Red wrote:Do any WSU fans know what share of the TV rights money you'll get from the AAC? My recall is that the AAC doesn't get all that much from ESPN to start and I assume most of that money is football based. Has it been reported what 1/12 of the basketball contract is worth? I realize it's more than what the Valley is getting which is essentially nothing, but is it safe to say that moving to the AAC will not be a financial advantage once the increased travel and expenses are concerned?
WSU also had to pay an entry fee to get into the AAC which will be paid by withholding future revenue from the TV contract i believe. WSU offered to pay the schools for their increase in travel costs for the first year due to WSU being added after budgets were set.
As stated before, the TV contract is up for renewal, which could be interesting. The American has grown in importance in football (and now basketball) but ESPN is cutting back. So it will be interesting to see if the increase in contract revenue will be as big as some hope.
As far as the financial advantage, there is a lot of what ifs there. If the TV contract increases, or enrollment increases, or NCAA shares increase etc etc, that could very easily offset the additional travel.