Uncle Utah’s Thoughts on Apple tv

[Utah]

It’s not that big of a deal. Let me explain.

1 – Remember, reporters get paid by clicks. They need to drum up controversy because that stirs feelings and feelings lead to action and if we get all angry, then we will click on all the articles and generate more clicks.

2 – The PAC-12 Networks sucked. No one watched us anyways. This idea that going to Apple tv is going to put us somewhere no one will see us…So? We’ve been just fine the last 10 years in the same situation. It is what it is.

3 – The money is the most important thing. Get the most money. If you don’t have the money, you will fall behind. Look, everyone is praising the Big 12, but why? It’s the funniest phenomenon. The Big 12 is losing their USC/UCLA in Texas and Oklahoma. They panicked, and added a bunch of “eh” G5 schools. They did what everyone wanted the PAC-12 to do, in raiding the Big 12. The problem with taking teams like that, is they don’t bring any money to the table.

When the Big 12 negotiations started, they were pounding their chests about 50 million dollars. They took 30. That is a 20 million dollar PER YEAR less than what they hoped for.

The worst thing the PAC-12 can do is add teams to add teams and then generate less money and p**s off Oregon and Washington. Get the most money you can. If that means adding SDSU and SMU, then do it. If it means not adding those teams and having 10 teams, then great. Just get enough money so Oregon and UW can save face to the world.

3 – The whole “exposure” thing is silly as well. Yeah, it would be nice to be on ABC or ESPN every week. But it’s not essential. Oregon and USC and Stanford recruited just fine being on the PAC-12 networks. We never got the benefit of the doubt before, we never had teams ranked higher than they should have been ranked. This won’t change anything.

The real exposure comes in being ranked and making the playoffs. Win games and PAC-12 teams will be ranked. That’s it. If Oregon, UW, Utah and ASU all have 10+ wins at the end of the year, they will all be top 15 teams.

And the playoffs will be easier than ever to get into. Side note: I hope the expanded playoff will even out talent a little bit more. Right now, if you want to win a national title, you go to Alabama or Ohio State. That’s it. And the recruiting rankings show this. Those two consistently have classes much better than the rest. BUT, now you can go to Oregon or Utah AND make the playoffs every year. Even if only 3-4 kids a year go somewhere else, that would be huge for parity.

In summary: Take the money. Being on ESPN or ABC is nice, but not as big a deal as everyone makes it out to be. As long as you make the playoffs, as long as you are ranked, as long as you can get kids to come visit your campus on recruiting visits and AS LONG AS YOU HAVE MONEY TO KEEP THE FACILITIES NICE, you will be fine.

The ideal deal would be this: 35-40 million per year from Apple. But, you then allow ESPN and/or CBS and/or NBC to rotate through the A, B and C games every week, just like before. Have it so you get another 5-10 million per school per year in this deal. That puts you up around 45-50 million per year.

That would be perfect. You still get games on the bigger networks, they only pay a fraction of what they paid in the past and you get Apple to overpay a little as they get established.

p.s. Could you imagine the hysterics that us getting 50 per year while the Big 12 gets 30? lol. It would be Christmas all over again.

[Utah]

The key to the new deal is either, having Apple overpay and Apple themselves pay 40-50 million per school per year. 

OR

Having Apple pay 30-35 per school per year but having Apple give up 2-3 games a week that the PAC-12 can then turn around and sell to another TV provider. 

Look, as much as everyone can say that no one wants the PAC-12, there is no other conference that can give you the 10:30/7:30 kickoff time on a Saturday night. What’s ESPN going to do, put up an unranked Boise St vs Utah State? How many of you switched to that game on CBS sports before? 

If the PAC-12 can have a couple games to sell to FX and ESPN for that PAC-12 after dark slot, then they could easily get up to the 40-50 million range. Which is probably what is taking so long in all this. 

Apple wants everything, but doesn’t want to overpay but doesn’t want less inventory for 30 million. Once the Apple stuff gets figured out, either an overpay for everything or pay less for less games, the contract will be signed. 

And I’m not worried about Oregon and UW going to the B1G because the B1G doesn’t want them. They don’t even want USC/UCLA. 

[radioUte]

Let’s be careful that we don’t set our hearts on some make-believe money race with other teams. For one, we likely won’t come out looking very good (that $30M the Big12 is getting is football TV money only – their total media compensation package is expected to come in at that $50M/yr/team), but more importantly, those comparisons are just chasing after fools gold. Playoff access is King, which we already have, and we even have an easier path now than we did.

[Utah]

Lastly, all this handwringing reminds me of Oregon’s jerseys back in the early 2000’s. “Oh, look at Oregon and all their jerseys. They look like highlighters. Lol, how pathetic. I’d never wear those.”

Now the Jazz have copied them, Baylor has copied them, etc. And every team in the country outside of Alabama has as many uniforms as they can, us included. 

Same with this streaming stuff. “PAC-10 going to Apple/Amazon/whoever!!! LOL. They aren’t on ESPN. Even though I won’t need a cable subscription to watch them and it will be easier to see their games it’s new and I don’t understand it becuase I’m from butt f**k red state with no education or I am old so I’ll make fun of it.”

It wouldn’t shock me to see the PAC-10 come out of this much better than we think they will and 5-10 years from now everyone is selling off third tier games to small streaming services. 

[Central Coast Ute]

Utah is a “bum ****” red state but I’m sure we can figure it out…

[DrJazzy]

I thought the Pac minus USC/UCLA would be fine. But the longer this has dragged out, the more I lean the other way. Pac is on life support, let’s face it. I just hope Utah’s leadership is much better and savvier than the Pac’s disappointing leadership. 

Honestly, taking the 4 corner schools to the B12 feels like the best option, if available. The world of college football is moving towards a clear big two with possibily a 3rd/4th league. I love being affiliated with the Pac schools – but I sense the Pac is just treading water at this point. 

UO/UW are the best brands left of both leagues – but they are eyeing the B10 and that will become an eventuality. 

Pac’s media negotiations are a joke, GK is definitely not great at his job, and I trust him as much at this point as I trust Stevie Wonder to be my uber driver (clearly for multiple reasons). 

Utah has built up so much momentum. Utah cannot stay stagnant and wait for all this to play out – I really hope/trust Utah has a backup plan in place. 

B12 would be a fine and fantastic landing spot. Better than being in a MWC/PAC merged league. 

[DrJazzy]

And no, I don’t want Utah to be on Apple TV/Amazon Prime. I want to be on ESPN/Fox/ABC. 

If the tv money is better – fine. But it won’t be. It’ll be sig less than what the B12 got. 

[dystopiamembrane]

That was a lot of words