Those of you who have read my posts throughout realignment- from Mizzou lifting their skirt to the B1G in 2012 to today- know that I have a devoted interest, a well founded knowledge, and legitimate sources when it comes to realignment.
It’s very important to understand that this round of realignment is different than any previous one; and by that I mean the value that schools bring to a conference (specifically when it comes to Television revenue) are completely new. The last round (that started in 2012) was considerably based on T3 revenue that was driven by sub fees and local markets. The revenue that conference’s projected from T3 content was astronomical. It was based on all major cable providers charging every customer premium sub fees in their local markets & then non-premium sub fees for every customer in the country. Then there was the pie-in-the-sky advertisement dollars projections.. The B1G was the only conference who was able to to get the major providers to charge premium sub fees in local markets and have their Network picked up Nationally. Hence adding Rutgers for the NYC/NJ market and Maryland for the DC/MD market. The problem is that those contracts expire in 2 years, and every major and minor cable provider in the Nation will no longer carry the B1GN as part of their base (or extended) package. The B1GN will will be moved to strictly a pay-per-view channel. Which means that the market that you reside in will no longer matter for T3 revenue. The only T3 revenue that a school will provide to the B1GN will be customers who purchase the B1GN. Viewership will also drive advertising dollars for that Network. That is why adding Rutgers and MD were monumental mistakes. That is why Jim Delaney, the B1G Commish who engineered the most lucrative TV Deal in the country, was FIRED (make no mistake about it, he was given the option to retire with dignity- or be outright fired; and that comes directly from former Conference Commish/NCAA director Chuck Neinas). Rutgers and Maryland will have the fewest pay-per-view customers of any school in the B1G; they will provide fewer pay-per-view customers than most any P5 school in the Country. They also provide almost no T1/T2 content in either sport. They get an equal revenue share and provide almost no content or viewership to the B1G. Their expense vastly exceeds the menial revenue that they provide to the conference. The member institutions were absolutely livid with Delay for permanently saddling the B1G with two more mouths to feed who provide absolutely nothing in revenue. It was one of the biggest blunders in the 100+ years of Collegiate Sports and Conference realignment.
In today’s realignment, it’s all about the T1/T2/T3 content and and the actual viewership that you provide. Markets are not completely irrelevant; but with streaming and PPV, your content and the viewership that you provide are far more valuable than the market that you reside in.. Look at the PAC, they have several of the biggest markets in the Country, but they have the lowest TV Revenue payout per school. That’s because the market that you reside in is not nearly as important as the market you deliver.
KU has serious value to the B1GN because of our passionate fan base. They could charge $20 a month for the B1GN to KU fans and we will shell it out without hesitation to watch a couple of football games and a handful of basketball games. KU will provide more viewers watching a KU v Ft Hay’s State basketball game than the viewers watching a Rutgers v Maryland basketball game. The PPV customers and content and viewership that KU will provide for the B1GN is a significant aspect on our resume to the B1G. Added viewership will add advertising dollars- and we will provide new local advertisers; those won’t be large numbers, but it will add up to something. That’s just what KU can provide with their T3 content; remember that KU currently has the 2nd highest T3 payout in the B12- ahead of OU and behind only the over- payment that ESPN made for the LHN. We have fantastic T3 content; some of the best in the country.
We will also prove the B1G with more T1/T2 basketball content than any two schools (combined) that they have in the conference right now. Obviously, right now, we don’t provide much in the way of T1/T2 football content. But if you are the B1G Commissioner, you have to think about the potential future of KU football. With KSU and ISU (not to mention OkieSt, TT, Baylor, and TCU) in G5 Conferences, KU will hold a distinct recruiting advantage over those schools in their local area. We have the best coach on our sidelines since Mangino. Add a 4th non-con game and a somewhat vulnerable B1G West (or 5 team pod), and KU could well be Bowl eligible in no time. We’ll consistently be better (in due time) than the programs currently in the B12 who can’t find a P4 home. And it’s not like KU has no football history. We won an Orange Bowl in 2008. Gale Sayers, John Hadl, John Riggins.. We’ll never bring much T1 content to the table with football- but who is out there that the B1G could add that would bring T1 content to their media package? ND is about the only feasible possibility; and they won’t join the B1G unless their hand is forced and they choose the B1G over the ACC (who they have an existing relationship with). Besides, add both KU and ND and you’re at 16 teams- that has to be the dream scenario for the B1G..
You also need to be forward thinking with the potential value of post season basketball revenue. I have personally heard both Gordon Gee (former tOSU/Vandy President- currently at WVU) and Chuck Neinas say that it is simply a matter of when (not if) the Power Conferences will pull their teams from the NCAA Tournament and create their own Tournament- which will have the same format and include the best 64 teams in the country. Chuck Neinas was perhaps the single most important person involved in the formation of the BCS which took bowl revenue out the NCAA’s hands- so trust him when he says that the Power Conferences will soon own post season basketball revenue. Last year, CBS and TBS paid the NCAA $2B for the tournament. That’s two $2B with a ‘B’. KU has gone to 31 straight tournaments, and we have had more success (more tournament wins) over those 31 years than any B1G program. In fact, we may have more tournament wins over that period than the best two B1G programs combined. Wins shares (wins in the tournament) are how Conferences are paid for the tournament. The B1G has had some recent struggles in the tournament- especially after that train wreck in the last tournament. KU walks in to that Conference as by far the best basketball program from Day 1. We bring legitimacy and a National brand to B1G basketball.
Another aspect of our market value: We have a Top 5 Apparel deal in the Country. Top 5. In the Country. Then you add peripheral aspects like us being AAU, being contiguous with their current geographic footprint, being a cultural and academic fit.. We have a great Law School and a Medical School that brings in large Federal grant dollars. We have an AD who has deep B1G ties- he was working in the B1G as an associate AD at Northwestern just a couple of months ago. We have a surprisingly robust Endowment; we’d currently have the 3rd highest Endowment in the SEC (I haven’t yet looked up the B1G endowments). We have some great Olympic programs, especially in Track & Field. We’d be very competitive in baseball (B1G baseball is garbage tho). We have a beautiful campus that is in the last stages of a ~$2B renovation. We have several Billionaire alumni.
I don’t blame the B1G kicking the tires on every possibility. From two 32 team mega-Conferences to current ACC and PAC members to not making any moves. They should look at every possibility. The SEC is doing the same thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the SEC has looked into KU to up their pathetic basketball profile- there’s no rule that you have to stay at 16 teams. We have a true rival in their conference already- though how great would it be if Mizzou gets rejected by the B1G in 2012, only to have to watch KU get accepted!!
KU brings a lot to the table and if we do end up being a free agent, I can’t see how we don’t land in a power Conference. Simply put, we bring in more revenue than our share distribution will cost.
It’s very important to understand that this round of realignment is different than any previous one; and by that I mean the value that schools bring to a conference (specifically when it comes to Television revenue) are completely new. The last round (that started in 2012) was considerably based on T3 revenue that was driven by sub fees and local markets. The revenue that conference’s projected from T3 content was astronomical. It was based on all major cable providers charging every customer premium sub fees in their local markets & then non-premium sub fees for every customer in the country. Then there was the pie-in-the-sky advertisement dollars projections.. The B1G was the only conference who was able to to get the major providers to charge premium sub fees in local markets and have their Network picked up Nationally. Hence adding Rutgers for the NYC/NJ market and Maryland for the DC/MD market. The problem is that those contracts expire in 2 years, and every major and minor cable provider in the Nation will no longer carry the B1GN as part of their base (or extended) package. The B1GN will will be moved to strictly a pay-per-view channel. Which means that the market that you reside in will no longer matter for T3 revenue. The only T3 revenue that a school will provide to the B1GN will be customers who purchase the B1GN. Viewership will also drive advertising dollars for that Network. That is why adding Rutgers and MD were monumental mistakes. That is why Jim Delaney, the B1G Commish who engineered the most lucrative TV Deal in the country, was FIRED (make no mistake about it, he was given the option to retire with dignity- or be outright fired; and that comes directly from former Conference Commish/NCAA director Chuck Neinas). Rutgers and Maryland will have the fewest pay-per-view customers of any school in the B1G; they will provide fewer pay-per-view customers than most any P5 school in the Country. They also provide almost no T1/T2 content in either sport. They get an equal revenue share and provide almost no content or viewership to the B1G. Their expense vastly exceeds the menial revenue that they provide to the conference. The member institutions were absolutely livid with Delay for permanently saddling the B1G with two more mouths to feed who provide absolutely nothing in revenue. It was one of the biggest blunders in the 100+ years of Collegiate Sports and Conference realignment.
In today’s realignment, it’s all about the T1/T2/T3 content and and the actual viewership that you provide. Markets are not completely irrelevant; but with streaming and PPV, your content and the viewership that you provide are far more valuable than the market that you reside in.. Look at the PAC, they have several of the biggest markets in the Country, but they have the lowest TV Revenue payout per school. That’s because the market that you reside in is not nearly as important as the market you deliver.
KU has serious value to the B1GN because of our passionate fan base. They could charge $20 a month for the B1GN to KU fans and we will shell it out without hesitation to watch a couple of football games and a handful of basketball games. KU will provide more viewers watching a KU v Ft Hay’s State basketball game than the viewers watching a Rutgers v Maryland basketball game. The PPV customers and content and viewership that KU will provide for the B1GN is a significant aspect on our resume to the B1G. Added viewership will add advertising dollars- and we will provide new local advertisers; those won’t be large numbers, but it will add up to something. That’s just what KU can provide with their T3 content; remember that KU currently has the 2nd highest T3 payout in the B12- ahead of OU and behind only the over- payment that ESPN made for the LHN. We have fantastic T3 content; some of the best in the country.
We will also prove the B1G with more T1/T2 basketball content than any two schools (combined) that they have in the conference right now. Obviously, right now, we don’t provide much in the way of T1/T2 football content. But if you are the B1G Commissioner, you have to think about the potential future of KU football. With KSU and ISU (not to mention OkieSt, TT, Baylor, and TCU) in G5 Conferences, KU will hold a distinct recruiting advantage over those schools in their local area. We have the best coach on our sidelines since Mangino. Add a 4th non-con game and a somewhat vulnerable B1G West (or 5 team pod), and KU could well be Bowl eligible in no time. We’ll consistently be better (in due time) than the programs currently in the B12 who can’t find a P4 home. And it’s not like KU has no football history. We won an Orange Bowl in 2008. Gale Sayers, John Hadl, John Riggins.. We’ll never bring much T1 content to the table with football- but who is out there that the B1G could add that would bring T1 content to their media package? ND is about the only feasible possibility; and they won’t join the B1G unless their hand is forced and they choose the B1G over the ACC (who they have an existing relationship with). Besides, add both KU and ND and you’re at 16 teams- that has to be the dream scenario for the B1G..
You also need to be forward thinking with the potential value of post season basketball revenue. I have personally heard both Gordon Gee (former tOSU/Vandy President- currently at WVU) and Chuck Neinas say that it is simply a matter of when (not if) the Power Conferences will pull their teams from the NCAA Tournament and create their own Tournament- which will have the same format and include the best 64 teams in the country. Chuck Neinas was perhaps the single most important person involved in the formation of the BCS which took bowl revenue out the NCAA’s hands- so trust him when he says that the Power Conferences will soon own post season basketball revenue. Last year, CBS and TBS paid the NCAA $2B for the tournament. That’s two $2B with a ‘B’. KU has gone to 31 straight tournaments, and we have had more success (more tournament wins) over those 31 years than any B1G program. In fact, we may have more tournament wins over that period than the best two B1G programs combined. Wins shares (wins in the tournament) are how Conferences are paid for the tournament. The B1G has had some recent struggles in the tournament- especially after that train wreck in the last tournament. KU walks in to that Conference as by far the best basketball program from Day 1. We bring legitimacy and a National brand to B1G basketball.
Another aspect of our market value: We have a Top 5 Apparel deal in the Country. Top 5. In the Country. Then you add peripheral aspects like us being AAU, being contiguous with their current geographic footprint, being a cultural and academic fit.. We have a great Law School and a Medical School that brings in large Federal grant dollars. We have an AD who has deep B1G ties- he was working in the B1G as an associate AD at Northwestern just a couple of months ago. We have a surprisingly robust Endowment; we’d currently have the 3rd highest Endowment in the SEC (I haven’t yet looked up the B1G endowments). We have some great Olympic programs, especially in Track & Field. We’d be very competitive in baseball (B1G baseball is garbage tho). We have a beautiful campus that is in the last stages of a ~$2B renovation. We have several Billionaire alumni.
I don’t blame the B1G kicking the tires on every possibility. From two 32 team mega-Conferences to current ACC and PAC members to not making any moves. They should look at every possibility. The SEC is doing the same thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the SEC has looked into KU to up their pathetic basketball profile- there’s no rule that you have to stay at 16 teams. We have a true rival in their conference already- though how great would it be if Mizzou gets rejected by the B1G in 2012, only to have to watch KU get accepted!!
KU brings a lot to the table and if we do end up being a free agent, I can’t see how we don’t land in a power Conference. Simply put, we bring in more revenue than our share distribution will cost.
