Why Comcast is force behind Big 10 expansion

nilekinnick

nilekinnick

Well-Known Member
I admit I don't have the contract and won't argue if someone knows something to the contrary. But a friend says the current deal with the Big 10 tv network is tv's in the Big 10 area pay 70 cents a month and outside the Big 10 pay 10 cents a month.

Bringing in Rutgers & Syracuse brings in huge TV markets and dollars from Comcast. Missouri gets the St Louis & Kansas City area. I think Nebraska is more for a historically strong FB team vs the population of Omaha.

But the revenue per Big 10 team could jump to 40 million a year from the 20 million done last year. Notre Dame is already in the area, but such a huge jump in revenue could cause them to re-think, remembering their current tv deal only brought in 6 million.

Only a few months ago, this process was going to take 3 or 4 years if you remember the stories. With so much money on the table, this makes sense why the Big 10 could be moving so much faster.

I'd thought I share this as I hadn't seen any other post along these lines.
 
Would be interesting to see how the contracts with the btn are set up. I'm sure nebraska viewers would demand the network, but would guess in missouri and east coast states the over-whelming majority would be against paying an extra $.70 for basic cable to get the network.
 
Consider this, Comcast is in the process of acquiring a huge stake in NBC Universal from GE, I believe 51%. So here is what is developing, Comcast is in a position where it is televising ND games on NBC in direct competition with games on the Big Ten Network, ESPN, ABC, and CBS. What is the incentive for Comcast/NBC to continue to broadcast ND games? If there isn't an incentive where does ND go looking for a contract? Fox, no they are the B10 network, CBS, no they got the SEC. ABC/ESPN, no they have B10, B12, ACC, etc.

Things are murky.
 
The current users wouldn't pay anymore (not without a rate hike) but in the monthly payment to Comcast, Comcast would have to re-distribute 70 cents to Big 10 instead of 10 cents. I agree, would be interesting to know how this actually works or how close my resource is to the truth.
 
I doubt that Missouri would put up that much of a fight against the rate increase. Even the large markets support college sports. The bigger fight will be with the New York area if Rutgers joins. College sports isn't a big deal in that area so it may be tough to get that channel on basic cable if the BTN demands more money to broadcast.
 
Subscription fees are a big deal, but advertising dollars are huge during the football and basketball seasons. The amount of money the BTN is raking in has surprised everyone, including FOX and the Big 10.
 
strong user name bro...

you also have to remember about nebraska that their football team is the only team that entire state has. yeah they have baseball and basketball, but does anyone really watch them play? the people in nebraska will definitely pay the increase to be able to watch the huskers
 
With the Big 12's horrid TV contract, many Nebraska games are only available on pay-per-view. The BTN is probably a dream come true for them.
 
There was a good article earlier this year that showed the impact of different options for B10 expansion and their financial impact. It really focused on ad dollars. The BTN added revenue from premium to basic will pay each team's way into the contract the extra ad dollars will boost things higher.
 
I have no idea what I am talkign about...but it would seem to me that the adverting market in STL and out east would be profitable. In Nebraska perhaps the bulk of the money would come from Cable subscriptions. The Husker fans would not put up much fight against a 1 dollar rate increase. In fact perhaps the cable companies and the BTN could even work out a larger charge for them. After all it is their state religion.

BTW over at CF the clone fans are already speculating which sports they will bring back when they are invited to the Big Ten. SOme of them think they are a shoe in. Its really quite pathetic.....they are really really going to pieces over there. Its almost like a Jonestown mentality with the delusion. I want to feel sorry for them.....but nah nevermind.
 
Since everything is pure speculation then consider another crazy Comcast idea. Comcast assumes ownership of NBC/Universal and decides to resell its broadcast rights to ND games to the Big Ten Network. The Big Ten Network in turns broadcast the Notre Dame games on its network, with an Comcast having the option of carrying the games on NBC.

Comcast reduces its operation cost for televising because the B10 network handles the broadcast technicals. The B10 network is in higher demand because they broadcast the ND games not televised by NBC. Comcast gets royalties from the Big Ten network for the advertising sold by the Big Ten.
 
PJ, I think he is right about Big 10. I believe Fox has some ownership in the Big Ten network.
 
Thanks for this interesting and informative thread. Good stuff.

$40 million instead of $20 million? Notre Dame, you are the dumbest university in the known world if you don't come begging and pleading to the Big Ten.
 
Palpatine said:
Thanks for this interesting and informative thread. Good stuff.

$40 million instead of $20 million? Notre Dame, you are the dumbest university in the known world if you don't come begging and pleading to the Big Ten.
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Here's the catch though. If for some strange reason the Big Ten only added Notre Dame, the revenue per school would most likely go down. The increased revenue hinges primarily on expanding the BTN into new and bigger markets. It's already on in Indiana. While Notre Dame would still stand to gain under this scenario, they would be wise to hold out until they see what other markets are tapped into first, giving them a much better idea of their financial future.
 
GravyJones said:
Here's the catch though. If for some strange reason the Big Ten only added Notre Dame, the revenue per school would most likely go down. The increased revenue hinges primarily on expanding the BTN into new and bigger markets. It's already on in Indiana. While Notre Dame would still stand to gain under this scenario, they would be wise to hold out until they see what other markets are tapped into first, giving them a much better idea of their financial future.
Click to expand...

Agree. But if ND waits, the Big Ten will probably move on--they can't hold out too long.
 
Palpatine said:
Thanks for this interesting and informative thread. Good stuff.

$40 million instead of $20 million? Notre Dame, you are the dumbest university in the known world if you don't come begging and pleading to the Big Ten.
Click to expand...
Interesting conjectures maybe. Informative? Less likely. The problem with threads like this is that they assume that the Big Ten wants to stuff its piggy bank with pennies, when the truth is that the reason the Big Ten is considering expansion now is the prospect of stashing gold bars at every BT member school.

The goal of the BT is to position itself optimally to get the biggest share of the forthcoming huge increase in federal funding in grants, contracts, patent usages, etc projected to be directed to university-based R&D. The objective is billions of additional dollars--doubling, tripling the $5 to $10 billion received in recent years by the BT consortium and its members.

Yes, $20 or $40 million is a huge amount of money....but do the math and calculate that is is about 2% of the increased R&D money that is the real target of the BT. Truth is that if a university like Harvard or Princeton would consider for a minute joining the consortium it would become immediately the first on the expansion list (this is the reason why the U of Texas was the first university approached by the BT, and would still be the top choice if the State of Texas would allow it; it is the reason why the short list of likely other candidates presently is pretty much limited to Pitt & Rutgers. Penn State's academic & research capabilities and resources were the reason why PSU was invited, NOT its athletic programs; schools like Mizzou and Nebraska which don't begin to compare to Penn State as major research universities are not attractive to the consortium, at least now at the present).

Washington U in St Louis comes closer to what the BT wants than Mizzou. The same is true of Carnegie-Mellon. Cornell University. MIT. Johns Hopkins.
 
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I have to think that if ND was the only school to be added, that still would force cable systems from NYC/NJ,Philly,and LA to add the BTN to the package at some rate between 10 cents and 70 cents...

As far as going from 20 to 40 million...hmmm..not sure. Do the math. 11 schools this year at 20 million is 220 million....16 schools at 40 million is 640 million....seems like a big jump in total revenue...I doubt it will get that rich that fast.
 
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