All things FSU: June 2017

Thursday, June 29, 2017

FSU reconsidering asian massage parlor ads....

https://floridastate.rivals.com/news/fsu-considering-modifications-to-controversial-doak-campbell-billboards

Through a university spokesman, FSU Athletics Director Stan Wilcox confirmed to Warchant on Thursday that the Seminoles are reconsidering the look of advertisements on the back of the stadium's new south end zone scoreboard.
"We are in the process of evaluating modifications that might be made to the recent graphics," Wilcox said.

https://floridastate.rivals.com/news/has-fsu-gone-too-far-commercializing-doak-campbell-stadium-

. The recent gaudy ads unveiled on the back of south end zone scoreboard, which are clearly visible behind the Unconquered Statue, have altered this feeling. There’s little doubt now that FSU has stepped over the precipice and is quickly falling down a slippery slope. Unlike the north end zone scoreboard, or the various ads around Doak Campbell or the Tucker Center, this is the first time that an advertisement is clearly more prominent compared to accompanying Florida State logos or photos.

Florida State’s administration has a responsibility to keep IMG in check and balance the need for advertising against college tradition and pageantry. That clearly wasn’t done with the most recent additions to the south end zone scoreboard. But as Ira Schoffel first reported in Thursday’s story, FSU is reevaluating these ads and will hopefully come up with a less obtrusive alternative such as the one suggested by a poster on the Tribal Council.

Hopefully, FSU will take a step back from this advertising tipping point and will leave it to somebody else to become the leader in the commercialization of college sports.

FSU finishes 13 in Directors Cup

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/D1final2017.pdf

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/florida-state-seminoles/chopping-block/

http://floridastate.247sports.com/Bolt/FSU-finishes-in-top-15-of-Directors-Cup-53377367

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/fsu/2017/06/29/florida-state-finishes-13-th-directors-cup/439346001/

They charged to the front after an excellent spring where eight of the nine teams competing finished in the Top-20 including three Top-10 finishes by beach volleyball (4), baseball (5), and softball (9).

The Seminoles were the second highest rated team in the ACC behind No. 5 North Carolina. Notre Dame, which is in the ACC for every sport besides football, was the only other ACC team in the Top-25 at No. 23.
FSU finished second in the state of Florida as well. UF led the state at No. 3. Miami (56), South Florida (90), Central Florida (97), and Florida Gulf Coast (100) were the other programs from the state to finish in the Top-100.

Revenue Gap article

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/florida-gators/

Another day, another national championship for the Florida Gators.
Yawn.

This time, it was the baseball team. A couple of weeks ago, it was the dynastic track-and-field team. A couple of weeks before that, it was the women’s tennis team. Since 2010, the Gators have won 17 national championships in a multitude of sports.
Beware, Florida State. It’s only a matter of time before UF’s football team is paying, er, playing for national championships, too. Ditto, the basketball team.
You see, nobody in this part of the country buys, er, wins national championships like UF does.
This column is not meant so much to prop up the Gators for being an all-sports giant, although they certainly are. After coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s baseball team beat LSU 6-1 to win UF’s first College World Series championship Tuesday night, UF became the only program since integration that has baseball, football and basketball national championships in its trophy case.
This column is meant more as a warning for Florida State and its fellow ACC members. Beware of the Gators and their filthy rich Southeastern Conference brethren, who — with all of their SEC Network money — could be on the verge of spending you into irrelevance.
Granted, at this point in time, the ACC has never looked better with national championships in both football (Clemson beat SEC goliath Alabama) and basketball (North Carolina beat Gonzaga), but don’t kid yourself: The SEC is earning money and spending it at an alarming rate.

All you have to do is look at UF as an example. The Gators likely will announce soon they are getting ready to build a new baseball stadium and a new softball complex. This comes on the heels of totally refurbishing their basketball arena to the tune of $64.5 million and building a new football indoor-practice facility for close to $20 million.
And coming soon: Another $60 million for a stand-alone football Taj Mahal that surely will be filled with smoothie bars, waterfalls, laser-tag studios and all sorts of amenities to entice the recruits who don’t go to Alabama.
“I think the SEC Network and the money and exposure it has provided has been a huge factor,” says UF basketball coach Mike White, who took his team to within one victory of the Final Four in his second season. “The network is providing an incredible amount of money for our institutions to spend on facilities. When you look around the league, there are renovations everywhere.”
According to the most recent numbers, ACC revenues dropped during the 2015-16 fiscal year and the conference offered the lowest annual payout per school ($23.8 million) of any of the Power 5 conferences. Compare that to the SEC’s bowl and TV payout of $40.42 million and then do the math. If this massive discrepancy were to continue over a 10-year period, the Gators would make $160 million more than the Seminoles. That’s a lot of plush facilities to entice wide-eyed recruits.
And we’re just talking about bowl and TV revenue. In total earnings, the SEC averages $30 million per school more than the ACC. You simply cannot continue operating at such a financial deficit and expect to consistently compete.
If you really want to put it in perspective, think about it this way: The discrepancy between the SEC and ACC payouts is almost as large as the discrepancy between the ACC and the American Athletic Conference payouts. In other words, when it comes to financial comparisons, the Gators are to FSU what FSU is to UCF.
The hope, of course, is that when ESPN launches the ACC Network in 2019 that FSU and its league partners can begin to close the gap. But in this era of cord-cutting among viewers and budget-cutting at ESPN, the question is: How profitable will the ACC Network be?
Obviously, it’s not going to be as successful as the SEC Network, which, according to AL.com, has been valued at nearly $5 billion — four times more than even the highly successful Big Ten Network.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the ACC is hurting for cash; it’s just that the SEC has it to burn.
The bottom line is the bottom line.
In sports as in politics, those contestants and candidates with the most money usually win.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

ACC Football RX: ESPN Distribution Contracts, Update 2017-06-29

Great breakdown by ACC Football RX

https://accfootballrx.blogspot.com/2017/06/espn-distribution-contracts-update-2017.html?showComment=1498678629808#!/2017/06/espn-distribution-contracts-update-2017.html

According to Sports Business Daily...

Between now and the ACC Network’s planned launch in 2019, ESPN also has affiliate deals coming up with Verizon Fios (at the end of 2018), Charter (mid-2019) and AT&T (late 2019)

Add to that some information I was able to Google about current subscribers for Sling, DirectTV Now and Playstation Vue, along with information in my previous post on ACC Network distribution, and we come up with an updated table of ESPN distributors:

ESPN Contract Renewals with TV Distributors

Distributor	Renewal	subscribers*
Comcast	2021	22.4
DirectTV		20.8
Charter	2019	17.3
DISH	2022	13.6
Verizon/FiOS	2019	4.7
ATT Uverse	2019	4.5
Cox	?	4.5
Altice	2017	3.6
Frontier	?	1.3
Sling TV	?	1
Mediacom	?	0.8
DirectTV Now	?	0.4
PS Vue	?	0.4
Windstream	?	0.36
RCN	?	0.33
Cable ONE	?	0.3
Hulu	?	?
YouTube TV	?	?

* in millions

see also: http://accfootballrx.blogspot.com/2016/07/acc-network-distribution-hurdle.html

BOTTOM LINE: According to the best information I can find, ESPN will be a chance to negotiate carriage of the ACC Network for at least 30.1 million subscribers by 2019, and up to 66.1 million by 2022 at the latest. Keep in mind that there are another 30.2 million subscribers out there with unknown renewal dates for their carriers - some or all of those could be on board by 2019. So to keep it simple, let's say the ACC Network will launch with somewhere between 30 and 96 million subscribers.

Let's further assume an average of around $0.70 each (a little less than the SEC Network). That translates into

Est. 30M to 96M X $0.70/month = $21.0M to $67.2M per month
$21M to $67M per month X 12 months = $252.0M to $806.4M per year
Assume half of that goes to ESPN, leaving $126M to $403.2M
divided 15 ways* comes to $8.4M to $26.9M per team

* if you prefer assigning a share to the conference, divide 16 ways: $7.9M to $25.2M each

Of course, I'm not accounting for the costs of production because I have no idea what those are.

If you think the ACC Network only gets an average of $0.35 per month, just divide those numbers in half -- it's still a lot of money!

NCAA National Championships

‏ @RedditCFB

2016-17 D1 NCAA (+ Football) National Championships earned by each school.

FSU the key to Danfoss expansion

Tally Democrat summarized the pull as " local universities " instead of FSU which was referred to specifically.

http://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Danfoss-opens-state-of-the-art-facility-in-Tallahassee-431181113.html

The staff said it was a no brainer to expand in the Capital city.
,"Why are we in Tallahassee? Because also the collaboration we have been developing with Florida State University, with the Mag Lab. And it's creating a lot of innovation streamline for new products,” Ricardo Chneider, with Danfoss.

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/money/2017/06/28/danfoss-opens-application-development-center/429650001/

Danfoss — the world leader in air conditioning compressors — opened its new Application Development Center within Innovation Park, making Tallahassee its latest location with a specialized facility.
The $6-billion company showcased the 22,000-square-foot space splashed with red walls that read "Engineering Tomorrow. Together. Today." The lab was created so the company can meet compliance regulations associated with increasing energy consumption on a national to global scale.
The Application Development Center includes a controlled chamber that creates weather extremes like frigid cold in Minnesota to sweltering heat in Florida. The company is developing green refrigerants that are more environment-friendly, which could cut down on energy consumption by 30 to 40 percent.
“This is a very important milestone for us as a company and as a community,” said Ricardo Schneider, CEO of Danfoss Turbocor, a subsidiary of Danfoss. “We have been here for 10 years and our business has been growing. We have been able to develop technologies here and develop technologies to save energy.”

Product development will be a major component of the center’s function and focus. Instead of lengthy field tests, the lab can help accelerate testing by cutting the process time in half.
The ceremonial ribbon-cutting and tour included remarks from the international company’s executives. They offered remarks about the international company’s pursuit of clean air compression filtration for a crowd of local business leaders and major clients, including Daikin, the world’s largest air conditioning company based in Japan.
Mayor Andrew Gillum said he vividly recalls the hesitation some felt regarding the city’s role in putting forward more than a $1 million to build the facility that now houses the company.

He said Danfoss started with 20 jobs. That number has swelled to more than 200 high-wage jobs today. Another plus is the relationship Danfoss maintains with the local universities and building a pipeline of talent.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Conference revenue gap and coming realignment?

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/19743196/why-2023-next-big-date-conference-shuffling

Expansion carries risk, but so does falling behind in revenue. No league will catch the SEC and the Big Ten, so schools not in those conferences must assess whether they can live with the gaps. A recent Detroit News report, which showed that Michigan expects to receive $51.1 million from the Big Ten in 2018, made waves around the industry.
"I got my glasses to make sure I read it right," said an athletic director in another Power 5 conference. "That's a big number. [The Big Ten has] been out ahead of the network curve for quite some time. They were the first to the market and created the market, so we're all trailing."
The SEC is the current revenue leader, distributing more than $40 million per member in the last fiscal year. The length of the ACC's rights agreement -- and the launch of its own network in 2019 -- suggests it could be quiet come 2023.
So it might come down to the Big 12 and Pac-12.
The Big 12 is still perceived as the most vulnerable, as Texas or Oklahoma could cripple the league by leaving. But revenue totals are encouraging -- its 10 members will split $348 million from the 2016-17 academic year -- and the internal squabbling that has plagued the conference seems to have disappeared.
"We've never been more resolute and more united as a group," TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte said. "When we signed that grant of rights and we committed to a 10-team league, every decision we made is phenomenal for us in all of our sports."
The Pac-12's forecast, meanwhile, is less encouraging, and its revenue gap with other Power 5 leagues will widen before the next rights negotiation. Cal's athletic department lost $21.7 million in the 2016 fiscal year. Although the Pac-12's geography and tradition suggests members won't be looking to leave, something needs to shift before 2023.
As an industry insider said, "The Big 12's making strides, while the Pac-12 is falling behind." Another asked, "Can other conferences take advantage of the Pac-12?"
Although leagues say things are quiet now, there's plenty of behind-the-scenes strategizing. Weiberg, who worked for various conferences from 1989 to 2014, said the biggest change he saw was how individual schools focused more on television revenue distributions.

"Everybody watches it -- it's reported prominently," he said. "Athletic directors get concerned about gaps. If you were to have a situation where the rights would be flat or, in worst-case scenario, in some decline, these institutions have lot of expenditures that are sort of locked into the future: facility debt, the cost of operating the program, coaching salaries. One constant theme in college sports in the last 30 years has been the need to have some significant growth.

Monday, June 26, 2017

ACC Network is off and running with its first distribution deals

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2017/06/26/Media/ESPN-ACC-Network.aspx

The ACC Network is off and running with its first distribution deals.

The ESPN-owned conference channel recently secured its first carriage agreements with digital video providers, guaranteeing that the channel will be available to consumers when it launches in August 2019. The deals mark an important first step that comes as critics question the network’s viability in such a volatile media marketplace. ESPN would not identify the providers who agreed to a deal, saying it is with providers whose carriage deals run beyond 2019.

So far, PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now, Sling TV, YouTube TV and Hulu have deals to carry ESPN programming. It’s not known which ones also will take the ACC Network, though it should be noted that ESPN’s parent, Disney, owns 30 percent of Hulu.

The ACC Network was part of a larger package of Disney-owned channels sold to some of these digital video providers. It’s not known how much ESPN is charging for the ACC Network, but it’s expected to be lower than the rates for the SEC Network (72 cents per subscriber per month, according to Kagan) or BTN (43 cents, according to Kagan). These early distribution deals are important for ESPN because they will exert pressure on larger distributors to cut similar deals or risk losing subscribers who want to watch ACC sports.

Whether bigger distributors push back on the ACC Network in an environment where pay-TV channels have been losing subscribers remains to be seen, but one of the first tests will come this fall when ESPN renegotiates its affiliate deal with cable operator Altice USA, formerly Cablevision. Altice USA primarily serves areas around New York City, and it is the one major distributor that doesn’t carry the SEC Network, another ESPN-owned conference channel that launched in 2014.

Between now and the ACC Network’s planned launch in 2019, ESPN also has affiliate deals coming up with Verizon Fios (at the end of 2018), Charter (mid-2019) and AT&T (late 2019), sources said.

“We’ve yet to really get into the meat of distribution conversations because it is a couple years away,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive vice president of programming and scheduling. “We feel every bit as optimistic as we did when we announced it.”

Magnus said negotiations have been helped by the ACC’s on-field successes, which include the two most recent national championships in football (Clemson) and college basketball (North Carolina).

The ACC also touts its massive footprint, which ranges along the Eastern Seaboard from Miami to Boston, accounting for more than 40 percent of the nation’s households.

Still, the ACC has prepared its stakeholders for tough distribution battles, especially in this climate.

The ACC’s presidents were joyous at the news last summer that ESPN was fully committed to an ACC Network, but at the same meeting they were dealt a word of caution. There will be skeptics about the launch of a linear channel, said Commissioner John Swofford and the league’s media consultant, Wasserman’s Dean Jordan.

As recently as last month, veteran media analysts like Neal Pilson and James Andrew Miller said ESPN’s round of about 100 layoffs should be reason for the network to re-evaluate an ACC Network. In fact, the layoffs prompted a May 3 conversation between Swofford and ESPN President John Skipper.

Later that day, Swofford wrote to his presidents and athletic directors with this message: Tune out the critics, the layoffs don’t affect us, our plans for a network are “full-steam ahead.”

That emboldened ACC athletic directors to believe that the network could be successful enough to close the financial gap between their conference and the power five’s richest leagues, the SEC and Big Ten.

At a meeting with his board of directors last February, Florida State AD Stan Wilcox said a new network could deliver as much new revenue as the SEC Network did in 2014 — about $7.5 million per school. The SEC Network staged the most successful launch in cable TV history with more than 60 million homes and delivered a profit of about $210 million in its first year. The SEC, like the ACC, shares all network profits 50-50 with ESPN. While such lofty expectations might seem a little over the top, other ACC ADs said they were going on the guidance they received from ESPN. “We’re not pulling these numbers out of thin air,” one ACC AD said. “This is what we’re being told.”

With ESPN’s ability to grow revenue deeply mitigated against the tide of declining subscribers, a new product like the ACC Network represents one of the ways ESPN can develop new profits.

If the ACC Network launches like the SEC, that could result in a $100 million profit for ESPN, which explains why the media giant is throwing its weight behind an ACC linear channel at a time when it might seem counterintuitive. The ACC also represents the only conference where ESPN owns all the rights, from TV to digital to marketing, another reason why the effort has ESPN’s full backing. ESPN owns most of those same rights with the SEC, but CBS also owns a selection of games.

Whether the ACC Network can replicate that kind of record launch like the SEC remains to be seen, but ACC officials are repeating the same mantra: “We’re very optimistic.”

“The advantage the ACC has over most, if not all, conferences is they couple high-quality football with the highest quality men’s and women’s basketball,” Magnus said. “It’s pretty formidable.”

Next stop for FSU, asian massage parlor ads?

FSU has a long history of leadership screw ups, this is FSU's 2nd most photographed area on campus (behind Westcott) and here it is now......

https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/new-scoreboard-updated-w-advertisement-photos.180497/page-4

I'd imagine this is all driven by IMG more so than FSU. IMG paid for the scoreboards and sound system (I think that's the case) so they essentially have free rein to do as they please. Just my uneducated guess.

DotCom

Bingo. Has nothing to do with the Boosters. They can't speak publicly about it because of they are tied into IMG, but my guess is they are as upset at the latest advertising blast as the fans are

What's interesting and it's difficult to get a straight answer from anyone at FSU on this, is what checks and balances are in place to limit IMG from overstepping when it comes to plastering athletic facilities with ads? Most major college programs have a similar marketing deal with IMG or similar companies but none seem to have the same level ads all over their sports arenas. Clemson and Ohio State are in bed with IMG but I don't see the same level of ad blasting at those schools. Why is that? Does the AD have to step in and limit this stuff? Surely, IMG can't just run roughshod over athletics and do whatever it wants to improve its bottom line?

Here's what was pulled during basketball season this year. Replacing an FSU logo with an ad.

OTHER SCHOOLS

[IMG]

JOKES

ALTERNATIVES

More FSU Golf news

Asher Wildman‏ @AsherWildMan6

Unbelievable

shot by Jordan Spieth. Daniel Berger will have to "settle" for a runner-up finish and "only" $734,400 for a week of work!

FSU Golf‏ @FSUGolf

David Visser‏ @DavidBVisser

FSU Seminoles‏Verified account @Seminoles

Friday, June 23, 2017

ACC sets NBA draft record

David Teel‏Verified account @DavidTeelatDP

http://floridastate.247sports.com/Bolt/Release-ACC-sets-NBA-Draft-record-with-10-first-round-picks--53296840

RedditCFB‏ @RedditCFB

FSU moves up performance rankings

4th currently.

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/06/22/florida-state-moves-up-performance-rankings-famu-slips/418980001/

Florida State University moved up two spots to place fourth among the state’s 11 public institutions in performance-based funding, according to a report Thursday from the Board of Governors.
Last year, FSU ranked sixth on the chart.

The University of Florida was No. 1 in the SUS rankings.
This means that FSU could receive an additional $38.5 million of the state’s allocation, along with the $43.2 million it contributed to the state’s total pot of $520 million.

FAMU will not receive any new money from the pot allocated to universities since it placed in the bottom three rankings, along with Florida Gulf Coast University and the University of North Florida.

The board said all universities netted year-over-year gains on six of the eight performance metrics that are common to all universities, including the number of students earning degrees in areas of strategic emphasis (such as STEM). The System’s graduation and retention rates have increased by roughly five points each during the same period.
“In the past four years, we’ve seen steady improvements at the System level and for individual universities,” BOG chairman Tom Kuntz said.
FSU President John Thrasher said he was pleased with the university’s ranking.
“Florida State University has always been focused on student success, and we’re pleased to see that improvements in several key areas, including our already excellent graduation rate, median wages of graduates and STEM degrees awarded, are reflected in the Board of Governors’ performance metrics,” Thrasher said. “FSU is one of the best public universities in the nation, and the performance funding allocated by the BOG will help us continue to put our students at the center of our mission as we strive even higher.”

Here are the rankings, based on points earned in meeting performance metrics and how much they can qualify from the pool:

University of Florida: 95; $55 million
University of South Florida: 84; $45.4 million
University of West Florida: 82; $20.9 million
Florida State University: 81; $38.5 million
University of Central Florida: 78; $35.7 million
New College of Florida: 75; $2.4 million
Florida Atlantic University: 72; $19.3 million
Florida International University: 68; $27.4 million
Florida Gulf Coast University: 66; $0
Florida A&M University: 65; $0
University of North Florida: 58; 0

Thursday, June 22, 2017

CWS TV Rating FSU

Derek Volner‏ @DerekVolner

The LSU- Florida State games are the two most-watched College World Series games this year, both surpassing 1.25 million viewers @NCAACWS

FSU Key Initiatives

Still no major efforts for research beyond just 'give us more money' which isn't working.

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/06/21/fsu-gets-approval-bog-17-3-million-preeminence-funding/417173001/

During the Work Plan discussion, Thrasher and McRorie said the focus will be on shoring up FSU’s academic programs through the hiring of more professors, especially in the critical STEM education arena, providing for diverse student access and promoting outside funding for university research.

“Being in the top 25 matters,” Thrasher said. “It matters to the state of Florida.” Having that status helps to stimulate economic growth, helps in recruiting major corporations to the state and it helps the university in landing research grants.
During the meeting, McCrorie said the university is optimistic that renewed funding for the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory will be released in August, despite discussions in Washington on cutting back on science research.
In addition, McRorie said, FSU is seeking approval for new academic offerings in January, including a master’s degree in systems engineering.
The major is largely driven by the request of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City. The program is expected to start at FSU Panama City with 40 students initially.
This is a developing partnership with the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City.
The program is expected to stimulate economic development in the Florida Panhandle area and support the advanced work in the Naval Surface Warfare Center, especially in the areas of cyber security and maritime systems.
Graduates could become employed by the government or private industry, with annual salaries around $87,000, the university said.

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/06/20/fsu-famu-set-present-university-goals-board-governors/413586001/

The presidents of Florida State and Florida A&M universities will present updates on academic goals, enrollment projections, and new programs during presentations Wednesday to the Board of Governors.

FSU President John Thrasher is expected to focus on preeminence and the university’s mission to become a top 25 university.

Key initiatives for FSU include:
Top 25: The university plans to discuss increasing faculty hiring, graduate study opportunities, and its research portfolio.
Student success: Increasing academic counseling in an effort to increase the university’s already high four-year graduation rates. Other focuses will be on increasing course availability and reducing class sizes for high-demand courses.
Expanding Entrepreneurship and Innovation Education: The university plans to extend its focus on entrepreneurial education with this fall’s opening of the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship.
FSU is projecting modest enrollment growth over the next few years. Enrollment for this fall is projected at 42,040, with enrollment for fall 2020 is projected to be 42,680.
Proposals for new majors to be presented to its board of trustees this fall include a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and master’s programs in East Asian language and cultures and law enforcement intelligence.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Building ACC Network infrastructure could cost each school $5-7 million

http://awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/building-acc-network-infrastructure-cost-school-5-7-million.html

An underrated challenge in launching a conference network is building not just the central production facilities, but the facilities required at member schools. David Teel of The Hampton Roads Daily Press has a fascinating in-depth look at what that means with the forthcoming ACC Network for Virginia and Virginia Tech, both of whom estimate millions in required infrastructure costs (and that’s before you get to the staffing costs):

[Whit] Babcock, the Hokies’ athletic director, ballparks the infrastructure cost at $5 million-$7 million. His colleagues at the University of Virginia concur.
U.Va. recently completed $6 million in upgrades that include control rooms and a spacious studio. Years in the planning, the project awaited only last summer’s green light from the conference and its broadcast partner, ESPN.
…The ACC cable channel is scheduled to debut in August 2019, but to minimize initial hiccups, ESPN wants the league’s 15 schools to be operational a year in advance. This requires infrastructure and personnel capable of producing network-caliber programming.
“It’s a very daunting timeline,” [Virginia Tech’s Brian] Walls said.
Virginia, Florida State and Duke are far ahead of pace, with the ACC’s 12 other campuses in various states of readiness. All will spend millions, initially on facilities, then on manpower.

Teel’s piece is fascinating because it also dives into the sheer space and logistics required for these kinds of production facilities. Virginia has built three control rooms at the court level of its basketball arena and converted its former merchandise store at street level into a broadcast studio, and they’re also creating a two-mile cable connection to their football stadium (which will avoid future costs for renting production trucks). Meanwhile, Virginia Tech is renovating to build “two linear control rooms, an audio booth within each control room, a server room to house CPUs (central processing units), equipment storage areas and offices for new staffers,” aiming for 5,000 square feet of space and quadrupling its fiber connections.

This helps speak to why the ACC Network’s linear (TV) launch is so far away; it was announced last summer, but won’t go on the air until 2019. It sounds like most of the schools have massive infrastructure upgrades to make before then, to say nothing of staffing requirements. And Teel’s piece also notes that there are demands well beyond just TV, from in-stadium video board content to digital game and feature production. ESPN is gradually ramping up the demands for digital production, too, requiring ACC schools to collectively produce 600 events for ACC Network Extra in 2016-17, which will grow by 125 annually and cap at 975 in 2019-20. So there’s plenty of pressure to start creating content long before 2019.
Another interesting element in Teel’s piece is that there are incentives for schools to go well beyond the minimums (in both technical specifications and numbers of events produced). Walls made some notable comments on that front:

“You’ve got to be smart with your money,” Walls said. “While ESPN offers you a linear production guideline, it’s basically a minimum standard. That is the bare minimum, and you shouldn’t go into it thinking you’re just going to need to purchase the bare minimum with regard to anything, from lenses to replay to audio mixers. …
“SEC schools were so rushed, they’ve all had to add to infrastructure they initially built because they don’t have enough equipment to support (simultaneous linear productions). Most of them built one linear-ready control room, and now they’re going back and building a second or third, and that’s what we’re trying to get out in front on in the next year. …

“The conference as a whole has X number of linear broadcasts they have to deliver. If they see that Virginia Tech doesn’t necessarily have the best equipment, Virginia Tech might not get selected for (as many) linear broadcasts. Let’s make sure our minimum is above their minimum.”

That will be well worth watching as the digital production ramps up and the linear network launch approaches. Which schools are investing more into their facilities and production, and are their events being selected for more prominent display than their records might indicate thanks to those technical investments? That could be a delicate balance to walk, especially when it comes to the linear network (on digital, it’s much easier to offer everything and let viewers choose, but on linear, you have to make choices about what to air). Of course ESPN will want to show the highest-quality broadcasts possible, but it will also want to show teams that are performing well and are relevant in the national picture.
In any case, the main takeaway from this piece is that building this kind of a network is going to pose major challenges for the ACC’s schools, from finding space to running cable to hiring staffers. And it’s going to be extremely pricey. That’s why ESPN’s assurances that there will still be a linear ACC Network (despite outside skepticism) are so important, as building all this for digital and main ESPN channels only would seem like huge overkill. The schools are investing a lot of money and other resources into preparations for the linear ACC Network, and they’re hoping that those investments will be rewarded. We’ll see how they pay off.

Shocker: Syracuse AD-ND not joining the ACC

Just a few years back, pro ACC media, insiders insisted with much confidence a few things:

A) ND would join the ACC

B) There will never be a revenue gap that exceeds $10 Million per team (it is approaching north of $20 Million now).

People just never look back and say "I was wrong" which would be a problem if those same folks weren't the ones running the show now (Swofford).

David Teel‏Verified account @DavidTeelatDP

Wildhack also douses anyone's hopes on ACC division realignment and/or Notre Dame joining for football.https://twitter.com/MinkNate/status/877192977084502016 …

Nate MinkVerified account @MinkNate

How the Syracuse football schedule gets made. Q&A with John Wildhack and Hermam Frazier | http://bit.ly/2sSrdes

http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootball/index.ssf/2017/06/how_the_syracuse_football_schedule_gets_made_qa_with_john_wildhack_herm_frazier.html

Division realignment. Will it ever happen?
Wildhack: "I don't anticipate it. You need a majority decision. I have not received any calls from athletic directors in the other division asking me if I want to swap.

Is the best bet if Notre Dame has to join the league?
Wildhack: "I think Notre Dame joining for football, for me, that's off the table."
That might upset a lot of people.
Wildhack: "That's the reality of it. I think when the ACC made the agreement to bring Notre Dame in as a member, I think the ACC accepeted Notre Dame knowing Notre Dame is going to retain their independence for football. Kind of the middle ground was play five ACC teams per year, which is what they do and why they show up on our rotation."

ACC US News Average Rank Over Time

Danny Neckel‏ @DNeckel19

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

2018 Conference Projections

ACC, by plan, does not project revenue like every other conference (because it's dead last).

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/06/20/pac-12/

All of which brings us to the jaw-dropping news from last week: The report that Big Ten will send $51.1 million to each campus starting in 2018.

That’s not speculation, folks.

That figure came from a respect journalist (Angelique Chengelis) working for a respected publication (Detroit News) having obtained documents from Michigan itself, in the form of a FY18 budget presented to the university’s regents.

The only issue, it would seem, is whether Michigan’s estimate is correct.

I did some digging and found that past UM budget projections of Big Ten payouts were accurate to within $100,000.

Which means they were pretty damn accurate.

Which means that we’ll assume the Big Ten will send $51.1 million to its members in FY18.

Which means the Hotline needs to update the FY18 distribution projections made last month:

Big Ten: $51.1 million
SEC: $45+ million
Big 12: $37.5 million (does not include Tier 3 rights)
Pac-12: $32.5 million

That’s not a pretty sight for the Pac-12, which is getting lapped even by the Big 12 when Tier 3 rights are added to the mix.

The dollar disparity is crucial from a competitive standpoint (recruiting budgets, coaching staffs salaries and capital expenditures).

In regard to the Big Ten specifically (Pac-12 presidents/chancellors view the B1G as their one true peer/rival academically and through the Rose Bowl relationship):

The distribution gap is essentially $19 million per school, or a $228 million, single-year conference-wide deficit.

Tally that up over the lifespan of the current Tier 1 contract — we’ll assume, for this exercise, that the rates of increase are equivalent — and the Pac-12 will lag the Big Ten in distribution to campuses by $1.6 billion over the sweep of the next seven years.

Now, Scott has been fairly adamant that the P12Nets business model is right for the long haul, because 100 percent ownership of content 1) allows the conference to “be nimble” (his phrase) in a rapidly-changing landscape of technology and consumer behavior, and 2) will provide great flexibility when the Tier 1 deals expire.

In the meantime, it appears, the Pac-12 will get flattened in the revenue game — unless something changes.

The Tier 1 deals can’t change. The only thing that can change is the P12Nets business model.

Will seeing the whopping numbers … the Big Ten handing out $51.1 million to its campuses … the $19 million/per year/per school disparity in distribution … prompt the Pac-12 chancellors/presidents to insist on an equity sale?

(And would an equity sale in the next two or three years bring maximum value for a network that is viewed as less than a roaring success?)

It’s far beyond my scope to guess what the bosses might be thinking.

But this much seems clear: If those numbers … $51.1 million payout/$19 million annual per-school gap … don’t prompt a change, nothing will.

For the next seven years.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Brooks Koepka wins US Open

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/sports/golf/us-open-brooks-koepka.html

Trey Jones had replied to dozens of texts and emails and spoken by phone with several well-wishers Sunday night after Brooks Koepka, whom Jones coached at Florida State, became the fourth Seminole, after Hubert Green, Paul Azinger and Jeff Sluman, to win a men’s golf major championship.

The hour was late, and Jones, who was in Omaha to support the Florida State baseball team in the College World Series, was exhausted. He fell asleep quickly, only to be awakened after midnight by his phone’s ringtone. Dreading what news such a late-night call might bring, Jones groggily answered.

But it was Koepka on the other end, with words that every coach or educator thrills to hear.

Jones said Koepka thanked him for molding him into a golfer capable of winning the United States Open, which Koepka had done in convincing fashion hours earlier with a closing five-under 67, the second-lowest score of the day, on a windswept Erin Hills course. He told Jones that he loved him and added, “I wouldn’t be here without you.”

At Florida State, Koepka was a three-time all-American with a five-alarm temper.

“On a scale of one to 10, it was close to the top,” Jones said. “It was way, way up there.”

Jones said he called Koepka out about his comportment, which was the subject of numerous “tough love” talks.

With Jones’s help, Koepka in time came to see that his outbursts were an obstacle in his path to becoming a champion golfer. He won his first event as a senior, then added two more titles by the season’s end.

“He can take tough love,” Jones said. “You’d ride him, and he’d thank you for it.”

The transformation that began in Tallahassee was on full display down the stretch on Sunday. Koepka made three birdies in a row starting at No. 14 to distance himself from a fast-charging Hideki Matsuyama and a steady Brian Harman. Matsuyama and Harman finished at 12 under, which would have been good enough to win 115 of the United States Opens that have been contested, but not the 117th. They finished four strokes behind Koepka, who tied Rory McIlroy’s tournament record of 16 under in 2011.

“I had an opportunity today, and I didn’t get it done,” Harman said afterward. “But at the same time, I don’t feel as though I lost the golf tournament. I think Brooks went out and won the tournament.”

In four rounds, Koepka missed seven fairways and 10 greens. His machine-like efficiency was matched by his programmed waves to every made putt. His emotions on the course ran the gamut from calm to cool.

“He’s just really, really chill,” said Koepka’s caddie, Ricky Elliott. “Brooks could sometimes do with a little kick, like are you awake yet? He’s as calm as it gets, really, to a fault sometimes.”

Koepka, 27, came into the Open with one PGA Tour victory, in 2015, but he outperformed his résumé in the majors. He tied for fourth at the 2014 United States Open and the 2016 P.G.A. Championship and tied for fifth at the 2015 P.G.A. Championship.

“There’s something about majors where I just focus a lot more,” Koepka said. “Obviously I need to do that more often.”

In 2013, the year after he left Florida State, Koepka played on the minor league circuit in Europe in a successful attempt to obtain his European Tour membership.

“He called me when he was on the European Challenge Tour, and said, ‘I get it now,’” Jones recalled.

Koepka told Jones that he saw behavior by his fellow competitors that Jones wouldn’t countenance.

“It takes a pretty big man to step up and say, ‘I was wrong,’” Jones said. “But that’s who Brooks is. Any criticism that would help his golf game, he’d take it.”

In 2014, Jones recalled getting frustrated watching the United States Open telecast from Pinehurst, N.C., where Koepka finished 10 strokes behind the winner, Martin Kaymer. Despite the fact that only three golfers scored better, Koepka did not receive much screen time.

“They showed him maybe two times,” Jones said.

Three years later, Koepka turned Sunday’s back nine into a one-man show that Jones believes could have a long run.

“Just because of how competitive he is,” Jones said. “He has always set his sights so high.”

After winning his first major, Koepka seems determined not to lose his low profile. He told Jones that he was forgoing the traditional New York media tour that in recent years has served as the United States Open winner’s victory lap. Everyone he wanted to talk to about his title seemed to be in his smartphone contact list.

Linafelt / FSU‏Verified account @Tim_Linafelt

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