ESPN3 is the ACC network and that's the problem

The ACC seems vulnerable and is dealing with unhappy members because of the new TV deal. All the gripes relate to money and third tier rights. As with most unhappy partnerships both sides are not seeing the value of the other. ESPN and the ACC can make ESPN3 one of the most viable new distribution platforms in TV and the Internet. But to do so, ESPN needs to revise the ACC deal again and pay a premium for the ACC's third tier rights.

ESPN3 is the perfect network

New sports networks have had varied levels of success in their distribution. ESPN3 hasn't had the same political or financial hurdles because they are dealing with Internet Service Providers and not cable and satellite companies. Most major ISPs carry the network and have for a few years.

I've complained like everyone else about having to watch games on my laptop, but technology is making that less of an issue. There are a variety of streaming devices and gaming systems that enable putting ESPN3 on a big screen. As ESPN continues to invest in ESPN3 the production quality will be as good as any traditional channel and seamless from a Big Ten Network or Pact 12 Network production. And unlike those other networks, ACC content would be still within the ESPN network so the conference will benefit from ESPN's cross promotion and massive audience.

ESPN can make ESPN3 the biggest Internet Channel available. It can be bigger than Hulu or MLBTV. And that is big for the ACC. While the other college networks can pushed to a sports tier, the ACC can be the center piece of ESPN's biggest innovation since ESPN2.

ESPN3 is not a money machine

Where the ACC suffers is in revenue allocation from ESPN3. The Big Ten Network collects approximately $1 per cable subscribers in Big Ten markets. ESPN3 collects an undisclosed amount per ISP subscriber for ESPN3. But regardless if ESPN3 collects $1 per subscriber, that money is not exclusively for the ACC. Why share all that revenue with the ACC when EPSN can claim that some of those subscribers are more interested in the other programming on ESPN3 like soccer or tennis or auto racing? If the ACC had its own network or had built one with the Pac 12, that revenue division would be less opaque.

Now ESPN has plenty of cash. They have their cable revenue and enormous ad sales that the Big Ten or Pac 12 networks cannot approach. With that track record and advantage, ESPN will probably turn ESPN3 into a cash cow too. But because it's not one now, the ACC suffers.

ESPN needs to save the conference

I am sure ESPN viewed their new deal with the ACC as fair. Since they were bidding against themselves, I imagine they didn't feel the need to break records. But that conservative approach clearly backfired. Florida State is unhappy and ready to join the Big 12. Some would say that ESPN doesn't care, because as a member of the Big 12, ESPN would still have rights to plenty of Florida State games. But if ESPN let's Florida State leave they will be losing a valuable asset. The ACC is exclusive to ESPN. That bond should have a premium.

We'll find out more about the ACC's future this summer. The likely outcome is a breakup. I hope everyone slows down, because the ACC's partnership could be fantastic. But no one seems to see the big picture.

TV deal update and other links

The ACC finalized its TV deal with ESPN. People are making a big deal of it being the first true multisport contract. That is certainly important, but football still drives the dollars. There is also still little detail on what percentage of programming will be broadcast vs online. I hope the ACC secured a few key slots on Thursday and Saturday nights.

Some basketball players visited a local children's hospital. The real news in the link is confirmation that the new freshmen Coton and Rubin are on campus and already hanging with the team.

The freshmen got their numbers. The roster still needs weights and some class updates.

Tom Condon is challenging the public record of Jeremy Trueblood's arrest.

Our newest OLine commitment is a late bloomer, but seems like a good project.

When writing about the NBA summer league, BC guy Andrew Sharp uses Tyrese Rice as an example of a someone using the league to showcase his NBA level talent.

Here are the Vineyard Vine shots from campus. Couldn't they find actual BC students to do the modeling?

Here is a bio on incoming baseball player Tom Bourdon. I wish we all knew who would be coaching him next year.

This is not sports, but it is a great story involving a young BC alum.

More on the ACC TV deal

So the smoke has cleared a bit and now we can analyze the ACC's new TV deal with ESPN.

1. It was better than anyone thought. ESPN passed on their exclusive window earlier this spring and lowballed the ACC until the end. Thankfully FOX came in with a full court press and forced ESPN's hand. ESPN also needed the ACC now more than they did last spring. With Turner entering the college hoops world, ESPN needed to secure the flagship college hoops conference for content. ESPN also rebranded ESPN 360 into ESPN3. As part of that they need a major conference willing to put their games online. The SEC was not willing. The ACC was.

2. Some of you will still have a hard time seeing all of BC's games. Because we are now in bed with them, this means more games on ESPN U, more games on ESPN3.com and continued regional partnering with Raycom. Sorry folks. If your cable company doesn't step up, consider a dish or fios.

3. ESPN will sell some of their games to Raycom. Instead of Raycom bidding seperately they have agreed to buy ACC games from ESPN. That means there will still be regional, syndicated broadcast coverage of ACC sports. It is to be determined if this will carry ESPN branding, ACC branding or Raycom branding, but it will be a Raycom production and probably have the same affiliate network Raycom now has.

4. The ACC is betting on the future. The ACC's deal is smaller than the SEC's. It is also shorter. So next time the ACC will negotiate before the SEC. The thought process with this is that the economy will be better, there is an advantage for setting the market and the power football teams (Miami and FSU) will be stronger.

5. This helps protect the conference but doesn't guarantee anything. The deal is strong and makes it much less likely that anyone will bolt but it is still short of the Big Ten and the SEC's deals. As long as there is money on the table, teams will listen.

More good Herzy news and other links

In news that tops all others, Herzy finished his chemo and remains cancer free. Let's hope the surgery to strengthen his leg goes well. Mark will also receive an honorary Lott Trophy for his work raising funds for the fight against cancer. Pat Tillman is the only other athlete to win the honorary award.

It will be back to the internet for the UVA game. The ACC announced the game will be a 3:30 start on ESPN 360. So Central Michigan gets on TV, but conference games don't? There is little sense to it all.

Kuechly won his first, of what I assume will be many, ACC player of the week honors.

Incoming QB Chase Rettig had another good outing last week.

Dominique Davis will continue his college career at East Carolina. In his comments to ESPN he still has good things to say about BC.

There are some good Ryan Day quotes in this article on Chip Kelly. Now that Kelly is the toast of the town and BC is playing well, look for more "Day is a the hot assistant" blurbs in the coming weeks.

BC women's soccer earned a 2 seed in the ACC Tournament.

The economy is keeping the band homebound for now. Le's hope a late season rally gets them to Tampa again.

CMU's TV slate vs BC's

ESPN U decided to pick up our game against Central Michigan. That's good news. However, the kickoff was pushed back to 3:30. That's terrible news for attendance. Since the game is on Halloween, I think there will be plenty of no shows. I will gladly miss good chunks of the second half live to take my little ones out.

The second issue related to the game was a fact I read in CMU's press release:

With the addition of the ESPNU telecast, 11 of the Chippewas' 12 regular season games in 2009 will be televised either regionally or nationally. Seven of those games will have been produced by the ESPN family of networks.

11 of their 12 games were on TV?!? BC has already had three games relegated to ESPN 360 and may have more. How does that happen? I know we get much of more money from ESPN than Central Michigan. But why doesn't the extra $$$ come with extra TV support? The whole concept is backwards. I agree with Gene in that 360 is better than just radio, but in our new TV deal we need to have guarantees that nearly all our games will be on a true TV platform.

The downside of ESPN360

As most of you know by now, the Wake Forest game will be on ESPN360 at 2 PM. Regardless of the spin, this is a step back. Since joining the ACC, every conference game has been on some form of television. Now ESPN U or Raycom meant many BC fans could not see the games, but those games still received full television production. The last BC conference game not on television was Pitt in 2003! We are in an age of unlimited channels. This shouldn't be happening.

ESPN360 is great advancement for the Kent State or Northeastern type games. I'd much rather watch an internet feed than listen to the radio stream (no offense Meter). The technology, consistency and quality of 360 is greatly improved than past years. The problem is that 360 has limited carriage and the transfer to full screens is not as good as a true TV broadcast.

Why are we relegated to 360? It is all about ESPN. Because of their expanded relationship with other conferences (Pac 10, SEC, and some of the lower levels) there are only so many TV slots to go around. The ACC doesn't have another alternate like the Big 10's network. BC is not the only ones subject to this situation. Clemson and Maryland both have attractive home dates that same Saturday that will also be on 360 too.

At this time the ACC really has no alternatives. I am sure an outlet like NESN would love to produce and broadcast the game, but that won't happen. ESPN won't release the games to anyone else. Since future weekends won't be so crowded, things will improve a bit as the season wears on. Coverage will also improve if BC keeps winning. They better keep winning or BC fans will keep whining.

Game Watches: Rhode Island

A new twist for game watches as bars are now streaming the ESPN 360 feed to their big screens. I didn't hear from many folks, so if I missed a game watch, please list it in the comments.

Atlanta Game Watch
Famous Pub
2947 N. Druid Hills Rd (Toco Hills Shopping Center)
Atlanta, GA 30329
404-633-3555

San Francisco Game Watch
Shanghai Kelly's
2064 Polk St. (cross Broadway)
San Francisco, CA

Game Watch note

The Atlanta BC Club was able to swing a URI game watch at our regular spot just by asking the bar if they would put the ESPN 360 stream on a big screen. Other clubs might want to try it. Let me know if you have any success.

Second viewing listening thoughts and incomplete grade report: UMass

Although this game was on ESPN360, my ISP is not a participant. This meant I couldn’t watch it live or watch the replay. That makes grading this game nearly impossible. In fairness, I’ll give everyone an incomplete and just post my thoughts by areas. Keep in mind that this is based on what I heard via Cronin and Meterparel on the radio broadcast and what some people who did see the game have shared with me.

Offense: N/A

I cannot tell what is going on with Ryan. I’ve asked others and no one could pinpoint the problem. His passes were off at times, but he gunned some others perfectly. He also got lucky that a few of his forced passes weren’t picked. Someone else mentioned that the pocket is collapsing around him quickly and he is rushing his throws. I don’t know. Next week will be telling. I am hoping it was just two off days. The important thing is that he did enough to win.

From the sound of things the offensive line did not play that well. Ty Hall was back in for Ramsey. Cherilus got whistled for two dumb penalties again. That’s been a problem for two seasons now. Someone needs to get through to him.

Ryan Thompson was back in the mix. Good for him. Gunnell made some big catches. Robinson as well. Challenger was MIA. Jarvis made a play. My concern is that we didn’t make more plays. Some of those balls must have been catchable. I am also disappointed that these guys couldn’t get more separation. I know UMass has talent, but our WRs continue to get roughed up by everyone and have for two seasons. We need to adjust: more moves, fighting back, finding openings…whatever it takes.

It sure sounded like Andre Callender ran hard and helped save the game. 32 carries. 4 catches. Huge day. His second half running helped save the game. Brooks was the only other one to get carries and he did nothing. I have no idea how Newman played, but Thompson worked from the backfield, so I am wondering how much time Newman even got.

I don’t know what to make of Logan’s play calling. From what I can tell, we kept throwing deep when the short stuff was there. I wonder if giving Ryan all this freedom is hurting us. Is Matty looking for the big play when he should be dumping off? Does Logan need to reign him in? I don’t know. The three and outs are frustrating but not for why you think. I have no problem with being aggressive. What bothers me is that this sputtering seems to be coming in the second and third quarters. Are teams figuring us out? No idea. Logan, like Ryan, will be interesting to watch next week. I expect a bounce back game.


Defense: N/A
The defense is much harder to get a feel for. Things I liked: finally getting some pressure on the opposing QB. Continued to control the opposing team's running game. The first half we shut them down completely. I also liked that we got many of the second teamers in and they contributed.

Things I didn’t like: the mental lapses that allowed UMass to get back into the game on a few big plays (it seemed like they were picking on Morris). I also was shocked when they allowed UMass and their backup QB move the ball down the field in the fourth. The game was on the line and they didn’t make plays. Not good.


Special Teams: N/A

This is killing us. It seemed the kicks and coverage were better and the punting was strong. The punt returns or lack of returns are killing us. We continue to get pinned and lose the field position battle. That will make a difference in the second half of the season. If Tribble keeps waving for the fair catch, then we should give someone else a shot back there.

Overall: N/A

I am flying blind here, so no overall grade. I am glad we won. I am disappointed we didn’t play better, especially after last week’s struggles. Regardless of how ugly it got, Jags and the coordinators do deserve credit for keeping it together and getting the team to the win.