Val Ackerman with more detail on the new conference media deal

[CL82]

This link will get you by the paywall

Interesting tidbits include that all UConn women's basketball games will be linear tv as well any other women's basketball basketball games that get broadcast. She also talks about the decision process behind, deciding whether or not to participate in paying players. It is somewhat Connecticut centric because it's in a Connecticut newspaper, but still a good summer read.

 

[SHUSA]

no link fyi

 

[Hall Is Life]

Click on “this link will get you by the paywall”

 

[Burnsly]

No offense but I couldn't give a rats ass what Val Ackerman thinks or about Uconn Women's linear broadcasting.

 

[SPK145]

No offense but I couldn't give a rats ass what Val Ackerman thinks or about Uconn Women's linear broadcasting.

So you didn't read the article which does contain more than just UCONN womens basketball information.

 

[SPK145]

So what I gather from this is that the Big East should now go after Gonzaga. There won't be as many sports anymore so travel won't be as big an issue.

Gonzaga is the only program that moves any needles.

 

[Burnsly]

Nope. 0 interest in what Val has to say since she declined to comment when it mattered most.

 

[Seton75]

I am interested in what she has to say.

 

[radecicco]

Nope. 0 interest in what Val has to say since she declined to comment when it mattered most.

I just don’t get this line of thinking. She just inked the the best non P4 media deal in the industry. Most BE schools should see a 60+% increase in media revenue. She added a couple additional years on the MSG deal. She appears to have the total backing of the league presidents. I get the frustration but what she has to say is important.

 

[radecicco]

This link will get you by the paywall

Interesting tidbits include that all UConn women's basketball games will be linear tv as well any other women's basketball basketball games that get broadcast. She also talks about the decision process behind, deciding whether or not to participate in paying players. It is somewhat Connecticut centric because it's in a Connecticut newspaper, but still a good summer read.

What publication is this in? What is the link that publication?

 

[TrueBlue1989]

So what I gather from this is that the Big East should now go after Gonzaga. There won't be as many sports anymore so travel won't be as big an issue.

Gonzaga is the only program that moves any needles.

There is zero indication that minimum number of sports will be reduced. TV deal just done so no urgency to do anything. Adding Gonzaga now won’t move the needle

 

[CL82]

What publication is this in? What is the link that publication?

I don't remember, it was either the Hartford current or the New Haven register. It was paywalled so I linked to the walkaround rather than to an article that I knew pretty much all he wouldn't be able to open.

 

[CL82]

Nope. 0 interest in what Val has to say since she declined to comment when it mattered most.

Thanks for posting the let us know your disinterest.

 

[HallX2]

So what I gather from this is that the Big East should now go after Gonzaga. There won't be as many sports anymore so travel won't be as big an issue.

Gonzaga is the only program that moves any needles.

Where did you conclude there won’t be as many sports? I know she had no answer for the “Olympic sports” but I couldn’t draw from that your conclusion. just asking.

 

[SPK145]

Where did you conclude there won’t be as many sports? I know she had no answer for the “Olympic sports” but I couldn’t draw from that your conclusion. just asking.

Basing it on 20% haircut in NCAA revenues and paying players directly now, there will need to be cost-cutting somewhere especially when you benchmark against what other conferences will spend.

 

[The Crows Nest]

There is zero indication that minimum number of sports will be reduced. TV deal just done so no urgency to do anything. Adding Gonzaga now won’t move the needle

I dont know about the "Adding Gonzaga now wont move the needle"....many times these deals have "re-opener" triggers that can broad based, ie "in the event of a major change in the landscape, ie another pandemic, etc." or more specific "if another school is added, such as Gonzaga, or lost, such as UConn..." that could provide either party with an opportunity to adjust the terms accordingly. Certainly, if the league or Fox for that matter, felt that there was a good chance either of adding Gonzaga or losing UConn was a reasonable possibility in the next 2 - 3 years, they would have wanted such a clause in the contract.

So, I dont know that it IS in the contract...but it certainly could be...which of course Val would know, so if adding a Gonzaga not only is additive from a prestige perspective, but if she felt it further strengthens us financially thru the ability to up the TV ante, that could factor in as well.

 

[SOBO1]

Is Gonzaga too big to fail? My only concern with Gonzaga is that outside of one hall of fame coach they have no historical success. We’ve seen first hand what losing an elite coach can do to a blue blood program like Villanova.

There would be tremendous costs associated with adding Gonzaga to the league. If they remain elite it could make sense but if they become something similar Seton Hall or Providence I don’t see it making sense.

 

[TrueBlue1989]

Is Gonzaga too big to fail? My only concern with Gonzaga is that outside of one hall of fame coach they have no historical success. We’ve seen first hand what losing an elite coach can do to a blue blood program like Villanova.

There would be tremendous costs associated with adding Gonzaga to the league. If they remain elite it could make sense but if they become something similar Seton Hall or Providence I don’t see it making sense.

It is a risky add due to geography.

 

[lloyde dobler]

Is Gonzaga too big to fail? My only concern with Gonzaga is that outside of one hall of fame coach they have no historical success. We’ve seen first hand what losing an elite coach can do to a blue blood program like Villanova.

There would be tremendous costs associated with adding Gonzaga to the league. If they remain elite it could make sense but if they become something similar Seton Hall or Providence I don’t see it making sense.

How about Butler getting an invite based on their back-to-back championship appearances?

 

[radecicco]

How about Butler getting an invite based on their back-to-back championship appearances?

And then their coach leaves for the Celtics before Butler plays a single game in the BE.

 

[SHUSA]

Click on “this link will get you by the paywall”

oh wow my mobile shows this as normal text. couldn't tell it was a link.

 

[SOBO1]

How about Butler getting an invite based on their back-to-back championship appearances?

Right, butler very similar to Gonzaga in terms of only recent success. Without those two runs they don’t get the A10/BigEast invite.

Butler makes more sense than Gonzaga tho because they bring the Indianapolis market which is in the traditional BigEast geographic footprint.

 

[radecicco]

Finally figured out the “link!” Good info. Interesting that the BE hasn’t decided to opt in on the amount the schools will be able to use to pay players directly, up to $22 million/year. Of course, the P4 schools will use all of that. If the BE doesn’t opt in, then they have to rely only on NIL. Not sure that that will work.

 

[Fishjam]

I just don’t get this line of thinking. She just inked the the best non P4 media deal in the industry. Most BE schools should see a 60+% increase in media revenue. She added a couple additional years on the MSG deal. She appears to have the total backing of the league presidents. I get the frustration but what she has to say is important.

I agree that when she speaks, it holds a lot of importance. Making her relative silence on other important issues more troublesome. In my opinion the media deal is not a great accomplishment. It was the bare minimum needed to keep the league competitive.

When you consider it against the original deal 12 years ago with inflation calculated it amounts to about $20 Million per year extra for the league. The Big East was in a far better negotiating position than it was 12 years ago when it was a brand new 10-team league with a lot of uncertainty. Since then the BE has proven itself on the court as no worse than a Top 3 Conference, won 4 of the last 8 National Championships and added 2-time defending National Champion UConn (and their blue-blood Women's team).

 

[Seton75]

12 yrs ago fs1 needed to fill airtime.

And 12 yrs ago imo, no nil made our future much more certain.

Don't we all feel the dollars needed to support our hoops program is a far more scary proposition for us compared to schools ten times bigger, regardless of our product.

 

[radecicco]

I agree that when she speaks, it holds a lot of importance. Making her relative silence on other important issues more troublesome. In my opinion the media deal is not a great accomplishment. It was the bare minimum needed to keep the league competitive.

When you consider it against the original deal 12 years ago with inflation calculated it amounts to about $20 Million per year extra for the league. The Big East was in a far better negotiating position than it was 12 years ago when it was a brand new 10-team league with a lot of uncertainty. Since then the BE has proven itself on the court as no worse than a Top 3 Conference, won 4 of the last 8 National Championships and added 2-time defending National Champion UConn (and their blue-blood Women's team).

Disagree. The BE has the best non P4 contract with some level of certainty until 2031 in a football dominant world. Not sure what our expectations were and naturally we all want something better

 

[Fishjam]

Disagree. The BE has the best non P4 contract with some level of certainty until 2031 in a football dominant world. Not sure what our expectations were and naturally we all want something better

Of course its the best non Power Conference contract. There's no other league that comes close to the Big East so if we didn't get the best deal it would have been terrible.

I have no issue with streaming or the partners we signed with, that's fine and Fox has been a solid partner. It's just the dollars that are disappointing. We will be losing revenue from the lawsuits and also have the challenge of revenue-sharing. To me it's a mediocre deal, not great and not terrible. Keeps us about status quo.

The current deal from 12 years ago is worth roughly $42M per year. The inflation value of that in 2025-26 will be around $60M. The deal we got is for $80M. A modest increase to me when you consider the league proved itself, added a powerhouse in UConn and 20% more games by going to 11 teams. A good deal would have been worth an extra $25-35 Million per year or about $2.5-3M per school. Just my opinion. We can agree to disagree.

 

[lloyde dobler]

I agree that when she speaks, it holds a lot of importance. Making her relative silence on other important issues more troublesome. In my opinion the media deal is not a great accomplishment. It was the bare minimum needed to keep the league competitive.

When you consider it against the original deal 12 years ago with inflation calculated it amounts to about $20 Million per year extra for the league. The Big East was in a far better negotiating position than it was 12 years ago when it was a brand new 10-team league with a lot of uncertainty. Since then the BE has proven itself on the court as no worse than a Top 3 Conference, won 4 of the last 8 National Championships and added 2-time defending National Champion UConn (and their blue-blood Women's team).

But on the media side, is necessarily much better on their end? Especially when the deal doesn’t involve football?

 

[SHUHitman]

But on the media side, is necessarily much better on their end? Especially when the deal doesn’t involve football?

I would argue so. Networks are starved for content. They not only have network and cable television to fill, but need worthwhile content for their streaming platforms as well. Presuming football isn't on the table, what else exactly would you anticipate them filling all of this air and streaming time with that's better value?

 

[lloyde dobler]

I would argue so. Networks are starved for content. They not only have network and cable television to fill, but need worthwhile content for their streaming platforms as well. Presuming football isn't on the table, what else exactly would you anticipate them filling all of this air and streaming time with that's better value?

Yeah, but don’t expect them to pay bucks for the rights to stream it.