Realignment talk not going away

[BurntOrange&White 39,933]

1 minute ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

EAT SHIT

[TKthunder2 4,991]

https://amp.kansas.com/sports/college/big-12/kansas-state/article272564423.html

Pac-12 school president reads K-State message boards for conference realignment talk

Spoiler

Nearly seven years have passed since Kirk Schulz left Kansas State to become the school president at Washington State, but he still has one strong connection to the Wildcats.

He is an avid reader of K-State message boards.

That is not a joke. Apparently, Schulz still checks in on K-State’s online sports community when he has free time. His favorite topic: What K-State sports fans think about conference realignment, particularly the future of the Pac-12.

“I follow the Kansas State message boards,” Schulz told Pac-12 reporter Jon Wilner earlier this week, “and there were guys reporting every month that it was imminent that the ‘Corners’ schools (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah) were going to the Big 12. It was imminent in October. Then in November. And in January.”

Those comments were meant to defend the Pac-12 as the conference has publicly struggled to secure a new lucrative TV deal following the defections of UCLA and USC to the Big Ten.

Rumors have swirled since the summer that the Big 12 might look to raid the Pac-12 and poach some of its most attractive members. And those rumors have picked up lately, now that Brett Yormark has inked a new deal for the Big 12 with ESPN and FOX that will make it the nation’s third richest conference behind the Big Ten and the SEC.

Schulz, who served as the school president at K-State from 2009 to 2016, is aware of this at least partly because he still reads K-State message boards.

“At the end of the day,” Schulz said, “we have to get a deal done. That’s the only thing that will quiet everybody down.”

 

[Uncle Nate 2,097]

1 hour ago, TKthunder2 said:

https://amp.kansas.com/sports/college/big-12/kansas-state/article272564423.html

Pac-12 school president reads K-State message boards for conference realignment talk

  Hide contents

Nearly seven years have passed since Kirk Schulz left Kansas State to become the school president at Washington State, but he still has one strong connection to the Wildcats.

He is an avid reader of K-State message boards.

That is not a joke. Apparently, Schulz still checks in on K-State’s online sports community when he has free time. His favorite topic: What K-State sports fans think about conference realignment, particularly the future of the Pac-12.

“I follow the Kansas State message boards,” Schulz told Pac-12 reporter Jon Wilner earlier this week, “and there were guys reporting every month that it was imminent that the ‘Corners’ schools (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah) were going to the Big 12. It was imminent in October. Then in November. And in January.”

Those comments were meant to defend the Pac-12 as the conference has publicly struggled to secure a new lucrative TV deal following the defections of UCLA and USC to the Big Ten.

Rumors have swirled since the summer that the Big 12 might look to raid the Pac-12 and poach some of its most attractive members. And those rumors have picked up lately, now that Brett Yormark has inked a new deal for the Big 12 with ESPN and FOX that will make it the nation’s third richest conference behind the Big Ten and the SEC.

Schulz, who served as the school president at K-State from 2009 to 2016, is aware of this at least partly because he still reads K-State message boards.

“At the end of the day,” Schulz said, “we have to get a deal done. That’s the only thing that will quiet everybody down.”

 

How the hell does a university president have the time to read fan message boards from a different school?

I can see him checking in from time-to-time on a WSU message board to just get a pulse of the people, but even then, that doesn't seem like the best use of a university president's time.

[bullet 1,597]

6 hours ago, bullet said:

Can't readily find it.  But I saw it from a couple of different sources a month or two after they approved the expansion.  Basically they are using the current % split between P5/G5 for the next couple of years.  But the P5 will be split on an even share per school.  16/68 for B10 and SEC, 14/68 for ACC, 12/68 for B12 and 10/68 for P10 as the conferences will be constituted.  They didn't specify how much goes for participation, but the implication was that it wasn't going to change significantly.

Now--that was the deal for the next two years.  What they do after the current 12 year cycle is up is still up for negotation.

Ran across the link:

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/en/Daily/Morning-Buzz/2022/11/17/CFP-board-resolves-revenue-distribution

"The CFP Board of Managers met virtually on Wednesday and was "able to resolve issues tied to revenue distribution" for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, if the CFP is to expand from four to 12 teams before the end of its current contract. The revenue distribution model "will make payouts more even per Power 5 school." The compromise "reduces disparity and allows the focus to be on per-school payouts instead of per-league payouts." Payouts to the Group of 5 leagues "remain unchanged." Such an agreement "would only be in place for the 2024 and 2025 seasons...."

[bullet 1,597]

1 hour ago, Uncle Nate said:

How the hell does a university president have the time to read fan message boards from a different school?

I can see him checking in from time-to-time on a WSU message board to just get a pulse of the people, but even then, that doesn't seem like the best use of a university president's time.

He previously was the president at Kansas St.

[Uncle Nate 2,097]

13 minutes ago, bullet said:

He previously was the president at Kansas St.

No, I get that. But I know what a university president’s schedule and workload is like. Not sure how spending time on your previous school’s message board fits into his priorities. 

[Gidnik 3,269]

anyone?  

https://theathletic.com/4239583/2023/02/22/college-football-streaming-tv-deals/?source=emp_shared_article

[field 225]

24 minutes ago, Gidnik said:

anyone?  

https://theathletic.com/4239583/2023/02/22/college-football-streaming-tv-deals/?source=emp_shared_article

Spoiler

When a headline about a potential broadcaster for your games draws a negative reaction, you’re not in a good place.

The Pac-12 is nearing dire straits right now. There’s no other way to put it. The New York Post’s report Tuesday that Apple TV+ is a potential landing spot for Pac-12 sports landed like a lead balloon among fans, and for understandable reasons.

It doesn’t mean the league is about to fall apart or that it can’t still secure a good enough TV deal for the short-term future. It will probably be OK. But the Pac-12 may be the canary in the coal mine for college conferences outside what is becoming the Power 2 of the Big Ten and SEC.

Streaming won’t be the answer to saving college football as we know it. We know this because streaming isn’t saving TV.

You can’t completely blame Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff. He needs to find some other interested bidders to gain some sort of leverage in negotiations with ESPN after he inherited an incredibly difficult situation from former commissioner Larry Scott. Fox, a current Pac-12 media partner, has expressed little interest in the league with USC and UCLA on their way out. NBC and CBS also appear set when it comes to college football. The Big 12’s decision to renegotiate early with ESPN and Fox and take a larger-but-under-market deal for the sake of security was a smart move to outflank the Pac-12 that also highlighted how far it, too, is from the Big Ten and SEC.

The Pac-12 needs leverage, but Amazon and Apple aren’t that. A move to heavy streaming would dramatically decrease game viewership and threaten to speed the conference into irrelevancy. In a sport based around recruiting and donors, people need to find your games easily. ESPN knows this. It’s why Conference USA rushed back to ESPN as part of its new TV deal and away from streaming places like Stadium. Even if Amazon and Apple, which have been more prudent with streaming spending than other places, overpay for the sake of content on a potential sports-only app, it’s an incredible risk for a conference. This isn’t Major League Soccer.

For years, forecasters predicted the sports TV money bubble was about to pop. They said there would be a limit to how far broadcasters would pay for live sports as cable subscribers went down. “TV Sports a Spectacular Bubble” read a Forbes headline in 2013. But as cable subscribers began to slump, it became clear that live sports were the only thing saving television from dropping even further, increasing their value. The NFL had 75 of the 100 most-watched broadcasts in 2021, so the NFL has continued to get more and more money from the networks. The Big Ten and SEC, with their large audiences, are about to take another financial jump up with their new TV deals. The 12-team College Football Playoff will be another boost, with Fox expressing interest in joining ESPN as a potential broadcaster.

Amazon is paying more than $1 billion per year for Thursday Night Football because it’s the NFL. It made a play for the Big Ten because it was the Big Ten. Even Apple, the most valuable company in the world, reportedly let the NFL take Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV in part because Apple didn’t want to increase its price for customers.

If you’re not the NFL, Big Ten, SEC, NBA, CFP,  World Series or the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, your negotiating leverage may begin to fade as the biggest leagues take up more.

Take it from returning Disney CEO Bob Iger, who on a recent earnings call expressed a desire to keep NBA rights but said: “ESPN has been selective in the rights that they bought. I’ve had long conversations about this with (ESPN president) Jimmy Pitaro. And we’ve got some decisions that we have to make coming up — not anything particularly large, but on a few things, and we’re simply going to have to get more selective.”

ESPN used to own college football. Now it lost the Big Ten and does not see the Pac-12 as such a priority as to overpay. Iger also said that while ESPN+ has grown nicely, he does not want to commit to an all-streaming ESPN or spin the company off unless it makes financial sense.

And that’s the dirty not-so-secret about streaming: It’s not actually working. The boom is over.

Disney’s direct-to-consumer business — which includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu — lost more than $4 billion in 2022. The financial losses continue to climb even as subscribers grow. It’s a big reason Disney stock is down 31 percent over the past year. NBCUniversal’s Peacock lost around $2.5 billion for the year, and CBS’ Paramount Plus also lost around $1.8 billion. These companies planned to lose lots of money and aimed for profitability by 2024 or 2025, but there is little sign of that yet. Dramatic cuts have come across the board.

Fox’s decision not to jump into the standalone streaming game and instead focus on the biggest live sports like the NFL, college football and the World Cup, has proven to be a more successful strategy thus far. It has increased its market share in college football, and despite the loss of cable subscribers, this year’s Super Bowl on Fox was the third-most-watched game ever and the highest in six years. As Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks put it on a Sports Business Journal podcast, speeding up into streaming also speeds up the decline of linear TV, your actual money-maker.

What does it say when Netflix, the rare profitable streaming success, has opted against jumping into sports bidding wars, even after a recent decrease in subscribers? It has instead focused on sports documentaries and made smaller runs at sports like Formula 1 racing or the World Surfing League, showing no interest in major sports.

“We’re not in the business of live sports rights. We’re not in the business of renting,” Netflix vice president of nonfiction series Brandon Riegg told the New York Times.

While more games than ever are available to watch — a certain positive for fans — all of this doesn’t even touch on how cumbersome it is to watch live sports on streaming. Broadcast delays lag behind social media and betting sites. Some can’t pause or rewind. Switching between games can be a hassle and an even more frustrating process if you have to switch to another app.

On a busy college football Saturday, will casual fans who use one screen flip back and forth to Prime Video or Apple TV+ for one Pac-12 game if their favorite team isn’t involved? If conferences move into different streaming apps, the sport will be even more fractured.

“No one streaming sports service can fulfill what a sports fan needs,” Shanks said.

The Pac-12 may still come out of this OK. It might sign a good enough deal with ESPN and a streamer and provide schools with money similar to the Big 12. Linear TV for sports is still in a good place. But the next round of college media deals in six or seven years is the moment when industry leaders believe major change will truly come. I dread the future of conference realignment, but if you’re not in the Power 2, it’s impossible to predict where you’ll be as the top conferences take an even larger market share.

Live sports, particularly football, have kept linear TV alive, but there is no sign that streaming will save college football in the form we currently know it.

Season 3 of Ted Lasso should be good, though.

 

[Hagbard Celine 10,864]

3 hours ago, Gidnik said:

anyone?  

https://theathletic.com/4239583/2023/02/22/college-football-streaming-tv-deals/?source=emp_shared_article

https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https%3A//theathletic.com/4239583/2023/02/22/college-football-streaming-tv-deals/%3Fsource%3Demp_shared_article

[camel at sea 589]

PAC West:  Washington St, Oregon St, Stanford, Cal, SDSU, Hawaii
PAC East: Tulane, Rice, SMU, Colorado St, Wyoming, Air Force/Tulsa

This looks about right to me.  

[DFW Horn 6,124]

8 hours ago, camel at sea said:

PAC West:  Washington St, Oregon St, Stanford, Cal, SDSU, Hawaii
PAC East: Tulane, Rice, SMU, Colorado St, Wyoming, Air Force/Tulsa

This looks about right to me.  

No Boise or Fresno St? UNLV or New Mexico?

I has sads...

[Hurtlocker 2,212]

6 minutes ago, DFW Horn said:

No Boise or Fresno St? UNLV or New Mexico?

I has sads...

yeah I'd likely go... 12 (16)

North: WSU, Boise, OSU, CSU, Fresno, Cal (Wyoming, Nevada)

South: Stanford, SDSU, UNLV. Air Force, New Mexico, SMU (Utah State, Tulsa)

[utee94 15,823]

19 hours ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

I mean, this is just a few rearranged pixels away from being a trollface meme.  Somebody should finish the job...

 

[Nueces River Rat 5,539]

Ok then...    Eat shit Iowa State

 

1 Big 12 Athletic Director 'Can't Wait' For Texas To Leave

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/1-big-12-athletic-director-can-t-wait-for-texas-to-leave/ar-AA17OZM7?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=80b69b3929944abfa94c467fa3474375

Edited February 23, 2023 by Nueces River Rat

[Uncle Nate 2,097]

4 minutes ago, Nueces River Rat said:

Ok then...    Eat shit Iowa State

 

1 Big 12 Athletic Director 'Can't Wait' For Texas To Leave

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/1-big-12-athletic-director-can-t-wait-for-texas-to-leave/ar-AA17OZM7?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=80b69b3929944abfa94c467fa3474375

[statsman 5,470]

The Washington Huskies are a jewel of a program. They deserve better. 

[TKthunder2 4,991]

1 hour ago, Hurtlocker said:

yeah I'd likely go... 12 (16)

North: WSU, Boise, OSU, CSU, Fresno, Cal (Wyoming, Nevada)

South: Stanford, SDSU, UNLV. Air Force, New Mexico, SMU (Utah State, Tulsa)

Northwest: WSU, Boise, OSU, Cal, Stanford, Fresno, Hawaii fb/Gonzaga nonfb

Southwest: SDSU, UNLV, Colorado St, SMU, Rice, Tulane, Memphis

[hookemATL 11,734]

You fuckers ignore the Banana Slugs at your own peril!!

 

[bullet 1,597]

1 hour ago, Uncle Nate said:

So next year he will be on ESPN+.

Iowa St., Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and aggy were the whiny babies of the Big 12.  KSU mostly kept their opinions to themselves.  Or President Schultz let the message board people express them!

Nebraska and aggy have continued their antics in their new conferences.  Nobody pays any attention to Missouri, so they haven't stirred anything up.

 

[YouLoveMyPenises 79]

18 hours ago, Uncle Nate said:

No, I get that. But I know what a university president’s schedule and workload is like. Not sure how spending time on your previous school’s message board fits into his priorities. 

The man has to take a shit at some point. And we have smart phones now, no more reading the Lysol bottle.

[Laxtonto 12,080]

8 minutes ago, bullet said:

So next year he will be on ESPN+.

Iowa St., Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and aggy were the whiny babies of the Big 12.  KSU mostly kept their opinions to themselves.  Or President Schultz let the message board people express them!

Nebraska and aggy have continued their antics in their new conferences.  Nobody pays any attention to Missouri, so they haven't stirred anything up.

 

Bigger issue is that they may be on ESPN+ without Texas helping push up their RPI playing Cinci, USF, UH, or BYU. It’s easy to bitch about one game a year on the LHN, but how much of that tied to being a consistently good game that does t draw well?

They better hope like hell no one comes after Sampson at UH…

[TrashMaster G 17,557]

2 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

Ok then...    Eat shit Iowa State

 

1 Big 12 Athletic Director 'Can't Wait' For Texas To Leave

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/1-big-12-athletic-director-can-t-wait-for-texas-to-leave/ar-AA17OZM7?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=80b69b3929944abfa94c467fa3474375

[Gaffords 755]

9 hours ago, Hurtlocker said:

yeah I'd likely go... 12 (16)

North: WSU, Boise, OSU, CSU, Fresno, Cal (Wyoming, Nevada)

South: Stanford, SDSU, UNLV. Air Force, New Mexico, SMU (Utah State, Tulsa)

Stanford stuck in that conference would be the funniest thing to ever happen in college sports. 

[statsman 5,470]

5 hours ago, bullet said:

So next year he will be on ESPN+.

Iowa St., Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and aggy were the whiny babies of the Big 12.  KSU mostly kept their opinions to themselves.  Or President Schultz let the message board people express them!

Nebraska and aggy have continued their antics in their new conferences.  Nobody pays any attention to Missouri, so they haven't stirred anything up.

 

Who was the KSU president that said he resented Texas for all its money and influence (about 20 years ago)?

[bullet 1,597]

 

So Scheer is trying to get confirmation from someone who actually heard the Utah radio interview and isn't just re-tweeting.  Did Wilner really say the expectation for the Pac 12 was a deal in the high 20s with majority streaming?

 

 

 

 

Jason Scheer

 

@jasonscheer

·

44m

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louis Oliverio

 

@LouisOliverio

·

46m

Replying to @patriotairman @jasonscheer and @wilnerhotline

High 20s and majority streaming will keep Pac 12 together but they will be behind the B12 both in money and, much more importantly, exposure.

 

 

 

 

 

Jason Scheer

 

@jasonscheer

·

54m

 

Did anyone hear on Utah radio if

@wilnerhotline

really said the Pac-12 will be in the 20s? Saw some tweets out there but want to hear it.

[Sandbagging Steve 982]

19 minutes ago, bullet said:

 

So Scheer is trying to get confirmation from someone who actually heard the Utah radio interview and isn't just re-tweeting.  Did Wilner really say the expectation for the Pac 12 was a deal in the high 20s with majority streaming?

 

 

 

 

Jason Scheer

 

@jasonscheer

·

44m

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louis Oliverio

 

@LouisOliverio

·

46m

Replying to @patriotairman @jasonscheer and @wilnerhotline

High 20s and majority streaming will keep Pac 12 together but they will be behind the B12 both in money and, much more importantly, exposure.

 

 

 

 

 

Jason Scheer

 

@jasonscheer

·

54m

 

Did anyone hear on Utah radio if

@wilnerhotline

really said the Pac-12 will be in the 20s? Saw some tweets out there but want to hear it.

[LTbear 4,169]

https://twitter.com/dennisdoddcbs/status/1628892683384020998?s=20

Edited February 24, 2023 by LTbear

[Hagbard Celine 10,864]

23 hours ago, camel at sea said:

PAC West:  Washington St, Oregon St, Stanford, Cal, SDSU, Hawaii
PAC East: Tulane, Rice, SMU, Colorado St, Wyoming, Air Force/Tulsa

This looks about right to me.  

meatchicken friend tonight admitted rose bowl celebration of specialness is toast

death of the pac removes the last pin in the stack

the bowls are dead

and the corollary is domer are toast

[Rimbo 25,935]

i just realized tonight i couldn't even name all the teams in the SEC...

i forgot about Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kentucky. and i don't regret forgetting them either

[camel at sea 589]

19 hours ago, DFW Horn said:

No Boise or Fresno St? UNLV or New Mexico?

I has sads...

Yeah.  My assumption was that Stanford and/or Cal would go independent if the academic standards of the conference dropped too low.

[Newy25 7,668]

19 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

Ok then...    Eat shit Iowa State

 

1 Big 12 Athletic Director 'Can't Wait' For Texas To Leave

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/1-big-12-athletic-director-can-t-wait-for-texas-to-leave/ar-AA17OZM7?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=80b69b3929944abfa94c467fa3474375

In fairness, as a Texas fan I cannot wait for the LHN to end. I could not see the game either. 

[BurntOrange&White 39,933]

7 hours ago, LTbear said:

https://twitter.com/dennisdoddcbs/status/1628892683384020998?s=20

I think it's going to come down to Washington/Oregon wanting or not wanting to sign a lengthy GOR to get this deal done. Hell maybe even some other schools.

[Hurtlocker 2,212]

Nothing of note here, except the Arizona paper speculating what the Arizona schools in the Big 12 would look like.   The PR machines in the Pac 12 are churning.

Big 12 realignment, expansion: Pac-12 school additions would alter look of conference

Quote

College conference expansion and realignment speculation continues to swirl, with the Big 12 right in the middle of the chatter amid reports that the conference is interested in adding Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado to its member schools.

How could the conference look if it did in fact add the Pac-12's Four Corners schools?

A reader recently sent us a suggestion for the new-look Big 12, which would have 16 teams if it added the Wildcats, Sun Devils, Utes and Buffaloes.

The suggestion proposed breaking up the conference into four pods, with ASU, Arizona, Utah and BYU in one, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas State and Kansas in another, Baylor, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech in a third, and a final grouping including Central Florida, Cincinnati, Houston and West Virginia.

The reader, former Houston Chronicle sportswriter Lester Zedd, explained his pod recommendation were the conference to add the four Pac-12 schools.

"With this format, teams within a pod would play three non-conference games each season, play each pod opponent every year (which protects former conference rivalries, historical rivalries and sets up logical geographical rivalries) and then play each of the remaining 12 non-division foes on a rotating basis every two years."

Makes sense to me.

It also might make sense to the Big 12, judging by their reported interest in the Pac-12 schools and the possibility they would give the conference and its media partners for television broadcasts in a later window than the conference currently occupies.

The "pod" option isn't anything new for the Big 12.

A recent suggestion on social media didn't stop at the Pac-12's Four Corners schools joining the Big 12 to make it a 16-team conference.

It suggested the Big 12 also add Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal to create a 20-team mega-conference.

The only difference in pods with that suggestion would be putting the Ducks, Huskies, Cardinal and Bears in a fifth and final pod for the Big 12.

That proposal could also be very intriguing to fans and potential media partners of the conference.

But it probably wouldn't go over well with fans of the current Pac-12 and Big 12 setups, and especially to fans of Oregon State and Washington State, who would suddenly find themselves all alone in the "Pac-2."

Could the Big 12 look very different in the near future?

 

[Laga4 1,270]

31 minutes ago, Hurtlocker said:

Nothing of note here, except the Arizona paper speculating what the Arizona schools in the Big 12 would look like.   The PR machines in the Pac 12 are churning.

Big 12 realignment, expansion: Pac-12 school additions would alter look of conference

 

Might be hard to pull off but that's really not to bad.  

[Al_4_ISU 12,463]

4 minutes ago, Laga4 said:

Might be hard to pull off but that's really not to bad.  

I'd love that pod.  Would rather have Okie State than CU, but given the larger picture that makes the most sense.

[LTbear 4,169]

Personally I like that format too, except that eastern pod is nuts. Makes more sense to me to do protected rivals + rotate all others. 

['stache 21,815]

UH would probably throw a fit, but fuck em.

[Al_4_ISU 12,463]

1 minute ago, 'stache said:

UH would probably throw a fit, but fuck em.

Someone west of the Mississippi has to go east.  Might as well be them, since they've been playing UCF and Cincy for awhile anyhow.  And if they don't like it?  Go back to the AAC.

[Uncle Nate 2,097]

2 minutes ago, 'stache said:

UH would probably throw a fit, but fuck em.

Yes, fuck UH.

I really like the Tech, Oklahoma State, TCU, and Fuck Baylor pod a lot.  

[LTbear 4,169]

2 minutes ago, 'stache said:

UH would probably throw a fit, but fuck em.

They definitely would, but if I was creating pods, that's still how I'd do it. I really am 100% cool with adding another Texas school and old SWC foe, but OSU has been an annual game for the entirety of my football watching life. And quite a few games the past decades have been great, high-stakes matchups. 

[Jabberwocky 1,666]

 

[TrashMaster G 17,557]

1 hour ago, 'stache said:

UH would probably throw a fit, but fuck em.

💯

[Texas Wahoo 3,397]

1 hour ago, 'stache said:

UH would probably throw a fit, but fuck em.

CU would probably complain as well.

[Texas Wahoo 3,397]

7 minutes ago, Jabberwocky said:

 

And you guys thought Spelling Bees don't pay the bills...

[Laxtonto 12,080]

 

 

Spoiler

Florida State AD: ‘Something has to change’ with ACC for Noles to win big

A trustee asked how much it would cost for the Seminoles to leave the ACC.

 

 

 

 

The Florida State Seminoles are one of the biggest brands in the ACC. But something needs to change. [ Tampa Bay Times ]

By

• Matt BakerTimes staff

 

Published 5 minutes ago

Advertisement

 

Florida State’s board of trustees meeting sounded like a series of warning shots to the ACC: Fix the revenue gap, or else.

“At the end of the day for Florida State to compete nationally, something has to change going forward,” Seminoles athletic director Michael Alford said.

By Alford’s numbers, FSU contributes roughly 15% of the value in the ACC’s media rights deal. But the Seminoles get 7% of the distributions as one of 14 full members of the conference.

That has caused a massive revenue gap between FSU and other big-name programs from Power Five conferences, as Alford outlined in Friday’s meeting. The gap between what FSU is set to make from the ACC and what teams from the SEC and Big Ten will make is roughly $30 million per year.

 

Alford said he and other FSU administrators are in “deep discussions” about how to close that gap until the ACC’s current media rights deal expires in 2036. Alford said FSU will look at windows if conference realignment significantly affects the Pac-12, for example. One possibility would be for the ACC to begin weighing its conference payouts toward programs that have more success or are larger brands.

Then the conversation got really interesting.

One trustee asked about a possible buyout figure if FSU wanted to leave the ACC.

The answer: roughly $120 million.

If FSU could make up $30 million per year, the trustee asked, does that mean the Seminoles would break even in about four years?

“Hypothetically,” Alford said.

This story will be updated.

• • •

Never miss out on the latest with the Bucs, Rays, Lightning, Florida college sports and more. Follow our Tampa Bay Times sports team on Twitter and Facebook.

 

[Texas Wahoo 3,397]

8 minutes ago, Laxtonto said:

 

 

  Hide contents

Florida State AD: ‘Something has to change’ with ACC for Noles to win big

A trustee asked how much it would cost for the Seminoles to leave the ACC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Florida State Seminoles are one of the biggest brands in the ACC. But something needs to change. [ Tampa Bay Times ]

By

• Matt BakerTimes staff

 

Published 5 minutes ago

Advertisement

 

Florida State’s board of trustees meeting sounded like a series of warning shots to the ACC: Fix the revenue gap, or else.

“At the end of the day for Florida State to compete nationally, something has to change going forward,” Seminoles athletic director Michael Alford said.

By Alford’s numbers, FSU contributes roughly 15% of the value in the ACC’s media rights deal. But the Seminoles get 7% of the distributions as one of 14 full members of the conference.

That has caused a massive revenue gap between FSU and other big-name programs from Power Five conferences, as Alford outlined in Friday’s meeting. The gap between what FSU is set to make from the ACC and what teams from the SEC and Big Ten will make is roughly $30 million per year.

 

Alford said he and other FSU administrators are in “deep discussions” about how to close that gap until the ACC’s current media rights deal expires in 2036. Alford said FSU will look at windows if conference realignment significantly affects the Pac-12, for example. One possibility would be for the ACC to begin weighing its conference payouts toward programs that have more success or are larger brands.

Then the conversation got really interesting.

One trustee asked about a possible buyout figure if FSU wanted to leave the ACC.

The answer: roughly $120 million.

If FSU could make up $30 million per year, the trustee asked, does that mean the Seminoles would break even in about four years?

“Hypothetically,” Alford said.

This story will be updated.

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Not sure where the $120 million comes from, but if that is all that it takes to break free from a GOR 13 years early, that's a pretty week GOR.

 

Also, what on earth does "Alford said FSU will look at windows if conference realignment significantly affects the Pac-12, for example. " mean?  Look at windows?

[TKthunder2 4,991]

6 minutes ago, Texas Wahoo said:

Not sure where the $120 million comes from, but if that is all that it takes to break free from a GOR 13 years early, that's a pretty week GOR.

 

Also, what on earth does "Alford said FSU will look at windows if conference realignment significantly affects the Pac-12, for example. " mean?  Look at windows?

Yeah seems not super informed.

FSU leaves, ESPN sues ACC for breach of contract since they had a GOR. They could settle for a lesser payout and then the ACC could sue FSU for breach of contract for their losses.

Using their numbers, FSU leaving would cost the conference $30 million a year (excluding FSU’s share but they could ask for the full 60) then that times 12 year’s remaining on the contract would be $360 million (likely more since TV deals are backloaded and go up each year).

This could be doubled if they include FSU’s share to $720 million (but that seems unlikely to hold up).

In a worst case scenario, ESPN uses this to cut ties with the ACC altogether (unlikely but not impossible) then FSU could theoretically be on the hook for significantly more damages if they end up having to settle for a subpar TV deal like the PAC12 is looking at.

Don’t get me wrong I’d love to see FSU challenge the GOR in court for my own curiosity, but unless they find a loop hole I have a feeling they are stuck.

[Thiefery 4,995]

5 minutes ago, TKthunder2 said:

Yeah seems not super informed.

FSU leaves, ESPN sues ACC for breach of contract since they had a GOR. They could settle for a lesser payout and then the ACC could sue FSU for breach of contract for their losses.

Using their numbers, FSU leaving would cost the conference $30 million a year (excluding FSU’s share but they could ask for the full 60) then that times 12 year’s remaining on the contract would be $360 million (likely more since TV deals are backloaded and go up each year).

This could be doubled if they include FSU’s share to $720 million (but that seems unlikely to hold up).

In a worst case scenario, ESPN uses this to cut ties with the ACC altogether (unlikely but not impossible) then FSU could theoretically be on the hook for significantly more damages if they end up having to settle for a subpar TV deal like the PAC12 is looking at.

Don’t get me wrong I’d love to see FSU challenge the GOR in court for my own curiosity, but unless they find a loop hole I have a feeling they are stuck.

If FSU is ready to do this.. I bet Clemson is watching as is Miami.. although I'm not sure if the SEC would take Miami..perhaps the BiG?  If they can get 6 schools on board, I think the GOR can dissolve.. wild card is if schools like Syracuse and BC are approached by the Big12 

[Texas Wahoo 3,397]

6 minutes ago, TKthunder2 said:

Yeah seems not super informed.

FSU leaves, ESPN sues ACC for breach of contract since they had a GOR. They could settle for a lesser payout and then the ACC could sue FSU for breach of contract for their losses.

Using their numbers, FSU leaving would cost the conference $30 million a year (excluding FSU’s share but they could ask for the full 60) then that times 12 year’s remaining on the contract would be $360 million (likely more since TV deals are backloaded and go up each year).

This could be doubled if they include FSU’s share to $720 million (but that seems unlikely to hold up).

In a worst case scenario, ESPN uses this to cut ties with the ACC altogether (unlikely but not impossible) then FSU could theoretically be on the hook for significantly more damages if they end up having to settle for a subpar TV deal like the PAC12 is looking at.

Don’t get me wrong I’d love to see FSU challenge the GOR in court for my own curiosity, but unless they find a loop hole I have a feeling they are stuck.

To be clear, the Grant of Rights grants FSU's TV rights to the ACC through the length of the contract:  "That deal, per Steve Wiseman of The News and Observer, based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, 'irrevocably and exclusively grants to the conference during the term all rights necessary for the conference to perform the contractual obligations of the conference expressly set forth in the ESPN agreement.'”

The point of a Grant of Rights as opposed to an agreement to provide rights in the future is that the ACC owns those rights.  Thus, FSU would have to sue the ACC to get out of the contract, and if successful, ESPN would sue the ACC for failing to provide the rights promised.  This is all theoretical because I cannot imagine it ever going this far.

[TKthunder2 4,991]

3 minutes ago, Thiefery said:

If FSU is ready to do this.. I bet Clemson is watching as is Miami.. although I'm not sure if the SEC would take Miami..perhaps the BiG?  If they can get 6 schools on board, I think the GOR can dissolve.. wild card is if schools like Syracuse and BC are approached by the Big12 

https://frankthetank.org/2022/07/22/dissolution-is-not-a-solution-to-break-a-grant-of-rights-agreement/
 

The dissolution angle has been thrown around here (I am guilty of it as well) but according to this guy it’s not that easy.