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College Football Could Be Coming to Apple TV+ as Apple Courts Pac-12
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but not without a media contract...when colorado leaves, you know the conference is toast.
The ACC GoR is bound until 2036 from what I've seen but that won't stop Florida State or Clemson from doing everything in their power to weasel out before then. ESPN got the ACC locked into a very friendly deal from their end and they will fight tooth and nail to keep it that way while the Big 12, Big Ten and SEC all have deals that can be renegotiated well before 2036. This is why the ACC could be in trouble, as teams in that conference will making multiple millions less than they could be if they were in the other three. The Pac 12 on the other hand is pretty much already doomed because they lost the LA and Denver markets and could possibly soon lose Phoenix and Arizona and Utah as a whole. They can only bring in smaller schools like SDSU or Fresno St or SMU or Boise and that's just not going to get it done when you're competing on a national level. The West is very limited as the markets there care far more about professional sports than collegiate so when you lose the few big college programs you have you're left twisting in the wind.
American football is a blood sport, this is unpaid kids ruining their future and risking mental/brain health for nothing. Truly epitomizes the backwardness of American life.
I don’t disagree that Apple is the best offer right now. But from what I’m hearing and understand, some schools are very weary about it being on a streaming platform which is what’s holding this deal back.
Fair enough.
My point is there is often more to the changes than sports dollars. The B1G is an academic association as well as athletic conference. Members except Neb are AAU, and membership makes it easier to attend classes and get credit at member schools; as well as cooperate on research.
Based on these comments and some similar comments, sounds like lot of Macrumors readers don’t watch college football or sports. Just my two cents.
Yeah. Based on reaction and rumors, most of remaining Pac 12 schools are NOT amused or shown enthusiasm about the Apple TV deal, and more are ready to bolt.
Mountain West looks like better deal and exposure for some schools, considering they have deal with CBS Sports and FOX Sports, with better time slots. (And with CBS exiting SEC contract after this season, expect more Mountain West broadcast during afternoon and even prime time slot). It would be too risky to have some game being streaming only and tied to one service. (If Apple TV were to become exclusive home to Pac 12 sports)
(Rumor is Oregon State and WSU is looking at Mountain West in addition to Big 12, and they may look to bring in Utah as well. This would bring Mountain West to power conference)
I think it would have taken around $30 million for everyone except the Beavs and Cougs to not bolt. My Huskies and the Ducks would both jump at the chance to play in the B1G, even with less payout than other teams in that conference. The visibility and recruiting advantages make it worthwhile.
Maybe, but Oregon and Washington will take 90% of the conference's worth. You'll be begging New Mexico St to join.. lol.
Not to the NFL. Apple wanted more control of the content and distribution than the NFL wanted to cede. Now, if, in a few years, Apple’s foray into sports content distribution yields some degree of success such that the NFL wants to cede that control, THEN it comes down to a matter of dollars.
Until then, what Apple wants and the NFL is the main point that blocks any deal from occurring at any price.
Yeah, it's great, isn't it?
Kids get free $100,000 educations. "unpaid." lol.
Friday Night Baseball is not global, despite expanding from nine countries at launch, it is still only available in 60 markets out of the 108 where Apple tv+ is available.
I accept MLS Season Pass is available in 103 markets but, as stated, because of time zones it is of limited value outside of the Americas, east Asia, and Oceania. Something that takes place at 7pm in Milwaukee but at 2am in Milan is barely going to offer any value to Apple in Europe versus only having north American rights.
Cue literally said the rights need to be global because of Apple having customers in every country. That is demographics. And it is only meaningful to those customers if the content is meaningful to them. If it is only simply for Cue to be able to say to the rest of the world "but you can get it too [and it is not my fault if you are not interested in it]" then it dismissive of those customers.
Cue also said rights need to be global because he cannot justify the investment in coverage if something is a "small subset product".
MLS is a small subset product, in part because of the time zone issue. The investment cost would be the same with and without those markets in Europe, Africa, and western Asia where MLS matches take place in the middle of the night. If anything, Apple would probably make more money from sublicensing rights instead to the many broadcasters who used to use MLS as cheap scheduler filler.
And PAC-12 football would be an even smaller subset product to the extent that, from this thread, it seems a lot of the U.S. also no interest in that conference.
Incidentally China is one of the 68 markets where Apple tv+ is not available, and therefore it does not sell Friday Night Baseball or MLS.
I think this is more a sign of how far the PAC 12has fallen if Apple TV can compete for a media rights deal.
The PAC 12 is being picked apart right now. Big 12 goes from being a conference that looked like it was going to be picked apart to instead turning on one of the conferences that was going to do some picking.
The PAC 12 is being picked apart right now. Big 12 goes from being a conference that looked like it was going to be picked apart to instead turning on one of the conferences that was going to do some picking.
It'll be interesting to see the landscape once the dust settles. Two super-conferences fighting for a title every year seems inevitable, but hopefully all the smaller schools can find a way to carve out their own niche.
The big problem for West Coast college football is that their own residents do not "give a rusty you know what" about it.
Without looking to confirm, it would not surprise me if the top Big Ten or SEC game on a weekend occasionally - if not often - outperforms the best Pac-12 game in West Coast markets. One of the reasons the South and Midwest are so valuable as cfb markets is that it is not uncommon for Columbus, Ohio market or Birmingham, Alabama market to be one of the top 5 markets for an important Pac-12 game.
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The B1G scooped up USC and UCLA mostly for the TV revenue. Actual UCLA games at the Rose Bowl are sparsely attended. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rose Bowl sells out when Ohio State and Michigan play there, and maybe even the first time schools like Indiana (who never challenges for the B1G championship) play, but otherwise don’t think attendance will improve much.
Big Ten announces new media rights deals with Fox, CBS, NBC reportedly worth $7 billion
The Big Ten’s massive new media rights deals are official.