Long Term Contracts

The word theses days in college athletics is the bigger the better.  1953 the seven orginal schools that formed the ACC jumped from the Southern Conference because the conference was too big.  As time passed by the 1990's  the ACC schools made more money per each team in the conference from radio and TV than any other conference.

Along comes ESPN who wants to dominant everything sports with an array of channels to lure conferences to throw their conference sporting events to ESPN.  The SEC with it's football power  has passed the ACC in money in their pockets and with the ESPN money frenzy every college is looking to make more and more.  Get me a TV contract some way some how.

Our government works of the premise that we have so many people in this country paying taxes and as the year goes by and your tax dollar comes in they can pay for all the promises the government has made on the money they are expecting to come in.  When all the money expected doesn't come in then the short fall is borrowed to pay all the promises.  Now our government pays interest on the money borrowed so all that promised services now cost more when the government has to borrow.

Now what will happen if all this income promised by Nike, ESPN, EA Sports, Fox Sports, your name a network that is outlaying money for the next 20 years for any conference rights, what happens if all these advertisers cut back on spending and now ESPN or who ever can't pay on these promises.  Seems to me that all this long term promise is based on inflation tripling in the future.  All the Networks are running their business like the government on hope not money already in the bank.

How good does a long term contract work.  Ask the New York Yankees whether they got their monies worth from the 210 millions they will spend on A-Rod.  It might have worked the first five years but they would love to see A-Rod put down by MLB.   I see this game called Satellite, Cable TV hitting the point where people are not going to be able to afford the monthly cost to continue service.  When the viewers start going away  watching all these games on cable so goes the promised money and all these 16 teams conferences who wanted more money will wind up with less.  Unlike the government who borrows to pay promises when viewership goes down the hands held out waiting for their cut will find empty hands.