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May
10
2012

A clearer understanding of those “Tier 3” rights and the ACC.

Tier 3, Tier 3 Tier 3, that’s all we hear about. The ACC sold their Tier 3 rights to ESPN and the Big 12 didn’t. Therefore the Big 12 can make a gazillion dollars while the ACC makes zilch. It’s hard to distinguish what is fact and what’s fiction. The details of such complicated deals are debated back and forth on message boards. You’re never quite sure what to think.

I know it left me wondering how this all worked.

I found this article from the Chicago Tribune that seems to explain things pretty well. It discusses the third tier proposal for new Big 12 school West Virginia. 

I would say the Chicago Tribune is more reliable than your average twitter account, blog, or message board. Oops this is a blog! Oh well I’m sourcing the Tribune. Some of the notes were rather interesting. First from the West Virginia AD Oliver Luck…

“Really, they are most of your TV properties — probably 11 of the 12 football games that you have and a majority of your men’s basketball games and your premier women’s games,” Luck said of Tier 1 and Tier 2 media rights.

So just about all of your revenue generating games are not on Tier 3. Umm… ok.

“Third-tier covers pretty much everything else. The easiest way to understand it is Tier 3 covers everything beyond the first- and second-tier.”

This makes sense but what does it include? I thought it was just TV? From the Tribune article…

“That includes television rights to all other WVU sports, as well as a few football and basketball games. All radio rights, pre-game and/or coaches’ shows, online productions and website content could also be included. The company would be buying the rights to sell sponsorships and advertising in those productions in exchange for guaranteed rights fees to WVU.”

Well I guess the ACC is out of luck because they sold their 3rd tier rights to ESPN.

“In March, N.C. State announced it had signed a 10-year multimedia rights agreement with Wolfpack Sports Properties, LLC, a newly formed joint venture of Capitol Broadcasting Company and Learfield Sports. According to N.C. State, that deal guarantees the Wolfpack “a minimum of nearly $49 million” over 10 years.”

You mean NC State gets 5 Million dollars a year in third tier rights at a minimum? Yep

Now I don’t know how much West Virginia will get, but I’ve read estimates anywhere from 2-8 Million. The Charleston Daily says West Virginia can expect at least as much NC State. That’s a possibility, but it hardly suggests that the Mountaineer’s deal will be double or triple the Wolfpack’s. Assuming everyone stays put (which is completely another debate)  it doesn’t seem that the ACC is getting quite the shaft on third tier revenue as some reports are making it seem. Will the ACC still trail the Big 4? I think so, but not every school will depending on their own individual third tier deal. Frankly in most school’s cases 1 football game, a handful of basketball games, and olympic sport viewing isn’t going to be worth 10 million dollars.

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5 pings

  1. What should the ACC do about the statements from the Florida State BOT Chair? » All Sports Discussion says:

    […] Here’s what we know, the Florida State fanbase was irate over the ACC’s new TV deal which inspite of increasing the conference’s per team payout by 4 million dollars still trailed the Big 12′s new deal by $3 Million. The Big 12′s deal was 20 Million dollars. The SEC’s upcoming deal might be in the 23-27 Million deal. The 3rd Tier argument as we discussed here is over blown, and in large part mis-understood. […]

  2. What should the ACC do about the statements from the Florida State BOT Chair? | Sports Blog United says:

    […] Here’s what we know, the Florida State fanbase was irate over the ACC’s new TV deal which inspite of increasing the conference’s per team payout by 4 million dollars still trailed the Big 12′s new deal by $ 3 Million. The Big 12′s deal was 20 Million dollars. The SEC’s upcoming deal might be in the 23-27 Million deal. The 3rd Tier argument as we discussed here is over blown, and in large part mis-understood. […]

  3. The ACC, conference expansion, and a month of mis-information and confusion. » All Sports Discussion says:

    […] sold all of their third tier rights away! No and I tried to explain this on May 10 in my article A clearer understanding of those “Tier 3″ rights and the ACC, but the damage had already been done. Just 2 days later, and this is where things really exploded […]

  4. The ACC, conference expansion, and a month of mis-information and confusion. | Sports Blog United says:

    […] sold all of their third tier rights away! No and I tried to explain this on May 10 in my article A clearer understanding of those “Tier 3″ rights and the ACC, but the damage had already been done. Just 2 days later, and this is where things really exploded […]

  5. Alabama’s lucrative Learfield Media Rights Deal confirms what we thought about 3rd Tier Rights. » All Sports Discussion says:

    […] lucrative Learfield Media Rights Deal, that confirms what was said here nearly 2 years ago. Those 3rd Tier TV rights weren’t worth Millions upon  Millions upon Millions of dollars.  Just exactly how did Alabama’s rights deal prove […]

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