Or at least reneg the deal…
What a load of freaking crap on ESPN’s part!
“If the networks, both of which have encountered some financial challenges in the last year with cutbacks and subscriber losses, decided to staunchly challenge the contracts, they could simply not pay the increases and force the conference to take them to court. ESPN and Fox would argue that the move to expand and charge the TV networks more money does not reflect the spirit of the original deals, which were signed four years ago._ The conference, of course, can fall back on its contracts, which spell out pro rata increases.”
Does not reflect the spirit of the deal? Any lawyer should be able to destroy this in a court of law, correct??
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Correct, but note this article keeps saying sources and then later says execs, but not executives wanting to remain anonymous. This article is made up BS.
Interesting …
Who would have thought the fly in the ointment would come from the networks and not the members in the conference.
The fog is starting to clear up now.
The Big12 hesitated on expanding probably because they were encouraged by ESPN and probably Fox to do so.
UNTIL the ACC network deal was announced. Bowlsby didn’t hesitate an iota. He called their bluff.
And he didn’t stop at 2 he went for the gold at 4.
The SEC received a sweet deal and Fox gave the B1G theirs.
AND …
Bowlsby believes he can win in court … the argument about the incoming teams not being “sponge” worthy isn’t going to fool any jury. The networks only pay the G5s the crumbs off the table. Once they enter a P5 their quality increases many fold … recruitment and facility-wise.
Weasely ESPN. They seem to have it in for the B12. Teams leave and it may be a wash for ESPN as they become part of another conference’s ESPN contract. They obviously care only about the money and barring non P5 teams (with puny contracts) is weak sauce as any kind of defense for reneging on their b12 contract.
The BIG12 could argue about the quality of over half of the P5 teams vs the teams entering into the BIG12 by expansion. Memphis defeated Ole Miss last year, BYU has numerous wins against P5 schools in the last 3 years, UH defeated Louisville and Florida St. last year and Cincinnati defeated Miami, Florida last year.
It is obvious that the FOX/ESPN are still trying to define college FB as the superior P5 vs inferior G5. Look deeper and you will see you have 64 teams in the present P5 conferences plus Notre Dame for a total of 65 teams.
When the BIG12 GOR expires OU, UT, Kansas will leave and the ESPN/FOX networks will approve who else from the remaining BIG12 and the best of the G5 will be included in the new Super 4 Conferences.
This BIG12 vs ESPN/FOX sure sounds like the BIG EAST VS ESPN before ESPN destroyed it by helping Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Etc.
All of your statements are true, Buyer. But you have to understand that ESPN already has the broadcast rights to Memphis, UH, and Cincinnati … and they pay pennies for those rights. ESPN wants to keep it that way.
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The article may turn out to be BS, but I don’t understand your reasoning.
I am a journalist.
It has to do with the way it is written. Early on, the writer only says “sources”, but doesn’t qualify them while talking about networks digging in their heels and wanting to actually stop the expansion.
Later he qualifies sources as being executives when he is talking about ESPN and Fox being annoyed.
The article was written so you assume they are the same sources, but it doesn’t say that. I have no doubt executives are annoyed, as anyone could infer, but probably not trying to block the expansion. That is why the different sentiments are attributed differently.
It could just be bad journalism, but it smells like a journalist wanting to mislead people while covering their ass because it technically is right.
This is all about ESPN stubbing their toe with the loser LHN !!!
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Bingo
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But their value is different in those two conferences.
Would a LHN contact have been signed if UT was in the Sunbelt?
All this carping by ESPN is about changing the Big 12 expansion from 4 to 2, and losing only 1 AAC school instead of 3…I think the end game for Texas and ESPN is BYU, Houston…Texas can say Big 12 brand not watered down with questionable schools, reduction of money ESPN would pay Big 12 in future, since only 2 newbies instead of 4…and American retains much of its value as a good but underpaid conference…
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HOWEVER … it does give them an advantage over the horns.
The 15mil/yr until 2030 I believe puts UT in a bind. They are breaking even every year on their athletic budget. Leaving in 2025 when the GORs expire will not help them since NO ONE will accept them with their LHN nor will make up the difference. The 40 acres will be in the red for several years if they don’t get a handle on their budget NOW.
ESPN I gather wants to extend the Big12 GORs to 2030 and beyond and it would seem the horns will not have any choice but comply … flying the coop won’t solve anything … $$budget$$-wise.
With the early money to BYU being close to what they already get paid by ESPN.
"Chip Brown on with @ClayTravis said ESPN wants BYU but the votes are likely there only for Houston and Cincinnati. That’s just peachy."
3:07 PM - 1 Aug 2016
Guessing ESPN not happy with a school not being included - BYU/UCONN? Guessing UCONN due to political pressure.
Uh huh …
There appears to be a major struggle between the horns and ESPN …
ESPN wants out of its contracts with BYU no doubt as it wants out of the LHN which is probably why they are backing BYU and staying at only 2 additions and want extensions of GORs beyond 2025.
The 40 acres is caught between a rock and a hard place.
And I really do not like the sound of where this may lead if only 2 will be added and the horns do not hold their ground and not give in to ESPN’s pressure.
Lets give credit where it is due. A couple of days ago 93historycoog first brought this issue to CoogFans. I admitted that it certainly caught me by surpruse because it was sn issue I don’t think any of us had thought about.
After reading the posts and trying to give this some thought it seems to me there is merit to both sides. My best guess, and its just an educated guess, is that as a worst case scenario, the B12 adds just 2 teams. I think under the watchful eye of ESPN that would be BYU and Houston. And the beat goes on.
As for UT, remember all the reasons UT folks came out in support of UH. My guess is UH reps are busy reminding all concerned about that support.
I read a few years back the state of Connecticut has such little pull on ESPN that ESPN straight-up told the ACC to not invite UConn because the football program was not what they wanted. All this, for 22 million dollars a year in tax breaks. However, the state keeps the subsidy going because ESPN relocating would kill a ton of jobs in a state that has trouble creating jobs as it is, which would end a bunch of politicans’ careers.
I don’t see any major difference in UConn football these days that would make ESPN tell the Big 12 any different, which is why I think they won’t be invited.