https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-fo...-contract/

"Bruce Feldman of Sports Illustrated broke the news of a “MAJOR” announcement that would be revealed Thursday from the Sun Belt on Wednesday night, while Ralph Russo of the Associated Press is reporting that announcement will be an 8-year contract between the two parties. An official announcement is expected Thursday afternoon.

Sun Belt teams are expected to receive an increase from their current network deal, which currently pays them $100,000 annually.

Russo also reports that the Sun Belt is expected to be featured on ESPN’s new ESPN Plus package. The new streaming service, which is available outside of a normal cable package or satellite, is set to broadcast games that will not be featured on the ESPN networks available thru cable or satellite."

No surprise to me about the shift to Plus.

(03-01-2018 12:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  No surprise to me about the shift to Plus.

Yup. I think thats kinda what it was designed to be---a way to monetize G5 content. The reality is there are some really loyal G5 fan bases and this streaming subscription concept is a low cost way to cash in on that loyalty. I wonder if this is why there isnt any early renegotiation process for the AAC. Maybe ESPN is pushing for them to be primarily an ESPN Plus property (would probably pay them fairly well), but giving up all that exposure on the linear national networks like ESPN, ABC, and CBS-Sports would be a huge sticking point.

This stuff is going to be very interesting going forward. While I think its bad for a conference to vanish from linear TV, this does represent a format that is more likely to pay G5's their true market value.

On the money side this could be great news. However, this will be a substantial decrease in attention and marketing. TCU has always called sports "the front porch of the university". I think a lot of schools view them in a similar fashion. They are great way to increase name recognition and promote the school. Unless the money is a substantial increase, they will be losing out a ton on the marketing and publicity aspect of college sports.

(03-01-2018 12:44 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 12:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  No surprise to me about the shift to Plus.

Yup. I think thats kinda what it was designed to be---a way to monetize G5 content. The reality is there are some really loyal G5 fan bases and this streaming subscription concept is a low cost way to cash in on that loyalty. I wonder if this is why there isnt any early renegotiation process for the AAC. Maybe ESPN is pushing for them to be primarily an ESPN Plus property (would probably pay them fairly well), but giving up all that exposure on the linear national networks like ESPN, ABC, and CBS-Sports would be a huge sticking point.

This stuff is going to be very interesting going forward. While I think its bad for a conference to vanish from linear TV, this does represent a format that is more likely to pay G5's their true market value.

Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

(03-01-2018 12:56 PM)MAcFroggy Wrote:  On the money side this could be great news. However, this will be a substantial decrease in attention and marketing. TCU has always called sports "the front porch of the university". I think a lot of schools view them in a similar fashion. They are great way to increase name recognition and promote the school. Unless the money is a substantial increase, they will be losing out a ton on the marketing and publicity aspect of college sports.

G5 schools, particularly those on the lower end, don't have much of a choice. They need the money to keep the lights on.

I would add that they really aren't losing out all that much marketing on ESPN. SBC games are rarely on air and if they are the hosts are spending the whole time talking about upcoming P5 games.

(03-01-2018 12:56 PM)MAcFroggy Wrote:  On the money side this could be great news. However, this will be a substantial decrease in attention and marketing. TCU has always called sports "the front porch of the university". I think a lot of schools view them in a similar fashion. They are great way to increase name recognition and promote the school. Unless the money is a substantial increase, they will be losing out a ton on the marketing and publicity aspect of college sports.

I don't think the loss is notable. You are moving ESPN3 content to ESPN+. The ESPN3 casual viewer is a unicorn or bigfoot. People think it exists but its hard to spot and prove. Generally ESPN3 viewers open the app with the intention to watch a specific game.

(03-01-2018 12:44 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 12:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  No surprise to me about the shift to Plus.

Yup. I think thats kinda what it was designed to be---a way to monetize G5 content. The reality is there are some really loyal G5 fan bases and this streaming subscription concept is a low cost way to cash in on that loyalty. I wonder if this is why there isnt any early renegotiation process for the AAC. Maybe ESPN is pushing for them to be primarily an ESPN Plus property (would probably pay them fairly well), but giving up all that exposure on the linear national networks like ESPN, ABC, and CBS-Sports would be a huge sticking point.

This stuff is going to be very interesting going forward. While I think its bad for a conference to vanish from linear TV, this does represent a format that is more likely to pay G5's their true market value.

More precisely, ESPN Plus is a low cost way to test the loyalty of those fans. ESPN wants to find out how many of those fans are willing to pay extra to watch their teams, as opposed to not paying extra and only watching the channels that are part of a huge cable bundle.

(03-01-2018 12:56 PM)MAcFroggy Wrote:  On the money side this could be great news. However, this will be a substantial decrease in attention and marketing. TCU has always called sports "the front porch of the university". I think a lot of schools view them in a similar fashion. They are great way to increase name recognition and promote the school. Unless the money is a substantial increase, they will be losing out a ton on the marketing and publicity aspect of college sports.

How do you mean? Are you saying we won’t get as much attention because we’re moving some of our games behind a pay wall?

(03-01-2018 01:05 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 12:44 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 12:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  No surprise to me about the shift to Plus.

Yup. I think thats kinda what it was designed to be---a way to monetize G5 content. The reality is there are some really loyal G5 fan bases and this streaming subscription concept is a low cost way to cash in on that loyalty. I wonder if this is why there isnt any early renegotiation process for the AAC. Maybe ESPN is pushing for them to be primarily an ESPN Plus property (would probably pay them fairly well), but giving up all that exposure on the linear national networks like ESPN, ABC, and CBS-Sports would be a huge sticking point.

This stuff is going to be very interesting going forward. While I think its bad for a conference to vanish from linear TV, this does represent a format that is more likely to pay G5's their true market value.

More precisely, ESPN Plus is a low cost way to test the loyalty of those fans. ESPN wants to find out how many of those fans are willing to pay extra to watch their teams, as opposed to not paying extra and only watching the channels that are part of a huge cable bundle.

And unlike conference streaming services you know the production will be up to ESPN standards and include other content of possible interest.

When they announced MLS Live was moving over and at a cheaper price (just the ESPN+ cost) it was apparent they were looking to go volume.

(03-01-2018 01:05 PM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 12:56 PM)MAcFroggy Wrote:  On the money side this could be great news. However, this will be a substantial decrease in attention and marketing. TCU has always called sports "the front porch of the university". I think a lot of schools view them in a similar fashion. They are great way to increase name recognition and promote the school. Unless the money is a substantial increase, they will be losing out a ton on the marketing and publicity aspect of college sports.

How do you mean? Are you saying we won’t get as much attention because we’re moving some of our games behind a pay wall?

Well its been behind a quasi-paywall already. Have to have either a subscription TV subscription or get internet from a provider paying the carriage fee.

This just makes it transparent.

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 12:44 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 12:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  No surprise to me about the shift to Plus.

Yup. I think thats kinda what it was designed to be---a way to monetize G5 content. The reality is there are some really loyal G5 fan bases and this streaming subscription concept is a low cost way to cash in on that loyalty. I wonder if this is why there isnt any early renegotiation process for the AAC. Maybe ESPN is pushing for them to be primarily an ESPN Plus property (would probably pay them fairly well), but giving up all that exposure on the linear national networks like ESPN, ABC, and CBS-Sports would be a huge sticking point.

This stuff is going to be very interesting going forward. While I think its bad for a conference to vanish from linear TV, this does represent a format that is more likely to pay G5's their true market value.

Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

We'll probably know soon enough whether ESPN+ is just rolling up the stuff already on ESPN3 or whether it's also going to include stuff that was on the ESPN cable channels.

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  [
Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

If ESPN is willing to pay to make the shift from 3 to Plus, its kind of a no brainer. I bet they throw in some extra national coverage as an incentive to be the first FBS conference to do so.

(03-01-2018 01:31 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  [
Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

If ESPN is willing to pay to make the shift from 3 to Plus, its kind of a no brainer. I bet they throw in some extra national coverage as an incentive to be the first FBS conference to do so.

I don't expect that ESPN "threw in" anything. It's not like ESPN has excess 'national coverage' in a warehouse somewhere waiting to be handed out to the Sun Belt like candy.

Since ESPN would likely prefer to put the entirety of the Sun Belt on ESPN+, while the Sun Belt would prefer that all of its games air on ESPN cable networks, market power will determine what the Sun Belt got from ESPN in that regard.

(03-01-2018 01:31 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  [
Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

If ESPN is willing to pay to make the shift from 3 to Plus, its kind of a no brainer. I bet they throw in some extra national coverage as an incentive to be the first FBS conference to do so.

Exactly. There likely had to be a carrot to offset moving off free(ish) ESPN3 to ESPN+

(03-01-2018 01:34 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:31 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  [
Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

If ESPN is willing to pay to make the shift from 3 to Plus, its kind of a no brainer. I bet they throw in some extra national coverage as an incentive to be the first FBS conference to do so.

Exactly. There likely had to be a carrot to offset moving off free(ish) ESPN3 to ESPN+

Yep, and since the Sunbelt is making a big deal about it, it is a deal they are very pleased to be signing.

(03-01-2018 01:34 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:31 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  [
Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

If ESPN is willing to pay to make the shift from 3 to Plus, its kind of a no brainer. I bet they throw in some extra national coverage as an incentive to be the first FBS conference to do so.

Exactly. There likely had to be a carrot to offset moving off free(ish) ESPN3 to ESPN+

Unless of course ESPN3 is being phased out.

(03-01-2018 02:06 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:34 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:31 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  [
Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

If ESPN is willing to pay to make the shift from 3 to Plus, its kind of a no brainer. I bet they throw in some extra national coverage as an incentive to be the first FBS conference to do so.

Exactly. There likely had to be a carrot to offset moving off free(ish) ESPN3 to ESPN+

Unless of course ESPN3 is being phased out.

That may be the case but they are going to have to deal with a number of carriage agreements and content agreements regarding ESPN3 before they can do it or buy those out.

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 12:44 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 12:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  No surprise to me about the shift to Plus.

Yup. I think thats kinda what it was designed to be---a way to monetize G5 content. The reality is there are some really loyal G5 fan bases and this streaming subscription concept is a low cost way to cash in on that loyalty. I wonder if this is why there isnt any early renegotiation process for the AAC. Maybe ESPN is pushing for them to be primarily an ESPN Plus property (would probably pay them fairly well), but giving up all that exposure on the linear national networks like ESPN, ABC, and CBS-Sports would be a huge sticking point.

This stuff is going to be very interesting going forward. While I think its bad for a conference to vanish from linear TV, this does represent a format that is more likely to pay G5's their true market value.

Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

I agree. Most of the Sunbelt games were not on linear TV anyway, so the change is not that big a deal. Like you said, the SB probably will have the same number of games on traditional linear tv (perhaps even a few more). I suspect we will see quite a bit of the more attractive ESPN-3 content slowly beginning to migrate over to ESPN-Plus in the coming years.

If ESPN Plus is successful I could see them shutting down ESPN 3 completely.