The Big East's football television contracts stand to take a sizable hit with the departure of Miami and Virginia Tech, which last year played in 16 of the 28 nationally telecast games featuring Big East teams.
The league's football contracts, which are with ABC and ESPN, don't expire until after the 2007 season. Football rights fees to the conference could change as soon as the 2004 season, however, since the league's contracts can be opened up for renegotiation if conference membership changes. Miami and Virginia Tech are slated to leave the Big East to join the ACC in the 2004-05 school year.
Without Miami and Virginia Tech, the league's football rights fees will drop, industry experts predicted.
The Big East last year reported on its Form 990 tax forms a total of $28 million from football, basketball and radio rights; $15 million of that comes from football rights, according to media reports. The league would not confirm that figure.
Adding schools that have strength in football and basketball would make the league's football rights reduction less severe and also could bump up its basketball rights, sources said. The amount the conference's television rights will be reduced depends on which schools the league adds to its membership.
Speculation is that the Big East will target Conference USA schools as new members. The Big East and Conference USA have agreed, however, that if C-USA schools were to be added, the change would not take effect until the 2005-06 school year, said Chuck Neinas, who has been retained by C-USA as a consultant.
The Atlantic Coast Conference's revenue from football television rights, which last year totaled $21.1 million, stands to increase when Miami and Virginia Tech join the league.
The league, which formally introduced the two schools as its newest members last Tuesday, expects to renegotiate its current football television agreements with ABC/ESPN and Jefferson-Pilot. The contracts, which expire after the 2005 season, can be renegotiated when conference membership changes.
Miami and Virginia Tech will be leverage for the ACC when it begins negotiating a new football television contract beyond 2005, conference officials and industry experts said.
Neinas, who has consulted with numerous athletic departments and conferences, said he expects the ACC will get an increase in a new football television rights deal but cautioned that the state of the television market at the time of the league's negotiations could be problematic.
"The marketplace is soft right now," he said. "They've got to hope that when their next negotiation period rolls around the marketplace would be stronger."
