It’s a discussion of whether the G5 should eschew ESPN and traditional contracts for other streaming options, and it’s loaded interesting data about viewership on Stadium /Facebook and the like.
However, this little nugget raised my eyebrow:
These new media streaming companies have vaults of cash to give away. I’m beginning to think the best foot forward would to negotiate a complete G5 rights deal for football at least, for all the leagues, and then host a weekly highlights show and a weekly GameDay type show for all the leagues, under one roof. AAC & MWC would only budge if the money is sweet, and there’s some suggestion it possibly could be. There are about 68 G5 schools IIRC. $125-150 million for the entire football inventory, or $200 - $250 million for hoops too, would give everyone involved a big raise, and I don’t think it’s that far fetched… Just remember that live content is King, when comparing it to other offerings…
Also remember that the original Big East was an “overly amibitious” pipe dream to create a college league made for TV when it started.
In fact, if this were a reality, I’d go all in with the brand. I’d pick a feature game night (Thursday or Friday) and pick out the best or one of the best games of the weekly slate and feature it and use it as a sales vehicle for the Saturday games, instead of letting ESPN use it to sell P5 inventory. The halftime show would be at least half previews of big Saturday storylines/matchups. If you picked Thursday night and went up against a single low end P5 game that ESPN scheduled and put a really fun game like some of the WKU–La Tech shootouts from the last few seasons (56-52 or whatever), or even better, some interG5 matchups, and sold the bragging rights with some kind of H2H or power ranking between the leagues, it could be fun. Just don’t stretch it too thin - if you can cover that in 10 minutes, that’s all it needs.
And for branding, “G5” isn’t pejorative, and I’d probably try to own it with a slogan / tagline like “real college sports”, because, its the truth. P5 is a pro league.
I think we are at a pivotal moment in sports “broadcasting”, and getting ahead of the curve may allow the G5 to close the gap a little bit with the P5 oppressors.
Streaming is an equalizer. Need UCF type mindset at CUSA and like conference headquarters and not surethatexists. They all are hoping for a promotion to the SEC so they play nice and stay in their respective lanes
The other thing this alliance needs to have besides a marketing brand, is a hook. Something bold that will differentiate it from the P5, and 2k nailed what it needs to be: being the first college football streaming in 4k UHD - and that needs to be a tagline on all broadcasts.
To accomplish this will require a partnership with a deep pockets streamer like the ones mentioned in the article. They will either have to provide the production trucks or better yet, make the first years of the agreement include 4k production equipment upgrades as part of the payout to the schools (we defer the bigger payouts in favor of these costs initially).
It has to be a partnership though. The streaming company has to be an all in partner, and willing to take the time it will take to build the brand and fanbase. However, those initial #s are promising.
It’s a stretch, a reach, but I don’t think the G5 leagues can afford to be reactionary.
With ESPN locking down the AAC would Fox, NBC, Amazon, or another streaming platform be open to striking a deal with CUSA? The current $400k a year sucks.