Don’t know if this has been discussed before, but we all know that the AAC’s TV contract pays MUCH less than the so-called “power” leagues. I’ve heard about $7-8M per team annually? But from the reports I was able to find, the AAC is receiving approximately $70M combined in both exit fees from UC, Houston and Oviedo ($30M up front by 2025 and another $24M spread over a dozen years) and entry fees from the six new member schools (around $18M combined). UConn is also still paying on its $17M exit fee from the AAC that began in 2020. The league also reportedly collected around $38M in postseason money last year - including a good chunk from UC’s football playoff appearance. I would assume that the bulk of those monies will be going to the remaining existing members: USF, Memphis, Tulane, SMU, Tulsa, ECU, Temple and - to a lesser degree Navy and Wichita State.
If so, that’s a pretty good chunk of change that USF should be collecting in the short term, right? The $7-8M in TV money seems minuscule compared to what the “power” leagues are getting, but is it possible that the real number we are seeing over the next few years is actually more like double the broadcast rights number when you add in all the other revenue sources from this realignment? Obviously, it’s a relatively short-term boon, but if that is the case, it feels significant to me for us to be able to continue to invest and it doesn’t make the disparity seem quite as huge - especially when compared to some of the teams that moved and are paying exit fees, entry fees and/or are making smaller percentages of league revenue as newcomers.
the key, of course, is to make the most of the opportunity over the next few years.