What’s our cut of the $70-million?

[Dave_Glaser]

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.

[Jim Johnson]

Typically entry fees are not paid as cash, they are paid through lower disbursements over a period of years.

Exit fees are typically divided evenly between the teams remaining.  So USF is splitting the $66 million with 9 ways: USF, Temple, Navy, ECU, Memphis, Tulsa, Tulane, SMU, and Wichita.  Wichita and Navy will not get the same as USF, clearly.  So it can be hard to figure out ... but let's make the math easy and say USF's "share" is a little more than $7+ million - $4 million one time fee and $3 million in annual payments and 'extra' disbursements.

UC, Houston, and UCF get their 2022-2023 share of the from CFP, Bowl games, and NCAAT.  Going forward, their NCAAT units belong to the AAC (tournament units do not transfer to new conferences).

[Mike Stuben]

46 minutes ago, Jim Johnson said:

Typically entry fees are not paid as cash, they are paid through lower disbursements over a period of years.

Exit fees are typically divided evenly between the teams remaining.  So USF is splitting the $66 million with 9 ways: USF, Temple, Navy, ECU, Memphis, Tulsa, Tulane, SMU, and Wichita.  Wichita and Navy will not get the same as USF, clearly.  So it can be hard to figure out ... but let's make the math easy and say USF's "share" is a little more than $7+ million - $4 million one time fee and $3 million in annual payments and 'extra' disbursements.

UC, Houston, and UCF get their 2022-2023 share of the from CFP, Bowl games, and NCAAT.  Going forward, their NCAAT units belong to the AAC (tournament units do not transfer to new conferences).

You should be able to combine Navy and Wichita and count the combined as 1 member. Then that one share is divided between them. 

[Jim Johnson]

9 minutes ago, Mike Stuben said:

You should be able to combine Navy and Wichita and count the combined as 1 member. Then that one share is divided between them. 

Sure ... so that would be 8 shares of the exit/entry fees -- which moves USF's share from $7+ to $8+ ... but it's likely still ~$4M of the upfront money and $4M spread out over time.

Of course I also wonder if USF leaves for the PAC (absent a merger) whether or not USF still gets the "over time" fees.

[BullyPulpit]

5 minutes ago, Jim Johnson said:

Sure ... so that would be 8 shares of the exit/entry fees -- which moves USF's share from $7+ to $8+ ... but it's likely still ~$4M of the upfront money and $4M spread out over time.

Of course I also wonder if USF leaves for the PAC (absent a merger) whether or not USF still gets the "over time" fees.

I would imagine that they would still be entitled to receive them as they are not intended to be spread out, but the league agreed to it for some reason. 

[Jim Johnson]

20 minutes ago, BullyPulpit said:

I would imagine that they would still be entitled to receive them as they are not intended to be spread out, but the league agreed to it for some reason. 

I would think instead USF would be "credited" the unpaid amount toward exit fees owed... rather than having to give USF cash that it would turn around and give back.  (Same for SMU, Tulane, etc.)