Conferences driven by TV deals
Analysis: The ACC is simply doing what other conferences have done in the past — expanding to grab a bigger share of TV money.
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
"They told us they love us; now we have to wait to see how much they really mean it."
— A participant at last weekend's Fiesta Bowl Frolic who sat in on ESPN's presentation to the Western Athletic Conference and now waits to see how the contract renewal goes.
Like people who equate the degree of love with the size of the diamond ring, affection and stature in college athletics these days are increasingly measured by the numbers on the television contract.
The size of rights fees for football and basketball are what separate the haves and have-nots in Division I and, very often, championship teams from also-rans.
And, as the headlines that portend reshuffling conference alignments suggest, "television contracts tend to drive expansion," said Jim Muldoon, assistant commissioner of the Pac-10.
It is what drove the expansion of the Southeastern Conference to 12 teams a decade ago; what brought about the demise of the late Southwest Conference in 1996 and berth of the Big-12, and what precipitated the clandestine division of the former 16-school Western Athletic Conference in 1998.
Now, the prospect of enhancing its earning potential has prompted the nine-school Atlantic Coast Conference to approve blockbuster expansion to a 12-team conference and court a combination of potential Big East defectors — Miami, Syracuse and Boston College or Virginia Tech — to accomplish it.
With nine teams, the ACC has shared an $82 million pot, most of it from the combined $57 million it receives from its television contracts.
With expansion, a larger television market and opportunity for a football championship game it would bring, the conference envisions dividing $100 million or more from all sources and supplanting the Southeastern Conference as the richest campus conglomerate.
For Miami and whoever might follow it, that would be a considerable improvement on the $51 million the Big East reportedly shares.
Meanwhile, WAC commissioner Karl Benson says, "it has everybody's attention right now. Adds Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson, "everybody else is waiting to see what the ripples will be."
Fresno State athletic director Scott Johnson said it is hard to know at this point what the shakeup will mean for the WAC, but that the conference has to be ready.
The WAC, of which the University of Hawai'i is a two-decade member, will be on the lookout for opportunities to add schools that improve its own standing as its TV contract comes up for renewal.
The 10-team WAC, whose three-year ESPN agreement expires next April, has the most impecunious arrangement of the nine major Division I conferences.
How little? "You don't even want to know," said UH athletic director Herman Frazier, with the wave of a hand.
WAC officials said they are unable to reveal the amount under terms of a non-disclosure agreement with the network. Frazier would only say UH's annual take is "more than" $20,000 but "less than $50,000," regardless of how many appearances the Warriors make. In return for a minimum of four regular-season football and three regular-season basketball games per year, Frazier said the WAC receives less than $500,000 per year, which is divided equally among the 10 members.
Any new deal may come with a push to more equitably reward those schools who make the appearances. Frazier said, "I mean, the thing is when you look at it, it is really a few schools (getting the bulk of the air time)." Those being UH, Fresno State, Boise State and Tulsa.
Unlike the other schools in the WAC, Frazier said UH also has to be sensitive about balancing the needs in its backyard where it receives $700,000 for local broadcast rights from KFVE and is trying to grow a six-figure pay-per-view market.
The current WAC-ESPN deal replaced a two-year partnership with Fox Sports Net that gave the conference limited exposure but not much else after the Mountain West snatched the ties with ESPN following the 1998 split.
At the time, a lot of people in the industry gave the WAC little chance of enduring and remaining competitive. But as the WAC has managed to hold its own, surviving and even prospering following the breakup, members are hopeful of being rewarded with a bigger payoff and more visibility from the next ESPN deal.
"We've brought a lot of value to the deal and ESPN is pleased with the product we've been providing," Benson said.
Estimates are that even in the current economic climate, the WAC might be able to double or triple the terms of the deal in the next go-around.
Citing company policy, an ESPN spokesman refused to discuss negotiations. But ESPN director of programming Dave Brown said, "We've enjoyed our partnership with the WAC over the years. We look forward to continuing our relationship and working with the conference to televise their quality athletic programs, including football and basketball."
Meanwhile, people in the industry say the Mountain West will be hard-pressed to get similar terms as its current seven-year, $48 million ABC/ESPN deal when its contract expires in 2006 — especially in its current eight-school alignment.
