Miller: B1G Money, Delany's Revenge

[hawkjunkie]

Notre Dame has a religious denomination behind them. Say what you will about that, but there is an affinity...and it bears out in the TV ratings ND still produces. Still, I'd prefer Texas and GT....gets you into the southern states, and you add three Top 10 TV markets in Houston, Dallas and Atlanta.

Religion fades. Just ask the Pope...

 

[trj]

ESPN is still the largest chunk of Disney profits, despite all the news articles about cord cutting. Star Wars brought in a billion dollars this year. ESPN brings in 10 times that amount.

CBS paid a huge amount for the tournament this year, yet had a return on investment of over 50%. In response, they signed an 8 year extension through 2032. Live sports is the golden child of content.

Cord cutting will change revenue streams, but ESPN knows that top-tier content is what makes them the Worldwide Leader. Sure, they cut Colin Cowherd, Bill Simmons, and a bunch of expensive talking heads. But they've never shied on the price for content. I would be shocked if they don't end up with a piece of the second half of B1G content. Sure, they made a low-ball offer in the first round, of course they did. They didn't want to set the market, after being bitten by the NFL, but they will pay the price for the B1G second half.

WatchESPN/ESPN3 is the future. Which is still driven by content.

As Tiricho and Bayless join the mass exodus the more this post becomes spot on. That being said, the Tiricho one has to sting a little. He was a jack of all trades and really good at all of them. Replacing him with Sean McDonough, he is solid, but ehhhh. I do not care for Bayless, so swapping him with Kellerman not that big of a deal to me.

 

[DJL]

It's sounding more and more like NBC will get the second half of the BIG contract.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

As Tiricho and Bayless join the mass exodus the more this post becomes spot on. That being said, the Tiricho one has to sting a little. He was a jack of all trades and really good at all of them. Replacing him with Sean McDonough, he is solid, but ehhhh. I do not care for Bayless, so swapping him with Kellerman not that big of a deal to me.

Tiricho is huge and I'm sure we'll never get the 'rest of the story' to why he's moving on to NBC but I doubt it's for more money. Because ESPN has him as busy as anyone. He's got the biggest play by play gigs there are with MNF and NBA all season long plus whatever all else he's been doing. NBCs biggest deals are the Olympics and the Super Bowl. Neither of which they get any more often then once every 4 years... Maybe he was sick of whatever the behind the curtain stuff goes on at ESPN and he's happy just getting out of there and slowing down. That guy has done a ton of traveling and maybe he wanted to cut back and ESPN said no...

 

[lightning1]

You can forget about North Carolina joining the BIG. Same with Texas. They both run their respective conferences and that won't ever happen if they join the BIG. You can't ask Vitto Corleone to join your gang as an under boss. He want's the big chair at the head of the table.

 

[trj]

Tiricho is huge and I'm sure we'll never get the 'rest of the story' to why he's moving on to NBC but I doubt it's for more money. Because ESPN has him as busy as anyone. He's got the biggest play by play gigs there are with MNF and NBA all season long plus whatever all else he's been doing. NBCs biggest deals are the Olympics and the Super Bowl. Neither of which they get any more often then once every 4 years... Maybe he was sick of whatever the behind the curtain stuff goes on at ESPN and he's happy just getting out of there and slowing down. That guy has done a ton of traveling and maybe he wanted to cut back and ESPN said no...

I am not sure if McDonough replaces Tiricho just for MNF or everything else across the board. I am guessing Van Pelt can slide in and do the golf stuff.....Steal a TNT guy to do college and NBA basketball.

 

[thetrza]

I just noticed John Miller was trending on twitter, people must be talking about conference realignment and Big 12 expansion.

 

[MoseSchrute]

It's sounding more and more like NBC will get the second half of the BIG contract.

I would like that. I think NBC does a great job with their sports broadcasts.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

Religion fades. Just ask the Pope...

I am not sure how much of that is true. But I can tell you that I am also a ND fan. There is only 1 school in this country that every fan has an opinion on and that is ND. There is no in between, you love 'em or hate 'em. The reason for that is what Jon alluded to...the religious aspect associated with ND. Again, I am a fan, and I've had to listen for 45+ years the sincere hatred of ND because they are "the Catholics." So, to me, that brings the most tv sets into the B1G.

I agree with Jon on GT. Texas can go eff themselves because they have a habit of ruining conferences. And even if the B1G is "too big for Texas to mess up," that won't stop them from trying and we don't need their crap.

 

[hawkjunkie]

I am not sure how much of that is true. But I can tell you that I am also a ND fan. There is only 1 school in this country that every fan has an opinion on and that is ND. There is no in between, you love 'em or hate 'em. The reason for that is what Jon alluded to...the religious aspect associated with ND. Again, I am a fan, and I've had to listen for 45+ years the sincere hatred of ND because they are "the Catholics." So, to me, that brings the most tv sets into the B1G.

I agree with Jon on GT. Texas can go eff themselves because they have a habit of ruining conferences. And even if the B1G is "too big for Texas to mess up," that won't stop them from trying and we don't need their crap.

For the last 2+ decades, ESPN and previous networks have shown ND on the TV more than any other. Remove that, which is what would happen if they joined the B1G, and they are no longer in the spotlight. They will fade, no question about it. Throw in a couple of losing seasons and they will drop significantly.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

For the last 2+ decades, ESPN and previous networks have shown ND on the TV more than any other. Remove that, which is what would happen if they joined the B1G, and they are no longer in the spotlight. They will fade, no question about it. Throw in a couple of losing seasons and they will drop significantly.

I disagree. NBC also a national network. Why couldn't ND still have all their games on NBC if they joined the B1G?