The Pac12’s proposal from Apple TV was partial monetary payout + basic subscription commission. TV is going to a streaming oriented platform; we are all well versed in this. So why have conferences been getting so large, bloated and unwieldy? Simple, to build in subscriber bases when it goes to streaming. This is probably a decade or two away, the Hulu/YouTube/Satellite crowd isn’t going away for a couple decades. But ESPN and Fox, CBS and NBC will eventually push their subscribers to streaming by limiting access on main air channels. So, what is every VT fan’s dream? VT gets in the SEC!! Awesome, but the only games on ESPN today are Bama vs LSU, Florida vs Clemson, FSU vs Tennessee and Texas vs Oklahoma. All other games will be on the ESPN2 streaming app which you can subscribe to for just $14.99 per month. And the great thing is you can access the entire catalog of games every Saturday on demand with the app!! What’s better is you can buy the SEC annual pass for just $99.99. This gives you full access to men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball, track and field, soccer, golf, you name it!!! With a 24 team league, media companies are building in the largest supporting bases they can to start purchasing subscriptions. And we will buy this when they start limiting our access to watch VT live on air. 20 million subscribers to the SEC Annual Pass is worth $2billion dollars per year. That’s half for ESPN and half for the SEC payout. That’s also less than 1 million subscribers per school so it’s a fair projection. And That doesn’t even count add revenue. Nor does it count live, on air fees earned, but that will be a transitional amount inversely proportional to streaming subscriptions ** Edited by hokieZ71 at 8/5/2023, 8:15:58 AM

years.

Proven return on investment no guess

At some point, this bubble bursts. Isn’t ABC/ESPN already struggling financially. Most importantly, the conferences are diluting what made them interesting in the first place, which were the rivalries. I think these new additions may create some curious interest at the outset, but I view them in a similar light as MLB interleague games. Those was intriguing at first, but the gimmick interest has waned.

Basically their job has been to promote the SEC at every opportunity, in every sport to drive up demand. At the same time, they have trashed the ACC at every opportunity, in every sport. Not sure why they've been doing that, other than to keep the interest and payouts to the ACC as low as possible, so they can continue paying the SEC those exorbitant rates. Wouldn't be surprised to learn that some of what the ACC makes for ESPN is getting routed to pay the SEC.