Stewart Mandel posted a good article on the new ACC TV deal that resulted in a hard date for the ACC Network. What was clarified for the first time is how ESPN is going to generate money and guarantee carriage in a time when these types of networks are under fire. ESPN/Disney timed the launch of the ACC Network so that it coincides with the renewal of all the ESPN Networks. ESPN and the ACC will bundle the new network with the other ESPN Channels in an all or nothing proposal. If your cable company wants ESPN, they are going to need to carry the ACC Network.
Mandel also explains that basketball was a much bigger driver of the network than previously believed. All those Duke-UNC games plus the other second level powers will carry the network during the winter months.
I still have doubts that Notre Dame will ever give up football independence but they are the final piece in the puzzle. If the new playoff forced them into a conference, it will be the ACC. And if/when that happens, that gives the ACC one more trigger to juice the TV deal.
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Notre Dame is doing very fine financially thank you. Why would they need the ACC for football?
JBQ: not for money, but glory.
" If the new playoff forced them into a conference, it will be the ACC."
It's money too. The article says ND gets less from NBC than every other ACC team gets from ESPN
ND wants to play Stanford and USC on a yearly basis and not Wake Forest and No. Carolina State. There is the glory.
No matter what was said prior, the moment the ratings came out for the New Year's Eve playoff semifinals, it was obvious that long standing assertions to keep things the way they were would change within a year.
The same thing will happen when an undefeated or 11-1 Notre Dame does not get into the playoff because there are four conference champions who make it in.
(sorry for the long winded comparison, but I think it is apt).
Granted, I realize that the playoff may expand to eight teams before the above scenario happens.
There's still no financial reason for ND to join the ACC in football. It still gets a full share of the ACC's deal with ESPN and will get a full share in the ACC network. Plus, it gets $15 million from NBC just for being ND. Add this to the fact that ND needs all the schedule flexibility it can get to keep its annual rivalries with USC, Stanford, Navy, a second service school, and potentially Michigan again. ND would have no feasible way to keep all these rivalries playing a full ACC slate of games, esp. if the ACC moves to 9 conference games. The only way to stop this gravy train is to threaten to remove ND's full share from the ACC Network, which will never happen.
What happens with licensed merchandise if ND joins the ACC? I bet they are top 3 in sales. Would they have to Bernie(share) their merchandise revenue with the conference?
The ACC only pools money earned from the football/basketball TV contracts, ACC championships, football bowls, the NCAA BB tourney .... And soon the ACC Network.
They DO NOT pool any revenues earned from school logo apparel sales, back catalog sales, home game gate receipts, concessions, parking/tailgating fees, or summer camps.
As for the ACC/ESPN TV contract (which is currently paying out $24-$26MM per tea) ... And only pulls a 20 % share of the average take (which reflects the basketball portion) and nothing for the ACCCG (football), Orange Bowl (which we own) or any other bowl.
Last I checked, NBC only pays ND a little over $17 mill a year, which is a lot less than the football portion of the ACC deal
As for bowl revenues, ND is wholly dependent on making the BCS 4-team playoff. BCS Championship or bust.
The ACC will never support ND at the expense of its own inclusion ... And I seriously doubt 2 of the remaing 4 P5 conferences would support a 1 loss ND over their own campion. Wi h the exception of the Otange Bowl (which the ACC controla), all of the the other high payout BCS bowls have pre-arranged arrangements with P5conferense ....nmeaning ND is locked out.
Slowly but surely is falls not way behind on money and bowl cache. They are play the ACC 5 games per year ... In time, I think MD will soon see the financial value of adding three more ACC games to the football schedule each year. That still leaves the four games to play in Calufornia, Midwest, and Texas.
Scott, ND will get a full share of revenue from the ACC network on top of its $15 million a year from NBC, meaning that there's no incentive for them to join. I also don't see a 1 loss ND team being screwed over by the playoff committee either, given their usual strength of schedule and the fact that the ACC would probably go to bat for them (provided it doesn't hurt an actual ACC football member).
They blew it when they turned down the Big 10 invite. They are so programmed to game the system that they cut off their nose to spite their face. Glad the Big 10 wouldn't put up w/ any of their special deal bullshit. The ACC should have had the onions to do the same.
Rumors are Connecticut is pushing for a Big 12 invite. There are connections between ND and Ct with headcoachs and recent inclusion into Hockey East. It would not surprise me if ND hooked onto the Big 12. Obviously not an academic fit besides Texas but it fits more geographically and probably financially(I bet Big 12 deal is sweeter than the ACC's).
Knucklehead, ND would never align itself with such crappy academic schools as the Big 12 (or SEC). More importantly, they have zero interest in geographic footprint of the Big 12 ... with the exception of Texas. ND is on record as saying that need to play games in the states that contain the bulk of their current/future students, and wealthy alumni ... which is basically California, Texas & all the major urban centers along the eastern seaboard (i.e., ACC territory). Supposedly that's a big reason why they spurned the Big 10, because they didn't want to be bound to the declining economies & populations of the mid-west rust-belt
Regardless, it's all a moot point, given that ND just signed onto the new deal with ESPN & the ACC agreeing they cannot join any athletic conference other than the ACC before 2036. So when ND's solo deal with NBC expires in 2027, ESPN/ABC are the only networks that can negotiation on behalf of a conference.
For Bravesbill, if you do the math, you'll realize that ND is projected to earn $8-$12 million per year LESS THAN the average ACC school, because they don't share in ACC/ESPN football contract (they only a receive a 20% for their basketball participation), the ACC Championship game, football bowl payments, BCS playoff payments, and Orange bowl. The only way ND can make up that shortfall is with a perfect season that gets them into BCS playoffs. If that happens once ta decade, then ND has forgone $56MM-$84MM ... not the mention the disrespect of being effectively shut out of the top BCS bowl games.
AS for the BCS playoffs, obviously a 12-1 P5 conference champion & undefeated mid-major will be selected over an 11-1 ND.
We can agree to disagree about whether a one-loss ND (11-1) will received a BCS play-off invite over a P5 conference champion who is 11-2. But it's undisputed that the selection Committee highly favors a conference champion who wins a big game at year end ... the Big 12 learned that
Question for Bravebill about ND's strengthen its schedule. How does it compare to the P5 camps .... now & going forward? I don't know.
Back in the Holtz years, ND played a nightmare schedule ... Best of best every week. Then, they definitely deserved priority status for difficulty. But then really softened it up with weaklings from the Big East & academies.
Even with commitment to play 5 ACC teams each year, they are only playing 2 of the ACC elite each year. Not sure if USC, Stanford & Michigan makes up enough ground to makes ND's SOS superior to P5 champs. But curious about the answer.
Knuck,
We've locked up ND for a good while so they can't go to Big 12. But if they were't locked up they would go in a heartbeat if they could work a special deal like Texas, because that's what they do.
I doubt UCONN will get anywhere w/ the Big 12, because of their small market. It's all about set top boxes as the article states. I think Temple is the more likely choice, for the same reason the Big 10 took RU and the ACC took us. It's all about the # of ESPN fees that are generated, not the level of play, or for that matter the academic baloney put out by Leahy. Follow the money!
Scott,
No offense. That is fucking malarkey about not aligning themselves with the "footprint" of the Big12. They recruit the shit out of the central states, Midwest and the south. There is serious money in that area too. The folks who have it flaunt the shit out of it too and have done so for years(SMU in the 80's, Baylor TCU and Texas Tech have been showing off more recently). I know the Head of Global Talent Acquisition for a known American oil company, Texas Tech alumnus 20 years out. Serious flipping bucks and connections. That school had nothing until about 10 years ago now guys like him are spreading it around. There have never been more private jets in one place than the ND Texas game last year. Oklahoma/Texas game isn't far behind. T.Boone Pickens could buy Boston College outright this weekend if he wanted to. Warren Buffet is buying up shares from Omaha.
I sensed some coastal bias from you there so chew and spit on those comments for a while.
. . . ND wants control. They cannot control the Big 10 or the Big 12. ND can control the ACC.
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