New Big 12 (secondary) TV Deal and CUSA

[NickSMU17]

Picking stocks is incredibly hard...I know very little about best buy and in general most stocks...


I try to take a look at the general macro economy and make decisions...if I am buying stocks, I am usually selling puts in etfs and seeing if I get assigned on them...


Its a hard game...

[Mitch McConnell]

In other words, it's Russian Roulette

[RE Tycoon]

I'll admit I'd rather be on ESPN, but that is not my main contention with the new CUSA deal. Regardless of your feelings on EPSN, the time slots and the weekday games, they were a known quantity and they gave us tremendous exposure considering our place in the college football landscape.

We still need all the exposure we can get because we are in serious danger of being left out of the haves group for good. So I present the following scenario: Say in the next year or two we are rolling along and undefeated at 10-0. We are playing a 10-0 or 9-1 UCF team and it is one of the biggest Non-AQ games of the year. With our past deal it would be a big time game on ESPN or ESPN2 with coverage on all their college football shows. Now with Fox, we'd be lucky to get it on each team's regional Fox Sports (FSSW for us and SUN for them). Add to that three Saturday Big 12 games every weekend, at least one Pac 12 game of the week (guaranteed national broadcast), where does CUSA fit in? I WISH we could get an FX slot. That would be awesome and give us a national audience. We will most likely be relegated to some Fox College sports type channel that has less penetration than CBSCS, The Mtn., or Versus.

Don't think that will happen, wasn't there a undefeated TCU v undefeated Utah game a few years back that was only on The Mtn. and no one could see it?

I HOPE that I'm wrong and CUSA signed a great contract that guaranteed us certain exposure on certain channels, but I'm not sure they didn't get blinded by dollar bills and sign a bad contract for the conference. I would love to read the contract, maybe it will become public record with the ESPN lawsuit.

I'm afraid we've agreed to a contract that relegates us to regional broadcasts and national broadcasts on obscure channels that the average Joe doesn't get.

[RE Tycoon]

Also, I am analyzing this as an amateur, going off minimal industry knowledge gleamed from the WSJ and business pages. If anyone is in the biz and can shed some light as to whether I'm crazy or not, I would love the input.

[leopold]

This isn't going to help CUSA get on TV. That's true. That being said, I don't anything is going to help a group of schools get on TV when a number of members average less than 20,000 per game and in general suck. As I've said many times, if your students, alumni, and school as a whole doesn't care, why will anybody else?

On the other hand, I have serious concerns for our school with a de-stablized Big XII. You can say what you want, but I have a hard time seeing us join the Big XII in any capacity, and the 'forgotten five' were being looked at by the MWC and may very have well joined them if the Big X(II) broke apart, and they very well could have taken a Memphis or someone else with them.

Point is, since we aren't going to the Big XII or any other major conference except POSSIBLY the Big East (1/100 shot) then we desperately need some stability and chance to play games against schools people know and can care about. The LAST thing we need is for C-USA to get cherry picked again, losing especially a Memphis or, god forbid, Houston, and if a stable Big XII keeps that from happening then we can continue to grow the conference, becoming something that could actually help us.

Understand - IM NOT SAYING THIS IS IDEAL, OR THAT WE SHOULDN'T SHOOT FOR THE BIG XII/SEC/WHOEVER, IM JUST SAYING OUR CONFERENCE SITUATION CAN ABSOLUTELY GET WORSE AND THAT RIGHT NOW WE ARE STILL MOST LIKELY ON THE BOTTOM OF LISTS.

[PonyKai]

I read on here we turned down, quietly, an invite to the MWC. Any truth to that?

[leopold]

I don't know. Officially we have spoken to the MWC about a CUSA and MWC merger:

http://www.cowboyaltitude.com/2010/12/2 ... s-coverage

But that's it. I can't imagine right that the MWC wants to add another school that doesn't automatically make them a BCS conference, and as I've said before the MWC is a lateral move at best - keep in mind it almost disintegrated when BYU, their flagship school, bailed for independence.

If we can't hit the Grand Slam then we need stability and a chance to grow.

[PonyKai]

Could have been after TCU departed. We pretty much mirror what they offer a conference, albeit not a Top 10 program or attendance.

[LVPony]

I'm hearing from my friends in what's left of the Big XII-II North that this is a great deal financially but still leaves them playing second fiddle to the South schools. Money helps to stablize the conference for the near future but there is still that underlying anger over how they have been pushed around by the South schools. No place to go right now and money will help ease the hurt feelings but they won't go away.

[EastStang]

First in addition to the regional Fox networks, there is FX and Fox broadcast network. This means that there are opportunities (and yes, we need to make our own breaks here to some extent) to appear on Fox broadcast channels. Remember about 30% of all TV sets in America do not have cable or satellite dishes. This means that those folks who NEVER got to see SMU play before, have a chance to see us play. And if we become a BCS buster candidate, you can bet that Fox will make us their posterchild. This is where I think there is real opportunity for us. And adding in secondary Big XII games is perfect. That means that when we play Big XII teams they will probably appear on FX or Fox (not regionally). That's a big deal. So when Rice plays UT that will be on Fox. When SMU plays A&M that will be on FX or Fox. Now SMU-Baylor would probably be Fox Regional. SMU-TCU will be on Versus for 2010 but after that on Fox and on ESPN. I guess I'm a glass half full guy.

[Charleston Pony]

I'm hearing from my friends in what's left of the Big XII-II North that this is a great deal financially but still leaves them playing second fiddle to the South schools. Money helps to stablize the conference for the near future but there is still that underlying anger over how they have been pushed around by the South schools. No place to go right now and money will help ease the hurt feelings but they won't go away.

What's left of the Big XII North should be happy to have the southern football schools carry them...not unlike the old SWC days. Let's face it...OU and Texas are the programs of national interest in the Big XII. As long as Kansas doesn't get hosed on the bball side...

[Mitch McConnell]

There's a reason KU KSU ISU MU were part of the forgotten 5. They're not very attractive. MU overplayed it's hand with the Big 10 and now has no other options.

Texas got what it wants. The $ is amazing. And yes, Baylor was on the brink too. But now they stand to make a killing off of this.