(04-01-2018 12:15 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-01-2018 09:18 AM)XLance Wrote:  What we need to know in order to have a firm grasp on ESPN's intentions for the future, is the length of time the paired contracts with the ACCN and SECN are for.
If the Altice contract is for 5 years, then the Big 12 is in full play for an expanded conference and network, at which time I would fully anticipate the SEC excusing Missouri and Arkansas to the Big 12, but continuing to guarantee them a full SEC payout for a period of time.
This would give ESPN three marketing units without allowing too much power to be concentrated in the hands of the schools.
By being able to market three distinct units, ESPN could tailor content and matchups and utilize regional advertisers for all three networks instead of relying national advertisers that may be more content to focus on pro sports.

That's not very likely for the following reasons:

1. If ESPN had been interested in keeping the Big 12 together as a unit they would have encouraged the additions of Brigham Young and Cincinnati. They didn't.

Texas which is alleged to want to keep the Big 12 together didn't push for them either. Which is why Boren at OU insisted that expansion be accomplished if the conference was going to stay together.

ESPN used the ACC to acquire schools in the Northeast that they didn't want to fall into the hands of what was then an independently owned Big 10 network.

ESPN has used the SEC to continue the bridge into the Big 12 that the SEC intended when it took Arkansas. So ESPN was helpful in the acquisitions of A&M and Missouri.

ESPN would never encourage the SEC to give up Missouri and Arkansas because the meddling in that regard would not be forgiven and it would damage the value of the SECN which splits profits with ESPN.

You really do need to drop the trolling in this regard.

The SECN contract is up after the 2029-30 season. The ACC's contract is up after the 2036-7 season. The LHN's contract ends in 2031. Since ESPN holds all three handling the T3 rights of the present Big 12 would be a task fairly easily accomplished.

With competition looming on the horizon for the Big 12's rights in 2024-5 only ESPN is in a position to act earlier. By absorbing the Big 12 into the ACC and SEC it not only sews up the Big 12 rights before they can come on the open market, but it permits ESPN to renegotiate the contracts of the ACC and SEC and extend them. And with the SEC's T1 rights coming to market around the close of the 2023-4 season the window for these potential moves could actually be tied up in one fairly neat package if the pricing is right.

ESPN has nothing to gain and a lot to lose by not acting on the Big 12. They risk losing even more in the by 2035 if they don't build value in the ACC. And they risk their investment in the ACCN if they don't add as many viewers as they can get to it.

While it gives the SEC and ACC more power to grow, it also makes ESPN's two most satisfied customers easier to manage if the Big 12 properties are absorbed. It's much easier to deal with two relatively happy entities than it is to deal with three, especially if the internal strife of the third leaves rights in doubt every time a contract nears expiration.

So if the Big 12 is kept intact it will likely remain as is and since that solves nothing, I'm not so sure that is a position that ESPN, or Oklahoma will take.

You can bet your bottom dollar, JR that every scenario is or has been looked at by all parties involved in an effort to find a plan on which there could be consensus.