Re: OT: AAC Fans Beyond Delusional
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 8:20 pm
robinreed wrote:Just a few comments on the BE and AAC .
Contract and income for this year:
BE = Fox - 40mm per year plus NCAA bb amount of 5x$250.00 or $41.25 mm total
AAC = ESPN - 22mm per year plus 17.4 mm from new BCS agreement plus 17 mm for being in access bowl. Bb amount of 11x$250 or $59.15 mm total
The AAC amount will remain the same next year except that the AAC may not get into the access bowl which would mean about $17 mm less or $42.15 mm. I frankly do not see the AAC chance of getting into the access bowl as being much over 50% without Louisville however no one really can predict this.
In other words the disparity between the two conferences is not great in cash however it is great in viewership. I know I have written about this issue before on this site but I will say again the biggest problem we face in the BE is VIEWERSHIP not money. Our success or lack of same will be due to viewership not cash. We can prosper and become truly major or decline into near nothingness based on viewership alone. Does anyone really think the glory days of the old BE were based on our attendance? It was based on viewership with ESPN when everyone knew how great the BE was. My primary allegiance is to XU but I also have a MA from Cincinnati and I remember well the years of 9 to 11 bids for the BE. Cincinnati did not outdraw XU in attendance actually the opposite was true and X usually got a NCAA bid (actually more often than UC) but people watched the BE on TV. We need to recreate that situation and do so asap.
Well, the BE was great then. Right now it's not. If it becomes great again, people will find Fox Sports. People tuned in to the BE in the early days because of Ewing, Mullin, etc. and because of 3 teams in the Final 4.