverandever Wrote:  As I said we won't just slap them in the face to do it. But I don't think we're just taking someone to help out ESPN with + inventory.

Y'all signed a deal to deliver X amount of inventory. If you deliver 11/12 X, expect to get paid 11/12 X. (As a conference, not as a school). Don't expect a pay BUMP because UConn left.

UConn leaving does not void the contract or trigger an option for re-negotiation.