Fox Sports has "pulled completely out" of Conference USA's current TV contract negotiations, and returning partner ESPN will "get its pick of the first five" C-USA football games, according to sources cited by Chuck Landon of the Huntington HERALD-DISPATCH. CBS Sports Network will "receive the second five choices." The league's third TV partner is American Sports Network, which is "expected to televise 15 to 20 games." Sources said that there is "also a fourth television partner" that has not been announced. What also has not been announced is "some games will be played on Thursday and Friday nights." At the most, C-USA's new TV contract could be worth $7M. That would "lead to revenue distribution of $538,400 per school." At the worst, C-USA's new pact "could be in the neighborhood" of $5.5M, which split 13 ways "calculates to $423,000 per school." Either way, it is "a far cry" from the $1.1M each of the C-USA schools "had been receiving annually." The value of C-USA's new contract is "so much lower than member schools anticipated," the conference is "desperate to find any way to augment it." But desperate times "call for desperate measures" (Huntington HERALD-DISPATCH, 5/15).
