New MWC TV Deal w/ Fox Sports

[303cowboy]

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/SB- ... 12/16.aspx

Fox Sports has reached an agreement with the Mountain West to carry a package of the conference’s football and basketball games that formerly was held by ESPN. Separately, CBS Sports Network renewed its package of MWC games. My colleague Michael Smith and I are told that the Fox and CBS deals combined will be worth about $35 million annually -- around $20 million from CBS and $15 million from Fox. The length of the deals is not clear yet, but MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson has said that he wanted shorter terms than the 10-year deals the MWC had previously. The games in the Fox package are expected to run primarily on FS1.

The new Fox and CBS contracts, which will go into effect July 1, provide the conference’s 10 schools -- not including Hawaii and Boise State, which have separate arrangements -- with a significant revenue lift. Under the old contracts, those 10 schools made $1.1 million per year, per school. That per-school figure should jump to about $3 million or more. The league’s media deals are complicated because Boise State’s home games are negotiated separately from the rest of the conference. In the previous arrangement, Boise was paid a $1.8 million annual bonus, a deal negotiated in 2012 when the school jumped to the Big East and then quickly returned. Thompson has said that Boise will continue to receive a bonus above what other MWC schools get as an incentive to keep the Broncos in the league. Hawaii also has a separate deal, as it is a football-only member of the MWC.

[WYO1016]

I like it. Sizeable upgrade in money, and the fact that it's Fox Sports means that a marquee matchup could feasibly be put on Fox's broadcast networks.

[OrediggerPoke]

Well I will be getting rid of Hulu Live and going with Sling Blue. Bye bye ESPN and Hulu.

[LanderPoke]

This is better than I expected... by far. I was hoping we'd ditch CBS, but whatever.

[Adv8RU12]

Does that mean we won't have 9:30 Thursday night games in November on cold days?

[LanderPoke]

Does that mean we won't have 9:30 Thursday night games in November on cold days?

I doubt it. FS1 still needs programming for night time

[calpoke25]

Basketball coach money

[MrTitleist]

[LanderPoke]

I knew this sounded too good to be true

[OrediggerPoke]

This almost seems like it could be a ploy by the MWC to have information inaccurately leaked to try and bring back other negotiating parties back to the table (such as ESPN). If the MWC has to resort to these tactics to drum up interest and improve bargaining position, we are all in a lot of trouble.

[ragtimejoe1]

This almost seems like it could be a ploy by the MWC to have information inaccurately leaked to try and bring back other negotiating parties back to the table (such as ESPN). If the MWC has to resort to these tactics to drum up interest and improve bargaining position, we are all in a lot of trouble.

I'll be shocked if the TV deal gets better. Honestly, we should probably just let each team do what it wants if the money doesn't improve (I don't think it will). The MWC has fallen off so much that national interest is almost 0. There are a bunch of small market teams and teams that are irrelevant in larger markets. Just not much to drive the price up.

I wonder if WYO wouldn't do better controlling our own rights. Money wouldn't be better but it isn't a lot of money anyway. Controlling game dates and times might be more valuable? Sell the few individual games that matter and stream the rest on a subscription?

[stymeman]

Oh great a deal that puts it on a back burner channel that's even harder for sports fans to find om cable and streaming as well, guess ESPN was tired of carrying the MWC as well, Where's The Mtn Network when we need it again.....smh not a fan of FS networks neither

[castlerocker]

Street and Smith must have rushed into this without actual knowledge of
what was really happening. Not a good thing for a news company that wants
to have any credibility.

[Asmodeanreborn]

I thought it sounded too good to be true too, considering the dispute still going on between Dish, Comcast, and Altitude Networks (their offers were smaller than the last contracts due to losing viewers from cable cutting).

[BJC]

having games on fs1 wouldn't be bad...they are rapidly growing while espn seems to be losing ground.

[stymeman]

Hope Gus Johnson doesn't come to Laramie