Future of the ACC Network

[MSOrange]

The ACC Network is expected to raise millions for each ACC school on an annual basis. The last estimates I have seen expect 8-10 million annually for each school to start, with the annual revenue per school expected to grow to $15-$20 million.

An initial outlay of $5-7 million to facilitate this revenue stream is a no brainer. SU should be doing like VT is, and trying to ensure their facilities are top notch, state of the art and capable of future expansion.

This kind of an investment might be strange for a university but it isn't for a business, and I am sure John Wildhack is doing everything he can to position Syracuse to support the ACC Network as well as he possibly can. I remain concerned SU has fallen behind some of the other schools in the conference. The facilities are supposed to be place by the start of the 2018 school year.

Maybe @Cuslegacy is right and the new facilities at Newhouse are going to be fine for this. I don't think so. You want facilities customized for supporting a network;not teaching. And you want them in your athletic facilities, not 4 or 5 blocks down the street.

Hope plans are announced soon and SU takes the advice learned from all the mistakes the SEC schools trying to put in facilities and not planning well. This is a big deal. Plan accordingly.

Nice post. It is interesting/concerning that no information has leaked regarding the production facilities and how that's being handled - at least that I know of. If SU doesn't do this well with Wildhack in charge, that would really concern me about the financial situation and and what the heck is going on.

 

[Whitey23]

 

[Brian Orange]

With Wildhack a former TV producer and ESPN guy and then Newhouse, good lord, if we don't have the best facilities and/or production crew ... that will be a dissapointment.

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[Alsacs]

All the ACC needs from the network is to keep the revenue totals close.
They don't need or are going to get the same as the SEC or Big Ten. Just being close keeps all the inmates happy.

 

[atom58]

Yep, the horse is about to leave the barn:

ACC, ESPN still bullish on conference network - SportsBusiness Daily | SportsBusiness Journal | SportsBusiness Daily Global

 

[atom58]

One other thing - while the ACC began life in the Mid-Atlantic states in 1953, if the ACC channel gets put on cable in NYC and environs (the SEC channel isn't according to the story), we will have the "Three Yankees" (Syracuse, Pitt, and BC) to thank for that - along with ND and the recent success in FB and BB.

I have heard rumors that the ACC channel will likely replace one of the existing ESPN channels like News or U but those are not carried by all cable providers so even if replacement happens ESPN still has to negotiate deals for the ACC channel with cable providers.

 

[Whitey23]

 

[sutomcat]

I wonder the longterm plan is to move the SEC studios to an SEC city, then move the ACC stuff down to Charlotte? Really weird to have the SEC in Charlotte and the ACC not there.

As for now, this is great news for Syracuse. Should translate to some early airtime for SU topics. Especially consideruing the best interviews of all the coaches in the ACC for basketball and football are clearly from Syracuse.

 

[Alsacs]

I wonder the longterm plan is to move the SEC studios to an SEC city, then move the ACC stuff down to Charlotte? Really weird to have the SEC in Charlotte and the ACC not there.

As for now, this is great news for Syracuse. Should translate to some early airtime for SU topics. Especially consideruing the best interviews of all the coaches in the ACC for basketball and football are clearly from Syracuse.

ESPN fired a lot of their Charlotte personnel during the last run of terminations.

Their Charlotte staff is a Skelton crew now. No surprise they are moving out.