I think this is a
HORRIBLE move for the conference. We go from a national presence with ESPN, to a regional presence with Fox Sports. Not to mention ESPN lends a credibility that Fox just does not offer.
The little exposure that ESPN gave the conference will now be minimized even further. Why champion a product who's success you will not stand to benefit from. Even worse, it's not like we will be the main man over on Fox Sports. We will still take a back seat to Big 12, ACC, Big 10, SEC, Pac 12 and any other conference that has a more intriguing matchup.
Unless they were willing to double the money (they didn't), I would have told CUSA to cling on for dear life with ESPN. The only thing i can think of is ESPN told CUSA to take a hike and Fox Sports was the only legit offer.
Points of Concern/Need clarification: -
According to terms of the agreement, FOX Sports Networks (FSN) will showcase a minimum of 20 regular-season football games per season
Are these national or regional games? If the conference was not guaranteed one spotlight/national game each week (Saturday), then this a bad deal.
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The C-USA football championship game will also be carried on FSN, FOX Sports, or FX, the company’s flagship general entertainment cable network available in over 98 million homes.
With the lack of college programming on the Fox flagship, if I was the commish I would have had Fox guarnatee the championship game be broadcast on the flagship station.
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Conference USA joins Fox’s impressive roster of other conference partners that includes the Big Ten, Pac-10, Big 12, ACC, and SEC.
Where do we lie in this pecking order? I believe they already have a national game of the week each Saturday for the Big 12 and Pac-10. Where does a national game fit in for CUSA, if there even is one agreed to.
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Not only can Fox provide extensive national TV exposure for the Conference through a variety of outlets, but we can also serve the Conference’s member schools and local fans through our strong regional presence. An RSN like FOX Sports Houston is a natural fit to distribute Rice and Houston games, while SMU, UTEP, and Tulane are located in FOX Sports Southwest’s footprint. We’ll have tremendous programming opportunities to explore, especially with cross-over match-ups with our other conference rights.â€
This is the only semi-encouraging nugget I can find in this deal. A regional broadcast of our games that aren't on nationally will be better than Time Warner Sports. Again, I'm just concerned that the quote above is the plan, and not a national broadcast for our conference.
I think CUSA just shot itself in the foot with this deal.