CONFERENCE USA: NEXT TV CONTRACT MOST IMPORTANT IN ITS PROUD HISTORY

CONFERENCE USA COMMISSIONER BRITTON BANOWSKY

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THE NEW CONFERENCE USA

With the news this week that the Power 5 Conferences officially voted to allow its schools to pay their student athletes the so called "full cost of attendance scholarships"(Full Cost of Attendance Vote link) Conference USA found itself in an even more  challenging and difficult position as they engage in contract talks for a  new TV deal.( The current tv deal runs out in 2016 and is split between Fox, CBS and the American Sports Network for a reported 14 million annually) . Challenging and difficult because Conference USA is the first G5 conference needing to sign a new tv deal in the midst of the G5 vs P5 era of college football. Conference USA, and it's Commissioner Britton Banowsky are forging unknown territory in the midst of the biggest shake up in college football in 20 years. Complicating the search for a new tv deal  however, is that unlike in previous  years when the conference had basketball anchor Memphis and football brands  ECU, UCF, Tulsa and Houston to sell the league, Conference USA will now have to convince the tv sports world that schools like Marshall, La Tech, UTEP,  Rice , ODU and the others are as viable and marketable as the top schools that have bolted for the American Athletic Conference in the last two years.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE NEW CONTRACT

This is where the wild speculation can begin. There are however, some clues that point to a reduced contract amount and rocky road for the 14 schools that make up the new Conference USA. Here are 3 of those clues:

CLUE 1: CONFERENCE USA LOST ITS MOST MARKETABLE TEAMS: When Mike Aresco went looking for replacements for the now defunct Big East, (now the American Athletic Conference) he needed schools that met 3 important tv criteria: 1 brand recognition 2. competitiveness and 3. over all market viability. Aresco , a  former tv sports executive who at one point in his career was in charge of signing conference contracts for ESPN, used his best judgment and picked schools from Conference USA that meet the 3 point tv criteria the best.( according to Aresco at least)

Even after taking what he considered to be the best of Conference USA,  the American Conference was still only able to sign a tv contract with ESPN worth 2million a year. Certainly nothing to get excited about or certainly enough money to hang with the big boys in College Football. Aresco did however, procure the best exposure deal in all of the G5. Something that should pay dividends for the American in the future.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CONFERENCE USA: You do not need have an MBA to read the tea leaves on this one. If Aresco, who is an expert in sports tv contracts, picked what he considered to be the best of Conference USA, and after doing so still only inked a deal for 2 million a year per team, then things may not be looking very good for Conference USA . The chances for an increase in the current 14 million a year for Conference USA are slim at best based on this data alone.

CLUE 2: TV NETWORKS ARE WATCHING THE G5 VS P5 SPLIT CLOSELY: With the new G5 vs P5 culture now in full swing, it can be argued that the appetite for tv networks in souring on the G5 football product. Like it or not, college football fans are the most brand conscience and arrogant in the sports world. If you are a SEC fan for example, do you even know that there are 4 other Power conferences in existence, let alone 5 non power conferences in the world. TV people pay attention to trends and market data. Just how many football fans want to watch North Texas play Western Kentucky in football? Can Fox Sports for example ,make more money from a  Conference USA Saturday football afternoon match up, or a blood splattering, testosterone inducing UCF match up? 

How about NBC? NBC sports bid for the rights to the American Conference only to lose the bid to ESPN. Why did NBC lose? They lost or won(depending on who you ask) because they did not want to pay more than 2 million per team for what the American had to offer. NBC was not willing to pay more for the likes of UConn basketball and a decent AAC football lineup. Instead, NBC decided that its current sports lineup and  its big investment  in the English  Premier League Soccer(football everywhere else) was enough. 

All of this may spell bad news for Conference USA  This is not to say that Conference USA is without compelling match ups. Marshall and La Tech certainly proved this season that Conference USA teams could play some serious football . A hand full of  good football teams and a below average basketball league however, do not create compelling sports. Conference USA needs to beef up its basketball and some how shake the stigma that it's football is not very good before the conference can hope for a large increase in its current tv revenue.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CONFERENCE USA: The new G5/P5 divide  could spell big trouble for Conference USA. The conference, given time, could become a competitive league( it proved that it could this year) The big question however, is will the tv networks want to invest the time and money needed for the conference to grow?

CLUE 3: ESPN IS THE GODFATHER OF SPORTS AND THE GODFATHER MAY NOT BE PLEASED WITH CONFERENCE USA: In 2011 ESPN and Conference USA settled a law suit in which ESPN claimed Conference USA ditched its tv contract agreement with them. As a result, Fox Sports won the right to broadcast most of the  Conference USA games  leaving ESPN with only the Conference USA Title Game.(the ESPN title game ends in 2015) Conference USA gambled that Fox Sports would soon rival ESPN and put most of its proverbial eggs in the Fox basket. In hindsight, this was as bad as betting the house on the  XFL( a horrible league pro football league that folded almost as quickly as it started) vs the NFL. In short, Conference USA rolled the dice and made a mistake in not keeping ESPN as its money maker. Now ESPN is even stronger, more powerful and most importantly in a position to make or break College Conferences. Conference USA challenged the bull, and the bull won.

Now instead of having the full weight of ESPN behind it, even it meant playing week night games, ESPN seems to have chosen the AAC as its most important G5 portfolio product.  Does ESPN have room for Conference USA to come back? Of course it does , but Conference USA would most likely be stuck with a majority of its games on ESPN 3, and on Tuesday and Wed nights. This strategy has worked for the MAC, it remains to be seen however, if it would work for Conference USA.( ESPN's cheap gamble on the AAC seems to be paying off, as the highest rated bowl games among the G5 belonged to the AAC)

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CONFERENCE USA: Unfortunately the one network that could provide long term stability to Conference USA seems to have no interest in the conference at the moment. With its current  contacts with the MAC, the AAC, the SunBelt and The MWC, it seems unlikely that Conference USA would benefit financially or from the limited exposure ESPN would be willing to give the conference in a new tv deal.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There is no question that Conference USA faces a more difficult and uphill battle this time around as it looks for tv partners. With the college football landscape having dramatically changed  as well as the current  Conference USA lineup being very different from  the last time the conference signed a tv deal , things will certainly get interesting going forward. With a decreasing value for all things G5, the tv future looks very uncertain for Conference USA at the moment  If the conference has anything going for it however, it's that Britton Banowsky has proven over the years to be a shrewd negotiator  with the ability to pull rabbits out of the hat from time to time.

The good news for  Conference USA is that its brand still  carries more weight than the Sun Belt and is equal to the  MAC perception. With schools  like Marshall, La Tech, Rice Western Kentucky, and  UTEP, there certainly is a core worth building upon. The big question however, is how much money and time will Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN be willing to commit in growing the Conference USA brand? If one of the big 4 does make a viable financial investment in the league, both the conference and the network could be rewarded nicely for it. On the other hand, it remains to be seen if  Conference USA has finally lost  its mojo during the last of  its varied and frequent realignment rebirths. 

Conference USA has built a reputation as a solid  and never say die conference. The conference seems to have 9 lives and the schools that received the most recent invites appear to be  very proud of being part of the Conference USA family. All though many clues point to a decrease in market value and tv revenue, Britton and his teams may prove more resilient than is expected of them.  Stay tuned for more on the Conference USA tv contract saga, including more  financial and tv network predictions from this blog.