Art - are there any hard numbers that indicate if adding Rutgers and Maryland actually brought more money to the big ten via cable and increased revenue for each individual big 10 team?
What are your thoughts at this point on whether adding Rutgers and Maryland was good move?
Adding Rutgers and Maryland was an absolutely outstanding move. The Big Ten now owns the dominant P-5 University in every DMA (Designated Market Area) on the I-95 corridor between New York City and Washington DC. That's roughly the same number of television households as the States of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi combined.
With our new Tier One negotiations for 2017/2018 now ongoing, The Big Ten is primed to be the financially dominant Conference in the NCAA. Both FOX and ESPN want us BAD. We are the last major sports entity (or prize as some would say) to be won this decade.
What the addition of Rutgers and Maryland has done is allow us to go into those negotiations and now present ESPN, FOX, Disney, or whomever DVR and VCR proof advertising exposure in the Number 1, Number 8, and Number 26 DMA's in the United States of America. It also vastly increases the advertising revenue potential in the Number 4 DMA in the Country (Philadelphia) that encompasses all of South Jersey and Northern Delaware.
Right now, it's looking like a battle between FOX and ESPN for our services. Both have their advantages and disadvantages if we go all in with one or the other. We may possibly split the contract between both as the combined Rights fees they would be able to pay may outdistance the ability of going with just one.
FOX offers us:
1.) We would be FOX's big fish in its College pond. No SEC or ACC to contend with.
2.) All of our Games on FOX's main Network would be National. No Regional Games.
3.) We would be the Number One sports entity on FOX Sports 1 throughout the year (our basketball rights renew in 2017/2018 also).
4.) Unlimited promotion on FOX's Sunday NFL Coverage.
5.) FOX is more desperate to have us and will be more than happy to sustain a bidding war with Disney.
6.) There will be easy cross pollination between FOX and BTN since they own 51%.
ESPN/Disney offers us:
1.) Continued exposure on the most recognized network in sports television.
2.) Continued exposure on ABC (though most games would continue to be regional).
3.) ESPN may not need us as bad as FOX, but there is absolutely no question that they do want us. They don't want to lose the rights to the dominant P-5 programs in the Numbers 1,3,4,8,12, 15, 19, 22, 26, 27, and 32 DMAs in the Country (there are 210 DMAs).
Ohio State's National Championship win, along with Big Ten wins against three of the other four P-5 Champions was HUGE. Add that to the way the Big Ten dominated the other P-5 Conference in our region, the ACC, and our stock couldn't be higher.
The better Rutgers and Maryland do in their Non-Conference schedules, the more money we will make. Everyone loves to watch a winner, and there are a LOT of potential "watchers" in that I-95 corridor.
I didn't even get into the added benefits Rutgers and Maryland offer to areas such as Big Ten Network revenue, recruiting (we are already reaping the benefits of that in Basketball), exposure, etc. But make no mistake, our marketability to potential suitors is right now astronomical.