FORBES: Income per conference, I have some questions

[robinreed]

I have some questions about this FORBES article. I was under the impression the BE got 5MM per team. This information indicates otherwise. I had read the ACC got 22MM for their TV, again this indicates otherwise. I thought we made more than the AAC, not so according to this article. I had read the MWC made more money than any G5 conference. They did not and had Boise St. not gone to the access bowl they would have made less than C-USA. The A-10 was not listed and so either they make less than the MAC and SB (which is also not listed) or their contract is truly pathetic.

Generally speaking Forbes is very accurate on financial matters, sometimes less so on non-financial matters such as their college rankings. However the information here gives a different perspective to what I have read.

Any comments? I would appreciate hearing them especially as to our (BE) income.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/ ... ge-sports/


Rankings are sorted per member
Conference / Bowl Game / NCAA T / TV money / Total / Per School Amount

SEC $112 $17 $347 $478 $34

Big Ten $86 $21 $279 $386 $27.6

Pac 12 $81 $11 $215 $307 $25.5

Big 12 $72 $19 $162 $253 $25.3

ACC $98 $21 $212 $331 $22.1

AAC $19 $19 $19 $57 $4.7

Big East $0 / $10 / $33 / $43 / $4.3

MWC $27 $9 $15 $50 $4.2

CUSA $18 $3 $15 $36 $2.5

MAC $18 $2 $8 $28 $2.3

[Xudash]

You must be assuming the Fox deal is over 10 years. It isn't. It's over a 12 year period:

Multiple reports have valued the deal at $500 million over 12 years, which would be more money per school for the Catholic 7 than they earned from television in the old Big East.

So, that's $41.7 million (rounded) per year, gross: $4.2 million per school.

Otherwise, specifically with respect to the AAC, I believe they are "amortizing" their residual credits from the old Big East, which has the effect of propping up their current numbers. The AAC will look drastically different once that funding peels away, albeit in some number of years from now.

[stever20]

as far as why this year would be 33 million for tv- or just 2.75 million per school- 2 things...
1- contract almost certainly goes up as the years go along.
2- contract could have had a signing bonus- to help the money gap that ensued when starting up the conference. We'll never know if this for sure is the case, but I think it wouldn't be a surprise at all.

The AAC money doesn't seem right- 57/11 would be like 5.2 million dollars not 4.7 million.

How long can the ACC keep being 12 million behind the SEC? That just seems like a situation that can't hold on forever. Especially given that the bowl games this year- SEC will get another 12.5 million dollars, while ACC will lose 27.5 million dollars. The gap will be even bigger this upcoming year.

[Xudash]

as far as why this year would be 33 million for tv- or just 2.75 million per school- 2 things...
1- contract almost certainly goes up as the years go along.
2- contract could have had a signing bonus- to help the money gap that ensued when starting up the conference. We'll never know if this for sure is the case, but I think it wouldn't be a surprise at all.

The AAC money doesn't seem right- 57/11 would be like 5.2 million dollars not 4.7 million.

How long can the ACC keep being 12 million behind the SEC? That just seems like a situation that can't hold on forever. Especially given that the bowl games this year- SEC will get another 12.5 million dollars, while ACC will lose 27.5 million dollars. The gap will be even bigger this upcoming year.

I view the difference between the SEC and ACC as being "structural." Specifically, it's obvious that, when you line-up one conference's schools against those of the other, the alumni bases don't compare, the stadium sizes don't compare and the fan support doesn't compare. There is no solution for the ACC in this, not with Wake Forest and BC in the mix, and not when the middle of the pack members either emphasize basketball - at least historically - and/or play in stadiums in the 50k capacity range.

Simply compare the SEC football championship game to that of the ACC. You can't.

[stever20]

as far as why this year would be 33 million for tv- or just 2.75 million per school- 2 things...
1- contract almost certainly goes up as the years go along.
2- contract could have had a signing bonus- to help the money gap that ensued when starting up the conference. We'll never know if this for sure is the case, but I think it wouldn't be a surprise at all.

The AAC money doesn't seem right- 57/11 would be like 5.2 million dollars not 4.7 million.

How long can the ACC keep being 12 million behind the SEC? That just seems like a situation that can't hold on forever. Especially given that the bowl games this year- SEC will get another 12.5 million dollars, while ACC will lose 27.5 million dollars. The gap will be even bigger this upcoming year.

I view the difference between the SEC and ACC as being "structural." Specifically, it's obvious that, when you line-up one conference's schools against those of the other, the alumni bases don't compare, the stadium sizes don't compare and the fan support doesn't compare. There is no solution for the ACC in this, not with Wake Forest and BC in the mix, and not when the middle of the pack members either emphasize basketball - at least historically - and/or play in stadiums in the 50k capacity range.

Simply compare the SEC football championship game to that of the ACC. You can't.

Oh I totally agree. I just wonder how long especially FSU/Ga Tech/Clemson can hold out. Especially I think FSU and Clemson... I think eventually those 2 and GT do move on.

[robinreed]

"You must be assuming the Fox deal is over 10 years. It isn't. It's over a 12 year period:

Multiple reports have valued the deal at $500 million over 12 years, which would be more money per school for the Catholic 7 than they earned from television in the old Big East."

Thanks Dash you are correct I remember reading somewhere that we had a 10 year contract however the 12 year number solves the problem.

As to the AAC the USA Today article I posted in another earlier thread stated the AAC distribution last year was 93.6 MM. I assume the difference between the 57 MM reported in Forbes and the 93.6 MM reported in USA Today (36.6 MM) would be the fees which the 7 BE schools as well as Louisville, Rutgers, WVU, Syracuse, Pitt etc. paid the AAC as well as the fees all the new schools (mostly from C-USA) paid to join the ACC conference. Supposedly those payments were to go for 4 years. If this is the case then they only have 3 more years to get these "supplemental payments". However I do remember an ESPN article which stated the amount would be circa 120 MM. Therefore these numbers are not fully justified. Unless ESPN was wrong, surely they have never erred.

In any case we are the only non-football conference listed in this article and even one of the football G5 conferences, the Sun Belt, was not listed. We are doing well re money.