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CU has rejoined the Big 12 and broken college football - talking out asses continues

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This discussion and the skepticism reminds me of the chatter back when MNF first switched to ESPN and a lot of folks questioned how it could succeed when not everyone had cable.
Oddly enough, I’m not able to find what the ratings for the ABC broadcasts were in comparison to the ESPN broadcasts. I suspect the move to ESPN hurt ratings.
 
Regardless of the exact implementation here (it would be helpful if you could link to something reputable that's talking about a additional standalone subscription to watch P12 on Amazon), I think characterizing TNF on Amazon as a "disaster" is a bit extreme. Yes, viewership was down, but context matters- 11/17 games in 2021 were available on 3 carriers (NFLN, Amazon, and Fox- the latter of which is theoretically available in every household via OTA transmission). In addition, ratings from TNF 2021 included two Saturday Christmas Eve games, one of which was available on three channels and featured the Packers. The TNF numbers from 2021 also included the Bucs/Cowboys game to start the season when there was no Week 1 TNF game on Amazon this year.
https://www.nexttv.com/news/streami...-dropped-whopping-41-for-the-season-on-amazon
More importantly:



TNF moving to Amazon bumped viewership in the most important demographic to advertisers. That has to account for something.

Additionally, the matchups offered made a difference: Week 2 featured the best game (Chiefs/Chargers) and drew 13M viewers, a season high for TNF. The matchups in the second half of the season were brutal. Only three games featured 2 teams competing for a playoff spot: Bills/Pats in Week 13, 49ers/Seahawks in Week 15, and Cowboys/Titans in Week 17. The rest featured at least one team that was playing out the string.

Ratings were down for 2022 as compared to 2021, but context matters.

Most relevantly to this discussion, the lowest viewed matchup was Falcons/Panthers at 6.8M viewers. Only one game involving a P12 team (the Rose Bowl) had more viewers, and only 5 regular season games involving P12 teams last year got even HALF that many viewers (Oregon/Georgia, WSU/Wisconsin, Washington/Oregon, USC/UCLA, ND/USC). Distribution availability is not going to be the limiting factor- interest is.
NFL ratings were down on TNF for a multitude of reasons, but I agree, distribution wasn't one of them, as Prime Video has massive distribution and 150m people are already paying for it. To me, that says pretty much everybody had access to TNF via Prime Video, but fewer people were watching in 2022 vs prior years. What happens if/when they drop TNF behind a paywall that is separate from Prime?

I also feel like you're proving my point with the ratings comparison. CFB isn't even in the same ballpark as the NFL in ratings and the Pac 12's best matchups of the season couldn't even reach half the viewers of the worst NFL TNF matchup. There just isn't much national interest in Pac 12 football, so how does dropping it behind another paywall, that people have to go out of their way to gain access to, make sense?

I get this is all speculation, but going back to buffnik's original criteria of what's important to the Pac 12 with the media deal... 1. Similar money as the Big 12 and ACC and 2. National Distribution. The former is probably going to be fine, but I don't see how anyone can look at this potential setup and say distribution will be as good.
 
How many people subscribe to ESPN because it’s part of the cable package?
I have ESPN thru SlingTV. I dont know how they count that but its probably counted as set top.

I dont have Disney+ or ESPN+ but I do have hulu. They regularly remind me I sign up for the bundle.
 
I’ll say it again: What is being proposed is not simply putting the Pac 12 inventory on Prime Video like they did with Thursday Night Football (which was a disaster for ratings, btw). They are going to put it on their not launched yet, Amazon Sports App, that is ANOTHER paid subscription outside of Prime. It is yet to be known whether TNF will also be moved there or if it will remain on Prime video. It’s not a “Pac 12 app”, but until they get more live content, that is going to be the main draw.

Amazon is going to make it successful, but the timeframe is concerning. They lost money for a long time when they launched free 2 day shipping, but it was worth it for the long term vision and plan. That could eventually be the case for this app, but the Pac 12 needs distribution in the short term, not the long term, which is why there are concerns being raised.

The NFL TNF was a disaster in year one, and that was on a service that has 150m US subscribers already, so I don’t understand this flippant, “Trust Amazon” attitude that millions of people out of the Pac 12 footprint are going to subscribe to another app with Pac 12 football (without SC and UCLA) as the main draw.
They would be incredibly stupid for doing that app you describe. Their viewers would be low. I could see maybe five years down the line after being very well established.
 
They would be incredibly stupid for doing that app you describe. Their viewers would be low. I could see maybe five years down the line after being very well established.
I agree. If they bail on the idea of an app and just put it on Prime Video like they did with TNF, that's an entirely different story and the distribution would be great.

End of the day, getting in bed with Amazon would have been smart had they been able to keep USC and UCLA as the conference with those two had staying power and could afford to wait while streaming live sports became more prominent. At this point, though, it all feels like a 5 year proposition until the remaining brands in the Pac can leave and the conference either folds entirely or has to merge with the MWC and effectively become G5.
 
I agree. If they bail on the idea of an app and just put it on Prime Video like they did with TNF, that's an entirely different story and the distribution would be great.

End of the day, getting in bed with Amazon would have been smart had they been able to keep USC and UCLA as the conference with those two had staying power and could afford to wait while streaming live sports became more prominent. At this point, though, it all feels like a 5 year proposition until the remaining brands in the Pac can leave and the conference either folds entirely or has to merge with the MWC and effectively become G5.
All the major movie houses moved their library to someone elses app and away from Netflix. Amazon has the same problem. There is starting to be a content vacuum as TV fractures further as everyone tries to go in house. Joe Household will pay for how many services? Three? Four? Five?

To keep eyeballs they have to buy new content. Having worked in film making, the lights camera action kind that exceeds $100k per day, Im pretty sure the cost of production for the Pac12 sports would probably be cheaper then going out and making their own shows and movies. And then you can sell ads.
 
With little 12 stalled out, this might be a perfect opportunity for someone like Amazon to pick off the best of the Pac and little 12 to form a conference worth watching. Get enough of each and there would be votes to dissolve the conferences without penalty when you pair that with the other 4 departures.
 
All the major movie houses moved their library to someone elses app and away from Netflix. Amazon has the same problem. There is starting to be a content vacuum as TV fractures further as everyone tries to go in house. Joe Household will pay for how many services? Three? Four? Five?

To keep eyeballs they have to buy new content. Having worked in film making, the lights camera action kind that exceeds $100k per day, Im pretty sure the cost of production for the Pac12 sports would probably be cheaper then going out and making their own shows and movies. And then you can sell ads.
Amazon bought MGM and its entire film library, studio, and infrastructure for $8 billion.

Amazon has a 5x market cap over Disney ( Disney, ABC, ESPN, Hulu). Amazon has $127B in revenue versus $12.7B for Disney. Disney has $48B in long term debt versus $32B for Amazon. There is more to analyzing these different companies, but Amazon has an established studio structure and is a big swinging Johnson.

Personally, I think Amazon is in a very good position and some people are undervaluing it versus ESPN.

Fox to me is the one that hasn’t embraced any change, but I guess It did buy Tubi.
 
With little 12 stalled out, this might be a perfect opportunity for someone like Amazon to pick off the best of the Pac and little 12 to form a conference worth watching. Get enough of each and there would be votes to dissolve the conferences without penalty when you pair that with the other 4 departures.
Colorado, Utah, Arizona, ASU, Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Cal
Okie St, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, BYU, Houston, Kansas, KSU if you want 16
 
Amazon bought MGM and its entire film library, studio, and infrastructure for $8 billion.

Amazon has a 5x market cap over Disney ( Disney, ABC, ESPN, Hulu). Amazon has $127B in revenue versus $12.7B for Disney. Disney has $48B in long term debt versus $32B for Amazon. There is more to analyzing these different companies, but Amazon has an established studio structure and is a big swinging Johnson.

Personally, I think Amazon is in a very good position and some people are undervaluing it versus ESPN.

Fox to me is the one that hasn’t embraced any change, but I guess It did buy Tubi.

Then why does MGM now have their own streaming app ?
 
Colorado, Utah, Arizona, ASU, Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Cal
Okie St, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, BYU, Houston, Kansas, KSU if you want 16
I'd dump KSU for SdSt, Unlv or Tulane, and then add Gonzaga as a BBall only sport, but generally yes, that's the idea.
 
Then why does MGM now have their own streaming app ?
Amazon owns MGM+. My understanding is that there are some existing contracts out there and it makes sense to keep it standalone rather than fold into Prime Video. Or they may keep it as a separate line of business. But Amazon owns it.
 
It is becoming more apparent that the Pac-12 made the wrong hire. Again.
I don't necessarily think Kliavkoff was the wrong hire. I think he just took the job during a crux with a less than stelllar track record for having elite teams to compete in the playoff. Would be a hard deal for probably anyone.
 
I don't necessarily think Kliavkoff was the wrong hire. I think he just took the job during a crux with a less than stelllar track record for having elite teams to compete in the playoff. Would be a hard deal for probably anyone.

I was thinking the same for awhile. He lost USC/UCLA, was outfoxed by Yormark on getting a media deal done, and now appears to be at real risk of getting a deal for enough money for the conference. Individually those issues might have extenuating circumstances (Folt at USC is a liar...) but in sum this is too many misses.
 
Pac is making a huge mistake if they go with a streaming only service.

First of all, why limit yourself, it’s not an ‘either or’ decision. Fox, ESPN etc are available on traditional TV, but are still options on streaming services as well. Why limit the reach of your product?

Second, I’ve never walked into my local sports bar and said “hey, you guys streaming the big game on AppleTV tonight?” Streaming only would further bury the Pac in obscurity.
 
Pac is making a huge mistake if they go with a streaming only service.

First of all, why limit yourself, it’s not an ‘either or’ decision. Fox, ESPN etc are available on traditional TV, but are still options on streaming services as well. Why limit the reach of your product?

Second, I’ve never walked into my local sports bar and said “hey, you guys streaming the big game on AppleTV tonight?” Streaming only would further bury the Pac in obscurity.


Neither Fox nor ESPN will ever give us premium time slots or put us on over any SEC or B1G games.

ESPN is refusing to match what they pay the Big12

Should we take less per school to be on live tv?

Or should we take a higher amount per school to be on Amazon?

It seems foolish take less money.
 
Neither Fox nor ESPN will ever give us premium time slots or put us on over any SEC or B1G games.

ESPN is refusing to match what they pay the Big12

Should we take less per school to be on live tv?

Or should we take a higher amount per school to be on Amazon?

It seems foolish take less money.
It completely depends. How much less? Will distribution be better if you take less money?

CU needs distribution and eyeballs at this point more than they need a few extra million per year from a media deal, and I would bet most of the rest of the conference feels the same way.
 
Neither Fox nor ESPN will ever give us premium time slots or put us on over any SEC or B1G games.

ESPN is refusing to match what they pay the Big12

Should we take less per school to be on live tv?

Or should we take a higher amount per school to be on Amazon?

It seems foolish take less money.
The Pac has no future if the average CFB fan gives up on even trying to watch the conference. I’d take less money short term, rather than pound the last nail in the coffin.

As for the time slots, the networks will always broadcast the games that mean the most and draw the biggest numbers. If the Pac can get back to the CFP, that issue will take care of itself.
 
The funny thing about this debate is that nearly everyone expects ESPN to pull the plug on Linear TV (industry jargon for cable, Direct TV, etc) and move to streaming at some point. When? Nobody knows. Some say within 3 years. Some say five. But effectively, it is expected to become more like Amazon. It’s just a matter of timing.
 
The funny thing about this debate is that nearly everyone expects ESPN to pull the plug on Linear TV (industry jargon for cable, Direct TV, etc) and move to streaming at some point. When? Nobody knows. Some say within 3 years. Some say five. But effectively, it is expected to become more like Amazon. It’s just a matter of timing.
Right. So timing matters.
 
Almost everyone I know streams amazon/hulu, I only know a handful that still have ESPN.
 
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Right. So timing matters.
Yeah. And I'm not knowledgeable about the industry. But from a general business perspective, if you're the market leader you are more risk averse while if you're trailing and in a lower share position you take big risks. What makes sense for SEC/B1G + ESPN/FOX is to milk their current model and then make a big play in streaming once the roadmap to success there exists. What makes sense for the Pac-12 + Amazon is to innovate and roll the dice to make a big splash and be ahead of the curve on a trend toward the likely dominant medium of the near future.
 
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