The “bolster” is the added value of the extra game, not a value transfer from us to ND.
Think of breakfast. Eggs are worth a certain amount. Bacon is worth a certain amount. Orange juice is worth a certain amount. Add the three together, though, and they are each worth more because that’s a meal. If you look in the fridge and you’re out of any one of three, though, the rest of them are less valuable to you.
So for NBC, having Notre Dame for a particular Saturday may be worth $8m. Having a Big 12 game on a particular Saturday may be worth $2m. But having the two games together could be worth more than $10m because the audience for each bleeds into the other. It keeps viewers you already have watching, attracts viewers you otherwise wouldn’t have, and so on.
I think one of NBC’s sports programming problems right now is nobody but Notre Dame fans think “I wonder what game is on NBC?” on Saturday. Half the time there is no game on NBC. It costs them viewers. But if they have a game or two on every week , more fans (in this case particularly Big 12 fans) may wander on over and see what’s on. Maybe we watch the Notre Dame game if it’s on. That’s added value that makes us worth (and willing to pay) more for them. Likewise, the increased viewership we may get from Notre Dame fans who don’t turn the channel or tune in early to see if ND is on, may watch Oklahoma State vs Iowa State if it’s a good game. It’s about getting casual eyeballs, which for the broadcast network is a pretty big deal.
If you’re worried that NBC would pay us less than CBS, then don’t. I don’t believe we would accept significantly less for a game on NBC than we would accept for CBS (not without some overriding reason).
If NBC doesn’t have either us or B1G to accompany Notre Dame, then Notre Dame becomes less valuable to them. But the opposite is also true: If they don’t get Notre Dame, then we become a lot less valuable to them (in fact, they may decide they won’t want us at all because they’ll just show golf on Saturdays instead). Bacon, eggs, orange juice.
Last week I didn’t care one way or the other whether Notre Dame stayed independent or not. Now I’m really hoping they do because it has the potential to make us more valuable.
Clearly the Big 12 will get paid or we wont do it…right now some are projecting the Big 12 will get 60 million in revenue shares per school, clearly we wouldnt turn that down to go with NBC unless it pays at least as much as we get elsewhere…now nothing says that NBC would have to offer us 75 million like they might give ND, but obviously it would need to be more than we get elsewhere…now if NBC NEEDS the Big 12 to make this work then they will NEED to write big arse checks for it.
When NBC shut down NBCSN, they moved a lot of that content to USA Network and CNBC. So there are other lineal platforms that could be used in addition to Peacock if they wanted to.
If NBC is a part of our contract, I expect it to be a small one since they can’t air that many games because of their limited number of venues. It could just be one game to accompany Notre Dame (and maybe two on weeks Notre Dame is away). Or maybe they’ll put some on USA. Peacock is a different matter. We’ll almost certainly put it in there that they can’t put us on Peacock. (The AAC had strict requirements on where ESPN could put our game there – same deal here.)
All: If you have Comcast then you should get Peacock Premium for free. I know I do. I am hoping our games do not end up there (and I think the Yormark is cognizant of the importance of exposure) but if they are some of you will not have to pay to see it.
We could be a premier game when Notre Dame is away, depending on if they get B1G. It’s an important factor here that half the weeks, NBC may have no games at all or they may have the dregs of B1G broadcast games. Two ranked Big 12 teams will be a better draw than Minnesota vs Nebraska if neither of them are doing particularly well.
You could be right, but I hope you’re wrong, because we want as many bidders as possible.
I do think NBC is going to sign Notre Dame to $75. I do think they are going to want “shoulder” programming. But I think we’re probably Plan B with B1G as Plan A. I’m really, really hoping that the Big Ten only has three partners and not four and that either CBS or NBC is left out in the cold. But now I’m especially hoping it’s NBC.
Yall are not even mentioning CBS…Major network with tons of money and no games to show…They will be major bidder for Big 12 and i think they will win…Have already said they will outspend ESPN… The NBC thing is minor…a game to show before ND…lead in game, they called it
I don’t believe there have been any direct negotiations. It’s entirely possible we may both have talked to Notre Dame, or individual schools have talked to Notre Dame or NBC to gauge interest level.
I need to see what CBS is getting from B1G to know how much stock to put in them. Once our negotiation window ends, I hope we go after both them and Turner hard. I’ve mentioned before Turner and CBS make for great partnership material and have partnered together before on basketball. Each has what the other lacks (CBS has broadcast, streaming, while Turner has multiple cable network venues.)