BE was Lowballed again Last June…now it’s starting to show!
What a year is was…2024. University of Connecticut won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. The Big East got a new media rights deal. A game changing MTF, Thanksgiving Day tourney was announced – the Player’s Era Tournament. Nice.
My bluenotes article of July 2024 spoke to this at length.
A lone voice in the wilderness, Painttouches.com (Marquette) Andrei Greska nailed the new contract on the head – way back in 2022. His assessed, actual comparitive projection, of the value of the Big East was $600 Million ($100 Million/year). The conference negotiations team settled for less, at the same $480 Million as in 2013, but for 6 years – $80 Milliion/year. A 20% discount ($120 Million) on the then current, assessed market value.
Today (May, 2025), in the ever evolving NIL / Profit Sharing world of college sports, that additional $120 Million/$20 Million/year, or an additional $1.8 Million/yr per school would be a welcome addition. Non-football schools, Mid-major D1, and the D2 schools are taking a much greater profit sharing ‘hit’ percentage-wise than the Football Four major conferences.
Several schools (eight to be exact) jumped on the NIL incentivized Player’s Era Tourney (PET) when it was announced approximately a year ago. Only 2 non-Football Four schools got in: San Diego State and Creighton. The PET was a resounding success. All participating teams received at least $1 Million in NIL funding for their athletes. Thus this coming season will see a major expansion to 20 teams, including non-major football St. Johns, mid-major St Joseph’s (PA), and UNLV. The University of Oregon won the inaugural PET.
Many universities are still juggling ideas, scenarios, & plans for managing NIL, NCAA Profit sharing initiative, other funding issues. The Big East spoke with Seth Davis/ Hoops HQ this week regarding these and other issues.
https://www.hoopshq.com/big-east/with-revenue-sharing-on-the-way-is-the-big-east-sitting-pretty
“Big East schools will assign $5.7 million of revenue to men’s basketball next season.” Lawrence projected smaller sums for the other power conference schools: $4.4 million for the ACC, $4.3 million for the Big 12, $3.2 million for the Big Ten and $3.1 million for the SEC.
Blake Lawrence – CEO Opendorse
Where the Money Comes From
- OTHER REVENUE
- Revenue from the following categories: Compensation and benefits provided by a third party; game program, novelty, parking and concession sales; sports camps and clinics; athletics restricted endowment and investments income; and, other operating revenue.
- CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP, ADVERTISING, LICENSING
- Revenue generated by the institution from royalties, licensing, advertisements and sponsorships
- DONOR CONTRIBUTIONS
- Funds contributed from individuals, corporations, associations, foundations, clubs or other organizations external to the athletics program above the face value for tickets.
- COMPETITION GUARANTEES
- Revenue received from participation in away or neutral-site games.
- CONFERENCE/NCAA DISTRIBUTIONS, MEDIA RIGHTS, AND POST-SEASON FOOTBALL
- Revenue received from the NCAA (including championships) and athletics conferences, media rights, and post-season football bowl games
- TICKET SALES
Revenue received from ticket sales for all NCAA-sponsored sports at an institution. - INSTITUTIONAL/GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
- Revenue received from governments, direct funds from the institution for athletics operations, and costs covered and services provided by the institution to athletics (and for athletics debt) but not charged to athletics.
- STUDENT FEES
- Fees paid by student and allocated for the restricted use of the athletics department.
Obviously, the non-FBSer’s must work harder & smarter in increasing the percentages of income in the non-govt /non-student driven categories. Many schools have maxxed out the Donorship and Ticket Sales categories as well. Non FBSer’s should campaign smarter in re-recruiting old Naming rights sponsors, increasing corporate sponsors on multiple levels /tiers of support (internal/external signage, halftime highlights, TV spotlight segments, etc.). Rekindling the ‘love’ with said sponsors. Strategies should target both high dollar and group/association/market segment targets in the Corp Sponsorship, Advertising, and Licensing segments.
Review and revise the agreements in the Other Revenues subsegments to insure both a fair arrangement to 3rd parties, while increasing revenue share. Athletic Department Marketing wings should encourage, promote, and facilitate licensing of 3rd party entreprenuers in gaining access to it’s major sports venues, increasing cross pollination/JV’s amongst vendors within the same class of activity, encourage increased online sales activities, etc. Packaging small chains/Mom n Pop stores in group & class packages of ads/venue exposures/Select ‘Nights’ (pizza nite, sandwich nite, Ace Hardware-tool stores nite, sports/sporting goods nite), and so forth. In select cases, the AD may seed Innovative, new, and novel approaches to new/unique Other Revenue sources.
Of course position the university to take advantage of changes in the Competitiion Guarantee (see: Players Era Tourney, NCAA caps on revenue sharing, other new innovations), in the Media Rights segment during upheavals and seismic activities in conference alignments and MR renewals.
In cases where the university is having a resurgence – address ticket sales campaigns of course. Where appicable (Big East / AAC) should double down on the development, expansion, and marketing of their online streaming platforms. Where applicable court and contract with Online Streaming platforms in areas exempt from any blanket MR deals ( and in the future market all of their Online Streaming separate from the primary MR contract).
Such renewed sales/marketing campaigns should be a holistic, coordinated, and recurring cycle for the university. This is an All Hands activity: from the Board of Trustees, to the Administration, Boosters & Donors, down to the Public Safety and Custodial Environmental Services levels. Big fish, mid-level sponsors, and packages for the minnows…in all adds up. Is it work? Heck yeah, but it’s a job that needs to be coordinated and executed well for maximum results.
Andrei Greska’s article from August 2022 – Marquette’s Paint Touches Blog
https://painttouches.com/2022/08/26/wha … hts-worth/
- This is the August 2022 original, complete article.
An in-depth breakdown of the projected value of Big East basketball.
Compares to similarly venued sports, - Compares similarly attended sports (soccer/F1)
Compares to P4, compares to AAC, etc. - New recent deals averaged 150% up to 177% increases in TV revenues.
- For the BEast such increases equal 150%=$100Mill/yr; 177%=$125M/yr
Bottom line his charts indicate the present value of Big East hoops is $100 Million/year.
He took the position that the conference will ‘settle‘ for $80 Million/year. Spot on.
Sooo…Yes! We got lowballed…again. Even with the ‘almost’ doubling the previous contract.
We settled for $480 Million over 6 years, ($80 mill/yr). $7.3($7.27) Mill/school/yr.
Using Greska’s figures the BE’s actual value is $600 Million over 6 years, ($100 Mill/yr). $9.1($9.09) Mill/school/yr
Greska’s 2year old work is spot on. Way to go Andrei.
https://www.bigeast.com/news/2024/6/27/general-big-east-announces-new-media-rights-agreement.aspx
As attested to by both Val Ackerman and CU Head Coach McDermott, in the HoopsHq article listed above. Big East schools will need to be creative, flexible, and opportunistic in taking advantage of gaps. loopholes, and new opportunities presented in this changing NIL/Profit Sharing environment.
Jim Harvey A.K.A. gtmoBlue
http://www.nationalchamps.net/2024/articles/0223_future_of_college_athletics.htm
Bluenotes 