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Post by Bornthrilla on Feb 11, 2020 13:37:20 GMT -5
Hell, maybe we just did the BB&T deal in the first place to offset the cost of moving to the Big South.
That could have been the main plan all along.
And that might have something to do with why we initially lied about the stadium capacity in the press release when we announced the BB&T deal.
Double Hmmmm ...
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Freeze
Official BDF member
Posts: 2,340
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Post by Freeze on Feb 11, 2020 13:49:26 GMT -5
Damn, Freeze. You said that perfectly. And yes, just the thought of somebody else celebrating at the A&T Invitational next year already stings for me. Trudat. But even if the bowl continues for the next 30 years we will always be mentioned consistently throughout the broadcast. NC A&T, winner of four of the first five Celebration Bowls... We will always get shine from that even without being in the game. Yeah but those millions of folks watching tv won't see our commercial. They won't see our band. They won't see our proud alumni wearing gear and holding signs that say Aggie Pride......it will most definitely not be the same. And if our attendance during the regular season drops because our fan base isn't inclined to see us play Longwood or Campbell then that's gonna negatively impact our revenue (including ticketing, parking, concessions, etc.). Most folks who even come to HBCU games are there to see the bands (both our and the visitors). How many of them do we lose now? As I stated previously and as others have pointed out, our OWN administrators credited our enrollment increase to our brand being on full display on national television. Will we be able to maintain and INCREASE those numbers if we are no longer in the public eye? We aren't like Howard and FAM who get their brand conveniently placed in movies and music videos.....hell, even Southern's band was featured in Lizzo's latest video. These platforms matter.....and the only real platform that we can say certainly showcased our brand to the world was the Celebration Bowl. I am hoping for the best. I'm getting my ticket to travel to North Dakota, I'm going to be at GHOE regardless who we play, and I can't wait to see A&T take on Kennessaw State right here in the Atlanta metro......but I'm worried about this move and the ripple effects it could have on our "Dear A&T."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2020 14:14:27 GMT -5
Trudat. But even if the bowl continues for the next 30 years we will always be mentioned consistently throughout the broadcast. NC A&T, winner of four of the first five Celebration Bowls... We will always get shine from that even without being in the game. Yeah but those millions of folks watching tv won't see our commercial. They won't see our band. They won't see our proud alumni wearing gear and holding signs that say Aggie Pride......it will most definitely not be the same. And if our attendance during the regular season drops because our fan base isn't inclined to see us play Longwood or Campbell then that's gonna negatively impact our revenue (including ticketing, parking, concessions, etc.). Most folks who even come to HBCU games are there to see the bands (both our and the visitors). How many of them do we lose now? As I stated previously and as others have pointed out, our OWN administrators credited our enrollment increase to our brand being on full display on national television. Will we be able to maintain and INCREASE those numbers if we are no longer in the public eye? We aren't like Howard and FAM who get their brand conveniently placed in movies and music videos.....hell, even Southern's band was featured in Lizzo's latest video. These platforms matter.....and the only real platform that we can say certainly showcased our brand to the world was the Celebration Bowl. I am hoping for the best. I'm getting my ticket to travel to North Dakota, I'm going to be at GHOE regardless who we play, and I can't wait to see A&T take on Kennessaw State right here in the Atlanta metro......but I'm worried about this move and the ripple effects it could have on our "Dear A&T." They can do all dat if we can make it to Frisco, TX for the FCS National Championship.
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Post by DOOMS on Feb 11, 2020 14:22:00 GMT -5
Trudat. But even if the bowl continues for the next 30 years we will always be mentioned consistently throughout the broadcast. NC A&T, winner of four of the first five Celebration Bowls... We will always get shine from that even without being in the game. Yeah but those millions of folks watching tv won't see our commercial. They won't see our band. They won't see our proud alumni wearing gear and holding signs that say Aggie Pride......it will most definitely not be the same. And if our attendance during the regular season drops because our fan base isn't inclined to see us play Longwood or Campbell then that's gonna negatively impact our revenue (including ticketing, parking, concessions, etc.). Most folks who even come to HBCU games are there to see the bands (both our and the visitors). How many of them do we lose now? As I stated previously and as others have pointed out, our OWN administrators credited our enrollment increase to our brand being on full display on national television. Will we be able to maintain and INCREASE those numbers if we are no longer in the public eye? We aren't like Howard and FAM who get their brand conveniently placed in movies and music videos.....hell, even Southern's band was featured in Lizzo's latest video. These platforms matter.....and the only real platform that we can say certainly showcased our brand to the world was the Celebration Bowl. I am hoping for the best. I'm getting my ticket to travel to North Dakota, I'm going to be at GHOE regardless who we play, and I can't wait to see A&T take on Kennessaw State right here in the Atlanta metro......but I'm worried about this move and the ripple effects it could have on our "Dear A&T." If we take out commercial time during the game they'll see our commercial. Wouldn't that be some slick sheeet? Be even slicker if we were in the playoffs that weekend. Our attendance is definitely going to drop. That's a given. Hopefully we actually do have some diehards who support their alma mater regardless or it's gone be some lean years there. Our enrollment increase was a perfect storm. As far as I know we actually voted against the Celebration Bowl yet we ended up being the main beneficiaries by far. In the words of Johnny "Guitar" Watson "ain't that nothin?" Now that the storm is clearing our administration is going to actually have to get off their a$$ and put stuff in gear to keep us moving as opposed to benefiting because it just happened that way. They'll actually have to put some money behind the band and increase support to athletics until it hurts them. They might actually have to listen to some of the suggestions on ways to raise financial support that have been batted around on this site for years, or we gone see some ribs touchin. I expect that they'll have factored all this in already or they'll be in for a ruuuuuude awakening. If they haven't factored it in the conference change was a bad move. I'm all systems go on this b*tch, but even I am sad to wave goodbye to the MEAC. I'm just excited for something new and to see what the future holds for us. If we have no plan past this (which I doubt) then we in trubble.
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Post by durhamgsoaggie on Feb 11, 2020 14:51:41 GMT -5
The $381,000 entrance fee to the Big South is payable in 3 installments over a 3-year period ($127,000 per installment). That's a good point as well. I also think we have to understand the basics of what the current Big South media rights deal with ESPN from 2018 (which the BSC Commissioner said dramatically increased the financial terms from the previous deal) would look like: 1. A likely 6-figure exclusive rights fee to the Big South 2. Full access to all Football/MBB/WBB and other produced content on the ESPN+ streaming service for $4.99, allowing ESPN to pay a baseline fee for advertising 3. Some form of revenue/advertising deal with the Big South & member schools based on amount of content produced & number of views. #3 is the biggest variable because we don't know how much revenue is tied to # of content views. And come July 2021 with an alumni base of 60K+... we will be the biggest consumer of Big South digital content from Day 1. That typed... just the sheer volume of A&T digital consumption will help with getting sponsorship $$$ external to the Big South/ESPN agreement. This would also be based in part on the number of views that we'd be generating on our ESPN+ content. We're going to find to what extent in a couple of years. As an example.... an ESPN Watch search today turned up 1 A&T upcoming/replay broadcast. That's the Aggie/Eagle game on the 17th. Meanwhile, the same search for lil ole Hampton turned up 26 upcoming/replay broadcasts. There's no comparison in the scope of ESPN exposure in terms of regular season. So what we lose in POTENTIAL Celebration Bowl airtime/marketing (no guarantee we'd be there), we gain in guaranteed ESPN+ marketing and more regional exposure that has a better chance of being turned into sponsorship $$$ if we play our cards right. That's the basics of the risk & reward space that we're playing in. Scared money don't make money... and this decision is certainly not playing scared. The digital streaming space is where the "new money" is in college athletics at our level. Getting into the game & learning it is a good start.
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Post by Bornthrilla on Feb 11, 2020 15:07:13 GMT -5
If digital streaming is the Next Frontier, we're gonna have to make some serious investment into technology/production upgrades.
Spencer Turkin and Stan Lewter are the best in the business, but we are gonna need similar quality for all the non-revenue sport broadcasts.
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Post by durhamgsoaggie on Feb 11, 2020 15:10:26 GMT -5
If digital streaming is the Next Frontier, we're gonna have to make some serious investment into technology/production upgrades. Spencer and Stan Lewter are the best in the business, but we are gonna need similar quality for all the non-revenue sport broadcasts. Bingo. My understanding was that part of Hampton's negotiation with the BSC was for assistance with video equipment procurement for non-revenue sports. So how fast we get up to speed there is something to keep our eyes on. And Spencer already does baseball for the SoCon Network and will be doing radio for our baseball this year. It's just a matter of being ready for the 2022 baseball season.
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VA's Finest
Official BDF member
BDF Riders
Posts: 3,001
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Post by VA's Finest on Feb 11, 2020 18:37:11 GMT -5
If we are playing it by the numbers then, I don't have an issue. Is it uncomfortable...YES. But, we will adapt. Very uncomfortable. Deep down inside, I want all HBCUs to thrive and be successful. I want to see NCCU get their enrollment over 10,000 students. I want SCSU & Bethune to both get back to stability. Hell, I even want FAMU to actually build that crazy stadium complex they were talking about a few years ago. But at the same time, a stronger MEAC conference would have us looking rather silly in retrospect. That is the bittersweet thing about this whole deal. Hopefully T's move is the catalysts to make the other institutions stronger and ultimately make the MEAC great, and if that's the case then we still played a part in the process. Let's say others became complacent because T was the standard bearer, now that we're gone someone steps up to carry the flag or collectively the remaining schools carry their weight and bring the MEAC to the forefront of FCS conferences. This may not have occurred with T Still shouldering the load. Food for thought.
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Post by aggieblackie2 on Feb 11, 2020 23:44:32 GMT -5
The move itself.
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Post by AggiePride on Feb 12, 2020 12:42:04 GMT -5
Hypo: What if this was a move for all sports but football, do you think Aggies and others would care as much?
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Post by Bornthrilla on Feb 12, 2020 12:49:17 GMT -5
I think our large fanbase in the DMV area would still miss have conference basketball games and big MEAC track meets in their backyard.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2020 14:04:37 GMT -5
The AAF President and Steve Rush's mom responds.
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Post by Bornthrilla on Feb 12, 2020 14:16:21 GMT -5
C'mon, man. She's the president of the AAF and a member of the committee that recommended this move. Not just Steve Rush's mom.
Let's give her credentials the proper respect.
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Post by thefriscotxaggie on Feb 12, 2020 15:43:10 GMT -5
And a former Lady Aggie basketball player....We were at T a the same time
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2020 15:44:59 GMT -5
And a former Lady Aggie basketball player....We were at T a the same time I read she was a pretty great baller for the Lady Aggies. I see where Steve got his skills from. It’s apparent she has the best interests of A&T at heart.
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