$10M per year still leaves us $20M per year behind the PAC which is currently the lowest paid conference. I say no GoR (which only benefits ESPN) without P5 Money. $30M/per team and a conference network and the GoR makes sense.
The Big 12-2 does not want any part of UCF or UH for that matter. They don’t need new teams coming in and beating them. They have it just right with enough “big name” patsy’s. The NCAA allowed them to go with 10 and have their own version of a championship game different from all other leagues. They are not about to expand. ever.
The leadership of UH (and UCF and others) would be negligent if they didn’t help the AAC pursue a much larger (say $10+M/per team) TV contract that runs thru the end of the current Big10 and Big12 contracts. At that point (5 years from now), it’s another new world.
ESPN is not asking for a GoR for 3 or 4 years (when the negotiations for BIG and PAC will begin) they are asking for a long term GoR which would condemn UH to second class status and prevent us from moving up in the next round of possible expansion.
Surely you have heard of the word - negotiations. ESPN can ask for the moon, but the leadership of UH and UCF are not going to commit to a GoR much past the expiration of the current Big10 & Big12 contracts.
Then the GoR is worthless because none of the schools will be leaving until the P5 conferences begin their contract negotiations anyway. That is why ESPN would want a long term GoR, to keep schools such as UH or UCF from being able to leave.
Exactly! There never has been, and never will be, a consensus on the number of schools to have in a conference. Why? Because each conference has a different geographic, athletic and academic profile.
I’ve always felt that traditional conferences should be for football and basketball only. All other college sports should be regionally based for expense purposes. Why should our women’s tennis teams (or any other Olympic sport for that matter) be going to Connecticut or anywhere on the East Coast for competition when there are plenty of competitive programs in Tex-OK-La already.
“I don’t know where the emphasis on grant-of-rights came from,” Aresco said. “It’s one way where conferences deal with this kind of thing. Conference composition is another. I have no idea where we’re going to go with this. It may not be an issue at all.”
Is it fair to say grant-of-rights and conference composition would be among the things discussed?
“Absolutely,” Aresco said. “They’ll be discussed. But this thing made it sound like it’s all or nothing and that’s not the situation.”
Interesting take from a UCF writer, but it’s the last paragraph that applies to this thread
# THE AAC COMMISSIONER BEGAN SPEAKING UP FOR UCF & THE CONFERENCE, BUT IS IT TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?
Even now, The American will attempt to lock its members into a lucrative short-term contract so long as its best performers stay. UCF and others can choose to rake in $6-8 million now (from $2 million) or gamble for an annual payout of up to tens of millions later. A no from those that need to adopt the contract will be a sign of things to come.
Wow, that UCF article never mentioned Aresco by name. It referred to him as the commissioner. Might there be some bad blood between UCF and the commissioner?
Not sure how a “no” is a sign of anything to come. It could as much be a gamble as a sign that an invite from the P5 is shortly arriving.
Just because Stewart Mandel says the Big 12 should add UCF does not mean it’s happening. Now if ESPN were to offer the Big 12 pro rata plus a nice bump to add UCF…