"GT reported that cable companies want the ACC network at a reduced rate. Pitt now says it will take years to get up to full revenue."
-Hokie Mark
https://csnbbs.com/thread-848945.html
ACC Network info from Pitt
The below is a portion of an interview, the part which is most pertinent to the ACC Network, that was held with Pitt's Athletic Director Heather Lyke and Pitt's Deputy AD for External Affairs Chris Spears. This interview appears in full on panther-lair.com and part 1 can be found at https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/news/lyke-...t-and-more
What can you estimate it’s going to take financially to make all of this happen?
Lyke: Well, the ACC Network - we have that particular project covered. And under budget; thank you, Mr. Ramicone, Art Ramicone, our CFO. He will be happy to hear that and I think that the project’s running very well and under budget. There are some - it’s not a massive cost and we can plan that from the capital standpoint. These aren’t really strong fundraising opportunities; it’s more of an ongoing expense and some of this is a one-time - you know, changing the camera decks. That’s a one-time expense. We’re not going to move those again. Re-sanding your court - you’ve got to build in an ongoing plan to update your field or field space, your facilities on an ongoing basis, so that’s a part of our comprehensive 10-year plan that’s outlined as far as, when are we going to re-sand the court again? So we’ll plan for that financially.
It just seems that, when this idea [flipping the court at the Petersen Events Center so the cameras face the Oakland Zoo] has come up in the past, people have said it would be cost-prohibitive to re-wire the building and do something like that.
Lyke: I would say that, with the ACC project, that’s a part of the infrastructure that we’re building in place. We are also working on getting out an RFP at the University level for Wi-Fi in the Pete - like, in the actual arena…That is, again, just updating the building to where it needs to be. Those are amenities and, obviously now, expectations in modern-day arenas. It’s all coming. It’s all on its way.
What do you think the impact of the ACC Network will be?
Lyke: It will be significant. We are in an exciting time, really. It gives us a chance to showcase our teams on a national scale. You build the brand of Pitt, not just as an athletic department but as a university, and the exposure - I think, for all of us, it’s going to be exceptional. I think that’s certainly the - we’re not as far behind as some conferences, but we’re a little bit far behind, so it gives us a chance to catch up with some of the other conferences that have that national media opportunity, across the board with all of your teams. So I think it’s a tremendous opportunity. We’re excited about our infrastructure, our staff, our partnerships within the community that we’ve been working with that specialize in this area. I think we’ve got a lot of advantages being in Pittsburgh because there are companies that really do this well and we’ve worked with very closely.
I also love the fact that we can allow for students to do hands-on internships in our - behind-the-scenes, in media production, in television production and we’re actually working across campus with faculty creating - I don’t know that it’s a new major, a new minor -
Spears: We’re still in negotiations with what it’s going to be. Whether it’s a certificate program, a minor, a major. There are classes all over campus already that do post-production, pre-production, but we want to have a more holistic program that allows students to choose this as a career. In order to do that, we’ve got to build some infrastructure around that, whether that’s additional faculty - but we do have the studio space to be able to teach and learning, and that will be significant. And we built it with the design and the hope that we would partner with the campus. So there is a studio that’s just ready for a teaching environment while we’re running our full gameday. That will be unique.
Lyke: And I would say that our staff that lead our production and video area are tremendous teachers. Some people do their job really well but they don’t know how to teach young people how to do it. Our staff is really, really talented at that. I see it every day in their work. So that’s exciting and it’s a great experience for students to - I mean, you’re on a national broadcast and you’re sitting behind the scenes and you’re seeing how it works and it’s a great profession and we have got great relationships with companies in town that are looking for apprentices and internship opportunities, so we can funnel them there and they can get all kinds of great work experience to prepare them for life after graduation. So there’s a whole host of reasons why it’s great. But yeah, we’re excited, we’re getting ready and I think the addition of the studio to the lobby area is going to create some excitement and buzz. When you walk in, you’re going to see, it’s somewhat like the Today Show; it’s probably not as large, but there will be a window front so you’ll be able to look right in at any production that might be going on or any interview that might be going on. So for a fan and student and people that come to the Pete, they’ll get a sense of that production going on.
There is also going to be X amount of income for each school, is that correct?
Lyke: Yeah. So the incremental revenue projections are conservative and strong. We expect - and it will take a few years for it to actually increase significantly over what we get right now from television revenue from the ACC. But yeah, the long-term five-year to ten-year projections are very, very beneficial to us.
Can you quantify it for us?
Lyke: It’s hard to quantify it because I don’t know if the projections from the ACC are -
Spears: Fully-developed.
Lyke: Fully-developed or protected. But we’re not going to lose money. That’s for sure…over time, the incremental growth goes up substantially.
Are there plans for changes to or repurposing any other buildings on campus for the ACC Network?
Lyke: Not necessarily on campus. The exterior studio will be in the lobby and all the back-of-the-house will be downstairs on the very first floor of the Pete. It’s interesting: you can produce a baseball game from the Pete, so we don’t have a different production center. That hub will be here in the basement.
What can you estimate it’s going to take financially to make all of this happen?
Lyke: Well, the ACC Network - we have that particular project covered. And under budget; thank you, Mr. Ramicone, Art Ramicone, our CFO. He will be happy to hear that and I think that the project’s running very well and under budget. There are some - it’s not a massive cost and we can plan that from the capital standpoint. These aren’t really strong fundraising opportunities; it’s more of an ongoing expense and some of this is a one-time - you know, changing the camera decks. That’s a one-time expense. We’re not going to move those again. Re-sanding your court - you’ve got to build in an ongoing plan to update your field or field space, your facilities on an ongoing basis, so that’s a part of our comprehensive 10-year plan that’s outlined as far as, when are we going to re-sand the court again? So we’ll plan for that financially.
It just seems that, when this idea [flipping the court at the Petersen Events Center so the cameras face the Oakland Zoo] has come up in the past, people have said it would be cost-prohibitive to re-wire the building and do something like that.
Lyke: I would say that, with the ACC project, that’s a part of the infrastructure that we’re building in place. We are also working on getting out an RFP at the University level for Wi-Fi in the Pete - like, in the actual arena…That is, again, just updating the building to where it needs to be. Those are amenities and, obviously now, expectations in modern-day arenas. It’s all coming. It’s all on its way.
What do you think the impact of the ACC Network will be?
Lyke: It will be significant. We are in an exciting time, really. It gives us a chance to showcase our teams on a national scale. You build the brand of Pitt, not just as an athletic department but as a university, and the exposure - I think, for all of us, it’s going to be exceptional. I think that’s certainly the - we’re not as far behind as some conferences, but we’re a little bit far behind, so it gives us a chance to catch up with some of the other conferences that have that national media opportunity, across the board with all of your teams. So I think it’s a tremendous opportunity. We’re excited about our infrastructure, our staff, our partnerships within the community that we’ve been working with that specialize in this area. I think we’ve got a lot of advantages being in Pittsburgh because there are companies that really do this well and we’ve worked with very closely.
I also love the fact that we can allow for students to do hands-on internships in our - behind-the-scenes, in media production, in television production and we’re actually working across campus with faculty creating - I don’t know that it’s a new major, a new minor -
Spears: We’re still in negotiations with what it’s going to be. Whether it’s a certificate program, a minor, a major. There are classes all over campus already that do post-production, pre-production, but we want to have a more holistic program that allows students to choose this as a career. In order to do that, we’ve got to build some infrastructure around that, whether that’s additional faculty - but we do have the studio space to be able to teach and learning, and that will be significant. And we built it with the design and the hope that we would partner with the campus. So there is a studio that’s just ready for a teaching environment while we’re running our full gameday. That will be unique.
Lyke: And I would say that our staff that lead our production and video area are tremendous teachers. Some people do their job really well but they don’t know how to teach young people how to do it. Our staff is really, really talented at that. I see it every day in their work. So that’s exciting and it’s a great experience for students to - I mean, you’re on a national broadcast and you’re sitting behind the scenes and you’re seeing how it works and it’s a great profession and we have got great relationships with companies in town that are looking for apprentices and internship opportunities, so we can funnel them there and they can get all kinds of great work experience to prepare them for life after graduation. So there’s a whole host of reasons why it’s great. But yeah, we’re excited, we’re getting ready and I think the addition of the studio to the lobby area is going to create some excitement and buzz. When you walk in, you’re going to see, it’s somewhat like the Today Show; it’s probably not as large, but there will be a window front so you’ll be able to look right in at any production that might be going on or any interview that might be going on. So for a fan and student and people that come to the Pete, they’ll get a sense of that production going on.
There is also going to be X amount of income for each school, is that correct?
Lyke: Yeah. So the incremental revenue projections are conservative and strong. We expect - and it will take a few years for it to actually increase significantly over what we get right now from television revenue from the ACC. But yeah, the long-term five-year to ten-year projections are very, very beneficial to us.
Can you quantify it for us?
Lyke: It’s hard to quantify it because I don’t know if the projections from the ACC are -
Spears: Fully-developed.
Lyke: Fully-developed or protected. But we’re not going to lose money. That’s for sure…over time, the incremental growth goes up substantially.
Are there plans for changes to or repurposing any other buildings on campus for the ACC Network?
Lyke: Not necessarily on campus. The exterior studio will be in the lobby and all the back-of-the-house will be downstairs on the very first floor of the Pete. It’s interesting: you can produce a baseball game from the Pete, so we don’t have a different production center. That hub will be here in the basement.
https://csnbbs.com/thread-848861.html
GT AD Stansbury Speaks...
As part of my court-ordered public-service, I thought I would provide a summary of a presentation that Stansbury gave today to some Tech folks. He gives these kinds of presentations all over, and to all sorts of audiences, and does the podcast, and interviews and you name it... so apologies in advance if this is repetitive or uninteresting. Just thought I'd share!
— Our budget is about $86,000,000 annually. That puts us in the bottom third of the ACC. We'd need to move that to $95,000,000-$100,000,000 annually to get into the middle tier of the ACC. Interesting notes from the budget... we still get $5,300,000 from student fees (6% of budget). In turn we spend about $28,800,000 on personnel, $10,700,000 on scholarships, and $13,300,000 on debt service (15% of budget).
— The coming years are going to be financial challenges for the GTAA. To begin with, we are required to make a one-time payment of $10,000,000 to establish the ACC Network. But also as part of a larger college-wide fundraising effort, the GTAA is going to try to raise $125,000,000 in the next few years. About $12,000,000 of that is for general operations, but $25,000,000 is to increase the scholarship endowments, and a further $88,000,000 is for construction.
— While that may seem like a lot... in reality it'll just help us 'keep up' with the competition. UNC is in the midst of a $500,000,000 athletics-only fundraising campaign, and Wake Forest recently completed a $300,000,000 athletics-only fundraising campaign. (How as tiny Wake able to do that? Well, they got $220,000,000 of it from six people. It's good to have rich friends.)
— In response to a question about ESPN cord-cutting, he said the ACC remains committed to and optimistic about the ACC Network. By moving production facilities on campus, it means the conference is less dependent on ESPN going forward. Moreover, in recent contracts cable companies have continued to want the ACC Network, albeit at reduced prices. But sports remains the only thing that people absolutely insist on watching live. That gives college athletics a pricing power that won't go away, no matter the delivery technology.
— He reiterated that football is what drives the GTAA. It is the engine of the entire department. It is responsible for perhaps as much as 90% of our revenue. It's gotta have what it needs, because without it, everything else suffers.
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