New AAC Media Rights Deal with ESPN Announced

[TallyBull]

 

[79 Bull]

It's an okay bump for now, but $7 million isn't going to cover much in the year 2032.  And now I have to buy an ESPN+ subscription to watch basketball and half of the football games.

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

Locked in forever. On the bright side if games are on ESPN+ I just got a lot more free time in my life.

[NewEnglandBull]

AAC, ESPN Agree To 12-Year Media-Rights Deal Worth $1B

By Michael Smith and John Ourand

March 19, 2019

The American Athletic Conference will get $1B for its media rights from ESPN over 12 years, according to sources. The average of $83.3M per year is about four times what the AAC was making in its previous rights agreement with the net, which paid the league just over $20M annually. The new agreement begins in '20-21 and runs through the '31-32 academic year.

The annual per-school average of $6.94M provides each AAC school with nearly $5M more in annual revenue. They did not sign a grant of rights, which would have restricted them from jumping to a conference in the Power Five. SBJ reported in December that the AAC was considering a grant-of-rights, which effectively turns over a school’s media rights to the conference.

The comprehensive deal provides ESPN with rights to all of the AAC’s live programming, except for a small package of basketball games on CBS and some Navy football games on CBS Sports Network. The new contract also calls for some Saturday football games to be broadcast on ABC. Football, along with men's and women's basketball, will remain on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, but the majority of basketball games and a significant number of the football games will go to ESPN+. Other live sports including baseball, softball and soccer also will air on ESPN+. Renewal talks with CBS have not begun.

[NewEnglandBull]

I have DirectTV but will now drop my package down a level (won’t need CBS Sports) and pick up Espn+ for $4.95. The quality better be better than ESPN3....

Edited March 20, 2019 by NewEnglandBull

[Brad]

I hope there’s a GOR that keeps us locked in.  

[NewEnglandBull]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

I hope there’s a GOR that keeps us locked in.  

There is actually a clause that if any “significant” members leave the conference the contract gets renegotiated.

[Calibull]

I'm good with that...  wait... how much do we need for a IPF and how much do we currently have?   Anyone know? 

[Azmodi]

It's a **** deal and the Presidents and Aresco should be ashamed.

[NewEnglandBull]

8 minutes ago, Azmodi said:

It's a **** deal and the Presidents and Aresco should be ashamed.

12 friggin years...we will lose just on inflation alone...