Conference USA TV revenue to plummet to $2.8 million per year
NORFOLK
The value of Conference USA’s television contracts has eroded even more than earlier reports indicated.
The league will receive about $2.8 million in TV revenue in 2016-2017 from four broadcast networks, according to documents The Virginian-Pilot obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
That’s about $200,000 for each school, according to notes Old Dominion officials received during C-USA’s spring meetings last month.
It represents a steep decline from the $15.4 million, or about $1.1 million per school, to be distributed this year.
Fox Sports and the CBS Sports Network have been paying C-USA $9,950,000 for TV rights, according to the documents. The conference was supplementing that with $6,150,000 from exit payments made by seven schools, including Memphis and East Carolina, that left the league in recent years.
The exit payments were made in part to compensate C-USA for reduced payments from the networks that occurred after the league lost several attractive schools, such as Memphis’ basketball program. But the payments are exhausted, and C-USA’s current TV contracts expire at the end of June.
C-USA was forced to negotiate new contracts at a time when sports cable outfits are losing subscribers and laying off employees.
The league’s TV revenue has now fallen to among the lowest in the Football Bowl Subdivision, which continues to see a canyon-like widening in the financial gap between the haves and have-nots.
The SEC, at the top of the food chain, made $476 million in TV, bowl and NCAA tournament money in 2014-2015, with each school getting about $34 million. Among the Power 5 conferences, the ACC came in fifth, at $22.1 million per school.
In all, documents indicate that C-USA schools will split about $20.5 million in revenue from the league, including NCAA basketball tournament money. That’s down from the projected $34.4 million to be distributed this year.
Although the money is distributed based on formulas, and not all schools receive the same amount, that works out to about $1.5 million per school. That’s down almost $1 million from the current year.
Football revenue appears relatively stable. Thanks to $16.1 million in projected revenue from the College Football Playoff, C-USA will make $2.9 million available to help schools pay the full cost-of-attendance stipends and distribute $14,257,000 – a little more than $1 million per school – in bowl and CFP revenues.
Conference USA now appears fourth in the so called Group of 5 mid-major leagues when it comes to TV money. The American Athletic ($2 million per school), the Mountain West ($1.7 million) and Mid-American ($800,000) are all estimated to be well ahead of C-USA, which had the misfortune of being the first league to renegotiate its TV contracts during the current decline in cable sports revenue.
The Sun Belt is last at about $100,000.
Budget documents obtained from ODU this year under FOIA indicated the school was preparing for TV revenue of $400,000-$500,000 per year. That was before the TV contracts were finalized.
