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CBS is walking away from the SEC effective 2023

The next wave of contract negotiations is going to be fascinating. Netflix says they are out, but you still have:
  • YouTube TV/Google
  • Twitter (showing some NBA games this season after losing Thursday night NFL games they previously streamed)
  • Amazon Video
  • Apple TV+
  • Microsoft (possibly for the Xbox)
  • Hulu/Disney, paired with ESPN and ABC is a different dynamic than in the past
Basically, there is going to be A LOT of demand for a finite set of packages between pro and college bball and football.
 
In his reporting on the issue, Wilner found that DirecTV’s viewpoint is tied to the structure of the media-rights deal, which is set up to give Tier 1 rights holders the best selection of games.

On May 4, 2011, the Pac-12 announced it had reached a 12-year deal with Fox and ESPN for $3 billion dollars, then the most money ever signed by a college athletics conference for its media rights. In what is called the “Tier 1 Rights,” the agreement splits up 44 regular season football games between ESPN and Fox and rotates the conference’s football championship game annually between the two networks.

Wilner believes that nothing will change during the current contract.

“They’re [DTV] paying already for the top Pac-12 football games that are on ESPN and Fox because they’ve got to pay Fox and ESPN for those,” Wilner said. “Why would they do it, also, through the Pac-12 Networks to get lesser games?”

cronkitenews.azpbs.org

The Pac-12 is in complex position with its TV network

Opportunities are plentiful for the Pac-12 Networks’ future as the conference prepares for 2024, but the path to get there will continue to be challenging.
cronkitenews.azpbs.org cronkitenews.azpbs.org
 
manhattanbuf said:
So... he mucked it up?
Click to expand...
Sure.

On the one hand, P10 schools were receiving a fraction of what they are today. CU was stuck in a dying conference that marginalized us while the big school took a lot more of the conferences money for itself and blocked a conference network so it wouldnt compete with its Lonhorn Network. Larry Scott changed all that, he created the nation's 2nd conference network, signed a 3 billion dollar TV deal. All 12 schools are still in a far better place today than their Big 12 peers and for a long time a better than the ACC.

On the other hand, the other conferences have caught up and passed us because their deals were shorter. And their conference network got better distribution because of their partners. These were uncharted waters back then.


Hindsight is 2020.
 
MiamiBuffs said:
Sure.

On the one hand, P10 schools were receiving a fraction of what they are today. CU was stuck in a dying conference that marginalized us while the big school took a lot more of the conferences money for itself and blocked a conference network so it wouldnt compete with its Lonhorn Network. Larry Scott changed all that, he created the nation's 2nd conference network, signed a 3 billion dollar TV deal. All 12 schools are still in a far better place today than their Big 12 peers and for a long time a better than the ACC.

On the other hand, the other conferences have caught up and passed us because their deals were shorter. And their conference network got better distribution because of their partners. These were uncharted waters back then.


Hindsight is 2020.
Click to expand...
I mean, it seemed like the sentiment of other conferences passing the P12 is nothing new.

THE reason why LS was hired was because of his supposed media savvy and negotiating these big deals. He wasn’t savvy last time around, but we have faith that he’ll get the next one right?

As for the other conferences... [Edit] the P12 is not earning more money than the B12 and I definitely don’t think we’re better off. People from non B12 markets can actually see most B12 games easily on Saturdays on Fox/FS1. The same cannot be said for the P12. This cannot be helpful in future negotiations.
 
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MiamiBuffs said:
Sure.

On the one hand, P10 schools were receiving a fraction of what they are today. CU was stuck in a dying conference that marginalized us while the big school took a lot more of the conferences money for itself and blocked a conference network so it wouldnt compete with its Lonhorn Network. Larry Scott changed all that, he created the nation's 2nd conference network, signed a 3 billion dollar TV deal. All 12 schools are still in a far better place today than their Big 12 peers and for a long time a better than the ACC.

On the other hand, the other conferences have caught up and passed us because their deals were shorter. And their conference network got better distribution because of their partners. These were uncharted waters back then.


Hindsight is 2020.
Click to expand...

Those Big 12 peers are doing more than okay.

And no one cares about a conference network that many sports bars cannot carry.

Why would anyone trust Larry Scott to get it right this time?
 
manhattanbuf said:
I mean, it seemed like the sentiment of other conferences passing the P12 is nothing new.

THE reason why LS was hired was because of his supposed media savvy and negotiating these big deals. He wasn’t savvy last time around, but we have faith that he’ll get the next one right?

As for the other conferences... the P12 may be earning more money than the B12 but I don’t think we’re better off. People from non B12 markets can actually see most B12 games easily on Saturdays on Fox/FS1. The same cannot be said for the P12. This cannot be helpful in future negotiations.
Click to expand...

Big 12 schools are earning more.
 
Duff Man said:
Most assume that is not the case, but rather the Presidents at UCLA and Oregon State are ardent supporters, which keeps Scott's job safe.
Click to expand...
Huh. Ok.

beings up something I have been wondering about for a while. At CU, is it the President (Kennedy) or the Chancellor (DiStefano) who is the guy casting the votes? Kennedy is technically the President, but DiStefano is the guy who deals with the CU Boulder AD.
 
Not Sure said:
Huh. Ok.

beings up something I have been wondering about for a while. At CU, is it the President (Kennedy) or the Chancellor (DiStefano) who is the guy casting the votes? Kennedy is technically the President, but DiStefano is the guy who deals with the CU Boulder AD.
Click to expand...

I do not know. Good question.
 
That doesn’t mean he is a voting member when it comes to deciding on Larry Scott’s employment status.
 
manhattanbuf said:
THE reason why LS was hired was because of his supposed media savvy and negotiating these big deals. He wasn’t savvy last time around, but we have faith that he’ll get the next one right?
Click to expand...
Last time was also the first time. Single digit millions per member turned into double digit millions (deal was too long). The largest deal at the time wasn't enough for you? He grew the conference. Almost engineered a mega conference.

It's not hard to imagine that the next deal will Be even richer. I'd venture that partial sale of the P12N could also be part of the deal. If CBS or NBC bought it they could have the leverage to get it on DTV. Hopefully CBS doesn't abandon college sports like NBC has.
 
MiamiBuffs said:
Last time was also the first time. Single digit millions per member turned into double digit millions (deal was too long).

It's not hard to imagine that the next deal will Be even richer. I'd venture that partial sale of the P12N could also be part of the deal. If CBS or NBC bought it they could have the leverage to get it on DTV. Hopefully CBS doesn't abandon college sports like NBC has.
Click to expand...
If they sell any part of the P12N next time around, then he definitely should be fired. Wanting complete autonomy over the network and digging his heels into the sand against DTV has been his biggest misfire. I find your faith in Larry astonishing. His poor advice/mismanagement is why the P12 is in such bad shape. It’s not just the length of the current contract.
 
MiamiBuffs said:
Last time was also the first time. Single digit millions per member turned into double digit millions (deal was too long). The largest deal at the time wasn't enough for you? He grew the conference. Almost engineered a mega conference.

It's not hard to imagine that the next deal will Be even richer. I'd venture that partial sale of the P12N could also be part of the deal. If CBS or NBC bought it they could have the leverage to get it on DTV. Hopefully CBS doesn't abandon college sports like NBC has.
Click to expand...

Wow. You keep brushing aside the "deal was too long" as some sort of afterthought. That mistake will cost each member 8-9 figures while the profile of the conference suffers nationally in a major way. So he gets credit for growing a conference no one really cares about and also for a deal which has put its members at a large financial disadvantage compared to peer programs? Must be nice.
 
MiamiBuffs said:
Last time was also the first time. Single digit millions per member turned into double digit millions (deal was too long). The largest deal at the time wasn't enough for you? He grew the conference. Almost engineered a mega conference.

It's not hard to imagine that the next deal will Be even richer. I'd venture that partial sale of the P12N could also be part of the deal. If CBS or NBC bought it they could have the leverage to get it on DTV. Hopefully CBS doesn't abandon college sports like NBC has.
Click to expand...

Almost only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.
 
manhattanbuf said:
If they sell any part of the P12N next time around, then he definitely should be fired. Wanting complete autonomy over the network and digging his heels into the sand against DTV has been his biggest misfire. I find your faith in Larry astonishing. His poor advice/mismanagement is why the P12 is in such bad shape. It’s not just the length of the current contract.
Click to expand...
I disagree

The P12N is an underperforming distressed asset that's financial drag on the members and the conference. It's failed to get on to DTV and it's lost saturation after being dropped by AT&T. Selling 49% of it and having the buying network take over all or part of the production costs seems like a no Brainer to me. Especially if it enhances the saturation situation by adding the network leverage that increases distribution. The only other conference network at the time was the Big10. Like many business startups that sour, Larry was just wrong about what he and others thought the market could be. Selling would better align us with where the market actually Is.

Doubling down on your mistake by keeping the status quo would be more concerning to me than leveraging the assets value and getting what you can get for it.

What do you actually mean by bad shape? The schools have millions more in revenue than they had before even though other conferences have more than us now. I'd remind you that were under contract (Again too long) and that unbeknownst to any of us the market would change rapidly along the way. The ACC only recently got a channel after ESPN delayed it. And if the "better off" BigXII has a TV channel, after failing to expand a couple years ago, I've never seen it.

Is there someone better than Larry? Yes.

Are we going to hire him or her? No.

The Presidents, our board of directors, voted to extend his contract in 2013 and again 2017. They apparently have confidence in him and are at least hoping he learned from his mistakes (versus the risk of hiring someone new but worse). I, like you, have no choice but to have some faith in him because he will be sitting across the table whether we like it or not.
 
Your overall point has a lot of merit, maximize what you have the best you can. The bigger problem is this:
MiamiBuffs said:
I disagree

The P12N is an underperforming distressed asset that's financial drag on the members and the conference. It's failed to get on to DTV and it's lost saturation after being dropped by AT&T. Selling 49% of it and having the buying network take over all or part of the production costs seems like a no Brainer to me.
Click to expand...
Taking what should be one of your most valuable assets, and making decisions that cause you to negotiate it’s future/selling it in a distressed situation is the worst of situations for any sort of start up, period. Hindsight is 20/20, but doing the same thing (following the same leadership), and expecting different results, is literally insane.
 
Duff Man said:
Bad shape is Purdue making $15+ million over every school in the Pac-12.
Click to expand...

They signed that deal right after we signed ours. The SEC deal, bigger than the Big10s, was signed after that. Each deal gets more giganticly bigger as the next guy goes.

Someday Oregon State will get silly money too.

Duff Man said:
Wow. You keep brushing aside the "deal was too long" as some sort of afterthought. That mistake will cost each member 8-9 figures while the profile of the conference suffers nationally in a major way. So he gets credit for growing a conference no one really cares about and also for a deal which has put its members at a large financial disadvantage compared to peer programs? Must be nice.
Click to expand...


What was the length of rights deals contracts on a historical basis? Let's look;
  • The Big Ten's 10-year deal with ESPN and six-year deal with CBS expire after next spring 2023
    • In 2016 The Big Ten’s new shorter 6-Year deal with Fox would go through the 2022-23 season. It includes more of the conference’s basketball and football games on Fox and Fox Sports 1.
  • In 2011, the Pac-12 reached a 12-year deal with Fox and ESPN thru 2024 for $3 billion dollars, then the most money ever signed by a college athletics conference
  • In 2012 The Big 12 Conference reached an agreement on a 13-year media rights deal with ABC/ESPN and Fox thru 2024/25
  • In 2008, CBS and the SEC agreed to a 15-yeardeal through 2023, at a rate of about $55 million per year.
    • in 2012, after SEC expansion, one of their rights partners renegotiated their TV deal and the other stood firm. Disney/ESPN signed a new 22-year rights deal through 2034 that included the launch of the SEC Network.
  • the Atlantic Coast Conference and ESPN agreed to a 20-year deal and rights extension through the 2035-36
I'm fairly certain the B10 and SEC renegotiatiins were triggered by expansion. The planned Big XII expansion was denied.

It'll be interesting to see how the longer SEC and ACC deals age.

Its probably good that the B10 deal will get negotiated before ours too to see if their is a new high water mark.
 
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Either you can acknowledge the ACTUAL current situation or not.

You seem to be arguing the current situation is not bad and Larry Scott is doing a good job. Wut?
 
Bill Cody said:
Your overall point has a lot of merit, maximize what you have the best you can. The bigger problem is this:

Taking what should be one of your most valuable assets, and making decisions that cause you to negotiate it’s future/selling it in a distressed situation is the worst of situations for any sort of start up, period. Hindsight is 20/20, but doing the same thing (following the same leadership), and expecting different results, is literally insane.
Click to expand...

AT&T bought DirecTV and they've been getting rid of unprofitable or less profitable customers. AT&T burrowed heavily to pay for that deal and others. Cord cutting has hurt traditional providers like DTV.

To me all that makes the prospect of getting on DTV (as well as others) even more difficult. Without a "big fish" partner to help leverage a spot the P12N is stuck.
 
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