ACC Gets TV rights in new Orange Bowl Deal
According to Dennis Dodd over at CBS (came across my twitter feed, haven't seen a link yet), the ACC confirms that the league controls broadcast rights in new Orange Bowl Deal and they plan to take it to market. Dodd claims that this is a game changer, and it is.
In terms of the angst over how the bowls just have these guys-in-suits who make all this non-profit cash and embezzle the hell out of it (see the Fiesta Bowl)... they're getting somewhat squeezed out in the new playoff system. If the conferences start controlling the TV money, that's a bunch of millions that will go directly to the conferences rather than the bowls/guys in suits.
With the B1G/Pac12 collaboration, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rose Bowl TV $$ heading straight for the conferences soon.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/
Above is the link to Chip Patterson's (CBS Sports) blog entry on the subject. As details come out, I imagine it will be updated.
It would seem to me that, even if things stay the same and revenue is shared within the conference, you may very well be right in that it is taking a substantial stream of revenue out of the control of the bowl committee itself. Last year, I think the ACC took in about $22 million for Clemson's appearance and then, of course, it was distributed. By the Nielsen data that I remember seeing, the ACC is third behind the SEC and Big Ten in the ratings generally, so I don't doubt shopping the broadcast rights can garner more than $22 million for this game.
It could certainly provide a little boost to that multi-billion dollar behemoth of a contract extension they negotiated with ESPN (from which teams will get about $17 million per year anyway, I believe).
Hopefully this silences all of talk about FSU and Clemson defecting to the SEC. I want all of this conference realignment nonsense to end now.
It certainly is a novel thing the ACC is doing, but it's one of those things where the advantage will be short-lived because if it works, everyone's gonna start doing it.
Well the SEC/Big XII bowl game can do it, but the B1G/Pac-12 are out of luck. The Rose Bowl has an agreement with ESPN till the middle of the next decade.
The SEC and Big 12 are exactly the two I worry about as an ACC fan. I don't believe the B1G has any intentions of poaching the ACC and obviously the Pac-12 is not a threat either.
However, it doesn't have to be for the championship game only. I can certainly see this kind of thing trickling down to the WeedEater Bowl between CUSA and the Sun Belt.