There Is Even More Money
The Big Ten will have yet more money with which to not fire Darrell Hazell in the near future:
Fox is close to signing a deal that gives it half of the Big Ten’s available media rights package, according to several sources. Deal terms still are flexible – both in terms of money and rights. However, the two sides have agreed on basic terms that will give Fox the rights to around 25 football games and 50 basketball games that it will carry on both the broadcast channel and FS1 starting in the fall of '17. The deal runs six years and could cost Fox as much as $250M per year, depending on the amount of rights the Big Ten conference puts in its second package.
Let's think some thoughts about this.
First, this is why the TV networks hurl the money. Combine this graph…
![large[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/large[1]_1.png "large[1]")
…with the relative prosperity of Big Ten folks versus the other section of the country that can't get enough college football and you get a lot of money. When it comes to Jim Delany, this is strictly Bedouins owning the land the oil is on. It's replacement-level performance. You are the reason TV networks are throwing crazy dollars at the Big Ten.
Second, it's a lot of money. Per SBD, the potential 250 million dollar deal is half of a package the Big Ten is currently getting 112 million for from ESPN and CBS. I imagine the total will come in under a half billion dollars a year unless they want to evaporate from ESPN entirely, which they probably don't. It's still a staggering amount of dough.
Third, it's not for very long. A six year term is unusually short when it comes to these kind of contracts, and it puts the Big Ten's rights up at around the same time everybody else sees theirs expire. Six years may be unusually short from the perspective of rights contracts—the BTN has their rights package until 2032(!)—but this is an unusual transition period.
In six years everyone may decide to boot the middleman and make everything more or less WWE Network, except unscripted. Or they may carry on because momentum is a powerful thing and ESPN matters. Meanwhile, networks are already looking at the number of dollars they've committed in a uncertain environment and blanching. SBN reports that ESPN's offer was "not competitive."
The Big Ten wanted a deal that would expire at the same time the BTN deal does and did not get it. Uncertainty reigns.
Fourth, mark your calendars. In six years there will be another tumultuous period of conference expansion. Contracts will be more or less up across the spectrum, grant-of-rights agreements in the ACC will be close to expiring, and it'll be time for another dance of doom.
Fifth, I'm relatively happy about FOX. Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt are both great and we'll be hearing a lot more of them call Michigan games in the future. Gus doing more Michigan basketball is also enticing. FS1 is a wasteland of hot takes delivered by morons, but FOX's actual game coverage has gotten a lot better over the last few years.
Also, adding college football to Fox networks increases the WALL OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL effect on Saturdays this fall. More options for games to watch and less pressure to bump Michigan off of noon windows* gets a thumbs up from me. I kind of want Fox to always put Michigan on at noon on the broadcast network.
*[Noon is the best time for a game if you want to watch the rest of CFB.]
Sixth, just pay some people. The Big Ten now has hundreds of millions of dollars and no additional expenses.
I can't muster up one bit of sympathy for college football players that go to Hawai'i. Because they're college football players. And they go to school in freakin' Hawai'i. / Eric Cartman voice / So screw all of those guys. / end Eric Cartman voice /
So "poor Hawaii" doesn't really make any sense to me.
Hawaii plays the previous week in Australia!
This is my feeling exactly. I was even going to breakdown the schedule like you did. Spot on.
I hope the Iowa game is at 11:00 here (noon to you east coasters). Means Vodka Sam and her ilk are not as unreasonably trashed and brutal to us Michigan fans. It's weird how the normally nice, pleasant Hawkeye fan transforms into a d-bag when they play us.
April 21st, 2016 at 12:47 PM ^
I could go for this schedule - too many 3:30 starts is bad for the marriage because you don't get back until late. 3:30 is good when my wife goes to the game because we can do things in town before the game starts. The 1:00 starts in the days before TV were better.
Also playing the Ohio St game earlier in the day is nice when you go to the game because it can get cold playing at night in November. Because it is in Columbus (the "@" is missing) I am OK with the 3:30.
Like Brian says, it gives you the rest of the day to watch other games (or, just do errands, family stuff, whatever). I am going to be up and at 'em for the Michigan game regardless of what time it happens, so I prefer to a) watch it while no other big games are on and b) get it over with early in the day so I don't have to wait around for it to start.
My only exception to this is if it is a rivalry game and I am attending in person. I live across the country, so for the games I actually go to I appreciate it being later in the day for reasons of tailgating, merriment, etc.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:15 PM ^
That is a horrible color scale.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^
I guess the respective counties weren't part of a sampled Nielsen DMA (perhaps because the DMA wasn't big enough) --- but none of Lincoln, Madison, East Lansing or State College were even sampled.
But yes: the northeast and California, they aren't as big into College Football as other places. I'm kind of surprised Chicago is at the lowest color scale. Austin and Cleveland I intuitively expected to be higher too.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:46 PM ^
Pretty surprised the entire state of Nebraska isn't deep red.
It looks like they only sampled certain counties. For some reason they have data from the nearly empty western counties of Nebraska but not the more populous eastern ones.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:35 PM ^
Lighter, darker, lightest, darker, darkest.
I can almost guarantee it's that color because that slide was produced by Bain & Company as consultants. That font and red color is their signature and red always means "good" on their slides, while neutral or graytones are meant to be overlooked.
*edit: although now that I follow the links I see that Nielsen has that graph on their report but, dang, that graphs smacks of Bain's style.
Someone must have wanted the viewers to reach a different conclusion. Why? I don't know.
The natural interpretation in order from more college football fans to less college football fans to me would be; Dark Red, Light Red, Dark Pink, Light Pink. I won't even touch on the horrifying use of a shade of gray to represent no-data and data.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^
I hate seeing Michigan games on BTN and Fox. I will take ESPN over them every time. That said, I just care about watching my squad, so in the end, it doesn't matter on which channel they are.
EDIT: Gus Johnson is great, so he is the only plus of having more games on Fox.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^
*drools at idea of Michigan themed WWE Network-style streaming service* Every game streamed live, every game previously recorded available on demand, post game interviews and pressers readily available, signing with the stars, spring game, the various mid week coach shows, retrospectives, documentaries, and specials...can we have this now please?
April 20th, 2016 at 12:27 PM ^
It's all good assuming you have high enough bandwidth to support solid HD video on large displays.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^
Why hasn't anyone done this? I would definitely pay $9.99 a month for an MGoBlue channel. Forget the cable companies and just do what WWE has done. You can download the app and watch it anywhere.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:48 PM ^
Texas has done this with the Longhorn network. It's not a pay-to-get it channel, but is included as a channel based on your cable provider/package/area (so similar to BTN in that respect).
Edit: Sorry misunderstood your question. I thought you were talking about a team-specific cable channel not a streaming service. I have no clue if Longhorn network has a streaming option.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:58 PM ^
I was thinking just football too, but if we do a full MGoBlue channel and get basketball, hockey, various non-revenue sports...please make this happen Powers That Be.
Imagine being able to watch every hockey, baseball and softball game.
The only hurdle I can think of is BTN and their stupid BTN+ service that streams some of those games.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^
FS1 is a wasteland of hot takes delivered by moronsWho isn't this true of anymore?
April 20th, 2016 at 12:33 PM ^
The BTN rights package goes until 2032?! Then, please, for the love of god, can they invest in some cameras and microphones that were manufactured after 2005? The AV quality of BTN broadcasts is pitiful. At least the Fox deal means we'll be able to see more games in true HD.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:33 PM ^
The only thing I don't like is the possibility of the games being on FS1, but honestly I don't mind. I liked the ABC/ESPN coverage, but I also have liked FOX more over the past few years. I know it isn't the NFL broadcasters, but please no Joe Buck. On the plus side we also won't have to listen to Matt Millen anymore.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:40 PM ^
Would rather be on ABC and ESPN.
Fox Sports 1 is terrible. Utah-Michigan was their highest rated game ever and the UNC-SC game on ESPN at a much earlier time slot out rated them by far.
We get a lot of money but I guarantee we will have less eyeballs on our games from now on. I mean, how many Big 12/Pac 12 games did people actually watch on Fox? Not very many I bet.
The teams/conferences involved may have something to do with that. I'm sure if you put Alabama/Tennessee on Fox, the ratings will be the same as if they were on CBS.
Yes, ESPN/ABC is far and away better. For all the shit people give ESPN (I still like ESPN), they do a hell of a job covering college football on Saturdays. No one does it better, in fact. With all of the channels they have, we get the most coverage from ESPN and I love it. Their Game Day show is also the best pregame show in sports.
Agreed. When it comes to live games and packaging them as an event, nobody does it better.
They are the voice of college football.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:43 PM ^
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April 20th, 2016 at 12:52 PM ^
Honest question: Schools like Michigan and Ohio State can find ways to spend all of the extra millions they will be getting pretty easily, but what the hell is a school like Purdue doing with all of their money? They don't do shit with it now, so what are they going to do with another $20M or so a year?
This is like when a grandma wins a new jetski on the Price Is Right.
The downside to profit sharing is that the Purdue's of the world rake in the cash while lowering the on field product. What is their motivation to fire Hazell? They'll still get their millions and can run a football team on the cheap.
They have none. Which I can't decide is a problem or not for the Big Ten. On one hand, its nice to have teams like Purdue to inflate your win total. But on the other hand, from a fans' perspective, you'd like to see more competitive games.
So Purdue can dump an extra $20M a year into their athletic programs, or they can spend $20M a year building gold trains around campus, and the net result will be about the same.
On a side note, I now want Minnesota to build an 80-foot tall gold-plated Goldie the Gopher in front of their stadium.
April 20th, 2016 at 12:58 PM ^
Now Michigan can afford to add an amusement park to the new weightroom project.
Are the gray parts of Alabama and Georgia uninhabitable? I give this chart 4 fakes out of 5. Do. Not. Believe.
That's the only reasonable explanation I can find. I'm pretty sure the zombies didn't start eating the fine folks of Fort Benning yet.
I don't believe that for a seond.
evidently did not do a statistical sampling.
I have a map of the Nielsen DMAs sitting on my wall right now. Staring at it, I can see the obvious county outlines.
But, intuitively --- we know what the color of some of those "gray" DMAs would be. Lansing, Lincoln, Omaha, Madison, South Bend: all rather deep reds.
For those that care, the Nielsen DMAs, county-by-county:
http://seventhpoint.com/images/pdfs/2012-2013%20Large%20DMA%20Map.pdf
Love the noon games!
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Why is being on Fox/FS1 more likely to be at that time?
I know FOX has long-term commitments to broadcast the baseball ALCS and some of the World Series games, which will include some Saturday nights in October. That would, obviously, push their football broadcasts into the noon & 4:00 time slots.
Also, with their three major conferences being the Pac 12, Big 12 and Big Ten, it follows that any noon broadcasts will only involve 2 of those 3 conferences.
If you figure that FOX will show 2 games each Saturday and FS1 will show 2 more, you probably have a 4:00 & 8:00 doubleheader on FOX (except when baseball pushes one of those games to noon) and a noon - 8:00 pair of games on FS1 or even a tripleheader of noon - 4:00 - 8:00. The FOX networks will have rights to 2 Big Ten games, 2 Big Twelve games and 2 Pac Twelve games a week, more or less. Some B12 / P12 games can get pushed to the regional networks, or to Thursday nights.
The point about time slots and Pac12 games seems like a good one but - doesn't the same issue exist on ABC/ESPN?
It seems unlikely they would have a UM football game AND an MLB playoff game on the same saturday and air both on Fox, but I get your point. Maybe it would affect the odd game once in a while but nothing significant.
Fuck Clay Travis.
Just had to get that out of the way.
This would make more sense and be easier to read if they fixed the color gradients. The reds should darker as the percentages increase. It's sort of random. What's the light gray?
I doubt Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt are doing noon games. They're going to do the #1 game on the network and that will almost always be slotted at 4 or 7PM on big FOX unless it's The Game. I want more 4PM and later starts so the kids we're recruiting, especially out West, can ball out on Friday nights and watch us live on Saturday without crust covering their eyes.
Plus, I'm old with responsibilities. I can't hand off the kids to the wife without looking like bad daddy until late afternoon/early evening.
I'm in the crowd that likes noon games. I don't mind one night game a year, and a couple of 3:30pm games, but I'm with Bo. Eat breakfast, head down to the game, and you're done by mid-afternoon, leaving late afternoon and evening free.
As regards the network, I guess I really don't care. ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, all is well. There are several factors involved for me.
- Show me the money. If Fox aims the money cannon, great. If one of the other major networks wanted to give more, great. It makes sense to get as much money for as long as possible for the Big 10. I still wonder when the bubble will burst. And I hope they pour a lot of that money into infrastructure now, before the bubble bursts.
- I personally favor maxing the number of games on Network TV (i.e., broadcast). Since I don't have cable, the more games I can watch at home, the better.
- Obviously, HD is a plus. Camera, sound, picture quality, should all be good, which is a problem when the Big 10 Network actually broadcasts.
- Announcers and play-by-play are way down the list in importance.
I disagree with Brian. I'm not a fan of Gus Johnson, and I hate the idea of Fox doing our games.
I love Gus for basketball, but for football he is a little awkward. He doesn't seem to know where to focus his excitement. "IT'S SECOND DOWN AND SEVEN!!"
how about we
a) pour a few million into scholarship programs
b) stop chasing naming rights on buildings and staff / coaching positions
c) send the band.
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