[ADPinWDC]

Pac-12 revenue drops, but school payouts rise
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story...youts-rise

Pac-12 revenue fell by $12 million in 2018 to $497 million because the conference could not make up for lost Rose Bowl revenue from when the game hosted a College Football Playoff semifinal after the 2017 season.  
[This is a mind-boggling number compared to when we were on the Farm.]  
Payouts to Pac-12 member schools rose 5 percent to $31.3 million each as conference distributions included money held back from Rose Bowl payments in the previous two years. The Pac-12's Rose Bowl revenue dropped from about $36 million in each of the seasons during which the conference's champion participated in the game to about $14 million when it hosted the CFP. The Rose Bowl hosts a national semifinal every third season.
The Southeastern Conference reported payouts of $43.7 million per school earlier this year and the Big Ten has reportedly distributed up to $54 million to its members.  The Pac-12 is seeking an investor to purchase equity in the conference's media rights, hoping to inject hundreds of millions in revenue.

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And Wilner nails LARRY SCOTT, and poor business decisions on Pac12N as a big problem.  
Lousy Football Bowl performances, and a horrendous recent record in NCAA Basketball Tourney are probably the chief culprits.  
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/13/t...imagined/?

[ADPinWDC]

Pac-12 revenue drops, but school payouts rise
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story...youts-rise

Pac-12 revenue fell by $12 million in 2018 to $497 million because the conference could not make up for lost Rose Bowl revenue from when the game hosted a College Football Playoff semifinal after the 2017 season.  
[This is a mind-boggling number compared to when we were on the Farm.]  
Payouts to Pac-12 member schools rose 5 percent to $31.3 million each as conference distributions included money held back from Rose Bowl payments in the previous two years. The Pac-12's Rose Bowl revenue dropped from about $36 million in each of the seasons during which the conference's champion participated in the game to about $14 million when it hosted the CFP. The Rose Bowl hosts a national semifinal every third season.
The Southeastern Conference reported payouts of $43.7 million per school earlier this year and the Big Ten has reportedly distributed up to $54 million to its members.  The Pac-12 is seeking an investor to purchase equity in the conference's media rights, hoping to inject hundreds of millions in revenue.

---

And Wilner nails LARRY SCOTT, and poor business decisions on Pac12N as a big problem.  
Lousy Football Bowl performances, and a horrendous recent record in NCAA Basketball Tourney are probably the chief culprits.  
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/13/t...imagined/?

[OutsiderFan]

Yesterday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA (like all sports) is a television league and needs to cater to TV audiences more than in-person ones. He also cited that 50% of the possible TV audience is in the Eastern time zone. He then said the evidence shows most people stop watching between 11 and 11:30 ET. As a result, Silver said the NBA needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games. 

Larry Scott should feel quite dumb today, following Silver’s comments. Scott has accepted late football start times and pissed off Pac-12 fans under the guise of “doing it for TV,” yet here comes Adam Silver effectively saying hardly anyone is watching Pac-12 games. Why alienate your own fans appealing to a minuscule audience? As much as Larry Scott thinks bowing to TV execs to have late start times is smart, the reality is it is dumb.

The PAC-12 reaches maybe 1/3 of the audience with late start times via Fox and ESPN. There is simply no way the conference can grow this way. If the NBA is saying it needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games, the PAC-12 certainly does as well. It would be advisable to take less money to get more viewers even if on other networks not ESPN and Fox.

My personal belief is the PAC-12 should target a deal with NBC that gets games at “reasonable” start times no later than 6pm PT on NBC and NBCSN, while getting it away from Fox and ESPN who are all up in the SEC, B1G, Big 12, and ACC. Use the Notre Dame gravitational pull to have college football double headers every Saturday. The fact ND plays Stanford and USC every year gives the Pac-12 some natural appeal to the ND/NBC audience.

[OutsiderFan]

Yesterday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA (like all sports) is a television league and needs to cater to TV audiences more than in-person ones. He also cited that 50% of the possible TV audience is in the Eastern time zone. He then said the evidence shows most people stop watching between 11 and 11:30 ET. As a result, Silver said the NBA needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games. 

Larry Scott should feel quite dumb today, following Silver’s comments. Scott has accepted late football start times and pissed off Pac-12 fans under the guise of “doing it for TV,” yet here comes Adam Silver effectively saying hardly anyone is watching Pac-12 games. Why alienate your own fans appealing to a minuscule audience? As much as Larry Scott thinks bowing to TV execs to have late start times is smart, the reality is it is dumb.

The PAC-12 reaches maybe 1/3 of the audience with late start times via Fox and ESPN. There is simply no way the conference can grow this way. If the NBA is saying it needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games, the PAC-12 certainly does as well. It would be advisable to take less money to get more viewers even if on other networks not ESPN and Fox.

My personal belief is the PAC-12 should target a deal with NBC that gets games at “reasonable” start times no later than 6pm PT on NBC and NBCSN, while getting it away from Fox and ESPN who are all up in the SEC, B1G, Big 12, and ACC. Use the Notre Dame gravitational pull to have college football double headers every Saturday. The fact ND plays Stanford and USC every year gives the Pac-12 some natural appeal to the ND/NBC audience.

[CTcard]

Yesterday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA (like all sports) is a television league and needs to cater to TV audiences more than in-person ones. He also cited that 50% of the possible TV audience is in the Eastern time zone. He then said the evidence shows most people stop watching between 11 and 11:30 ET. As a result, Silver said the NBA needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games. 

Larry Scott should feel quite dumb today, following Silver’s comments.

Well, Larry Scott has said and done essentially the same thing. He has decided that Pac 12 revenue depends upon being a TV League and must cater to TV audiences more than in person ones. He then proceeded to change the start time of Pac 12 games in order to cater to the TV audiences.

Differences arise because the audience and the competition landscape for Pac 12 football is drastically different than for the NBA.

Last I remember, the numbers showed that the late start time Pac 12 games had significantly larger audiences than the earlier start time games. 

My personal belief is the PAC-12 should target a deal with NBC that gets games at “reasonable” start times no later than 6pm PT on NBC and NBCSN, while getting it away from Fox and ESPN who are all up in the SEC, B1G, Big 12, and ACC. Use the Notre Dame gravitational pull to have college football double headers every Saturday. The fact ND plays Stanford and USC every year gives the Pac-12 some natural appeal to the ND/NBC audience.

IF they could get NBC to do so, I would like this, and actual fans who show up would as well.
However, even if NBC could be persuaded, it almost certainly means that Pac 12 teams would be taking in less TV money in the interests of the experience for the die hards and hopefully building something for the future.

[CTcard]

Yesterday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA (like all sports) is a television league and needs to cater to TV audiences more than in-person ones. He also cited that 50% of the possible TV audience is in the Eastern time zone. He then said the evidence shows most people stop watching between 11 and 11:30 ET. As a result, Silver said the NBA needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games. 

Larry Scott should feel quite dumb today, following Silver’s comments.

Well, Larry Scott has said and done essentially the same thing. He has decided that Pac 12 revenue depends upon being a TV League and must cater to TV audiences more than in person ones. He then proceeded to change the start time of Pac 12 games in order to cater to the TV audiences.

Differences arise because the audience and the competition landscape for Pac 12 football is drastically different than for the NBA.

Last I remember, the numbers showed that the late start time Pac 12 games had significantly larger audiences than the earlier start time games. 

My personal belief is the PAC-12 should target a deal with NBC that gets games at “reasonable” start times no later than 6pm PT on NBC and NBCSN, while getting it away from Fox and ESPN who are all up in the SEC, B1G, Big 12, and ACC. Use the Notre Dame gravitational pull to have college football double headers every Saturday. The fact ND plays Stanford and USC every year gives the Pac-12 some natural appeal to the ND/NBC audience.

IF they could get NBC to do so, I would like this, and actual fans who show up would as well.
However, even if NBC could be persuaded, it almost certainly means that Pac 12 teams would be taking in less TV money in the interests of the experience for the die hards and hopefully building something for the future.

[OutsiderFan]

IF they could NBC to do so, I would like this, and actual fans who show up would as well. 
However, even if NBC could be persuaded, it almost certainly means that Pac 12 teams would be taking in less TV money in the interests of the experience for the die hards and hopefully building something for the future.

To me, this is it.

We don't know what growth potential there is for the Pac-12 when it can compete toe-to-toe and in the same TV slots as other conferences.  We don't know how much promotional heft NBC could put behind the Pac-12 to grow it. It seems smart to roll the dice on seeing if taking less money from an NBC would allow the conference to grow its TV audience, and when certain numbers are hit, both parties participate in the upside.

[OutsiderFan]

IF they could NBC to do so, I would like this, and actual fans who show up would as well. 
However, even if NBC could be persuaded, it almost certainly means that Pac 12 teams would be taking in less TV money in the interests of the experience for the die hards and hopefully building something for the future.

To me, this is it.

We don't know what growth potential there is for the Pac-12 when it can compete toe-to-toe and in the same TV slots as other conferences.  We don't know how much promotional heft NBC could put behind the Pac-12 to grow it. It seems smart to roll the dice on seeing if taking less money from an NBC would allow the conference to grow its TV audience, and when certain numbers are hit, both parties participate in the upside.

[BostonCard]

There are *brobdingnagian* difference between the NBA and Pac-12 that your analysis neglects.  The NBA is only competing with itself when it comes time of its games.  It has full control over the entire schedule, so it can, for example, shift East Coast games to start earlier to accommodate West coast games starting earlier, and maximize exposure by not, for example, scheduling two compelling games at the same time.  Moreover, there are 30 teams, playing 82 games a season (1230 games total, spread out over 176 days, so an average of 7 games/day).  NBA games last 2 hrs and 15 minutes on average, so you can basically run 8 hours of broadcasts with at most two games at any one time.

In college football, there are 65 power five teams, and they generally play only on Saturdays.  During the conference season, that means that there are 25 - 30 games featuring two power-5 teams per Saturday.  The Pac-12 doesn't have full scheduling control, so it can't ask for a compelling SEC match-up to be shifted to the afternoon so that a compelling Pac-12 match-up can run unopposed at primetime.  If an average college football broadcast is a bit over three hours, a 12 hour broadcast schedule means that at any given time there are seven or so intra-conference games.  And during the East Coast's waking hours, the TV schedule is going to be saturated with SEC/ACC/BigTen coverage.

But of course, CTCard's point summarizes it best.  Pac-12 games broadcast "after dark" get more eyeballs than games broadcast during the East Coast primetime.

BC

[BostonCard]

There are *brobdingnagian* difference between the NBA and Pac-12 that your analysis neglects.  The NBA is only competing with itself when it comes time of its games.  It has full control over the entire schedule, so it can, for example, shift East Coast games to start earlier to accommodate West coast games starting earlier, and maximize exposure by not, for example, scheduling two compelling games at the same time.  Moreover, there are 30 teams, playing 82 games a season (1230 games total, spread out over 176 days, so an average of 7 games/day).  NBA games last 2 hrs and 15 minutes on average, so you can basically run 8 hours of broadcasts with at most two games at any one time.

In college football, there are 65 power five teams, and they generally play only on Saturdays.  During the conference season, that means that there are 25 - 30 games featuring two power-5 teams per Saturday.  The Pac-12 doesn't have full scheduling control, so it can't ask for a compelling SEC match-up to be shifted to the afternoon so that a compelling Pac-12 match-up can run unopposed at primetime.  If an average college football broadcast is a bit over three hours, a 12 hour broadcast schedule means that at any given time there are seven or so intra-conference games.  And during the East Coast's waking hours, the TV schedule is going to be saturated with SEC/ACC/BigTen coverage.

But of course, CTCard's point summarizes it best.  Pac-12 games broadcast "after dark" get more eyeballs than games broadcast during the East Coast primetime.

BC

[BobK]

The warriors Lakers clippers Timberwolf's will not be starting at 5-6 for weekday home games period. That’s telling fans stay away.

Crazy thought

[BobK]

The warriors Lakers clippers Timberwolf's will not be starting at 5-6 for weekday home games period. That’s telling fans stay away.

Crazy thought

[M T]

The warriors Lakers clippers Timberwolf's will not be starting at 5-6 for weekday home games period.  That’s telling fans stay away.  

Crazy thought

Considering traffic in the Bay Area, maybe a 5PM start for pro sports isn't so bad.  A fan is already spending $$$$ for tickets, what's the lost wages of another 2 hours away from work for each game.  Better to fight 3PM traffic to get there by 5PM, than to fight (& add to) 5PM traffic to get there by 8PM.  Hey, if the start time drives away fans, maybe the ticket prices will come down.

As a south bay commuter, I am daily thankful the Giants didn't move to the south bay.

[M T]

The warriors Lakers clippers Timberwolf's will not be starting at 5-6 for weekday home games period.  That’s telling fans stay away.  

Crazy thought

Considering traffic in the Bay Area, maybe a 5PM start for pro sports isn't so bad.  A fan is already spending $$$$ for tickets, what's the lost wages of another 2 hours away from work for each game.  Better to fight 3PM traffic to get there by 5PM, than to fight (& add to) 5PM traffic to get there by 8PM.  Hey, if the start time drives away fans, maybe the ticket prices will come down.

As a south bay commuter, I am daily thankful the Giants didn't move to the south bay.