John Cunningham: UC Increasing Media Revenue 'More Than Two Times' With Big 12 Move

The Bearcats athletic director met with the media on Monday afternoon.

© Albert Cesare / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

CINCINNATI — UC is officially joining the Big 12 in 2023, and athletic director John Cunningham met with the media on Monday and discussed all the specifics. Here is the best of what he had to say during a momentous time for UC athletics.

On the share of Big 12 media rights starting with the new deal in 2025:

Yes, when the new television contract is completed in 2025, we will be a full member at that time. ... I won't talk specific numbers (on exact TV revenue) on what that will be but it will be more than two times what we were making in the American Athletic Conference in terms of television rights.

On the increased travel/logistical costs in the Big 12:

We've had a lot of discussions about that obviously over the last several months, and we know travel-wise there'll be some additional expenses. We know that we are going to have to step up in certain areas, and so we are starting to build that all out in a three- five- seven-year timeline in terms of how we budget this, but we expect to compete day one.

On new format for divisions and conference championships in the Big 12:

I think they are pretty close (to coming up with a format), we got a couple of decisions left to be made there, but obviously, we've been having these discussions with the possibility that we might be in the conference in 2023. So we are getting there.

On adding another program like softball or hockey:

You know, when we spoke to the Big 12 initially back in August we asked that question "Is there a need to add a program?" in order to fit into the Big 12 and there was not. So it's not something that we have to do, mandated by the Big 12 in any way. But certainly, as we go forward and look at what makes sense in that conference, we'll explore different possibilities down the line. So I wouldn't say yes or no at this point.

On where UC stands in the NIL environment:

We had over 200 deals (this past year) combined over $1 million worth of those deals, and we had great partnerships with local businesses. We had one of the best players on one of the best teams in Desmond Ridder. He was able to take advantage of it and deservingly so.

You look at the Skyline Chili thing we did with our offensive line. That's exactly the way this is supposed to work where you have a local business that says, "Hey, we can add value here." by attaching themselves to our offensive linemen. One offensive lineman specifically kind of bringing the other along with them. They've gotta take the time to go do the commercial and really learn a little bit of business along the way and put in the time and effort to get it done. Then it kind of works for everybody.

🧀 Block of the Week 🧀
While we serve the finest chili, the @GoBearcatsFB Team's Offensive Line serves up the pancakes. On 11/6, a powerful pancake block by @JakeRenfro_ (with major help from @jcoop_2018) was the cheese-worthy hit in UC’s 9th win of the season. pic.twitter.com/8l41A3Oo25

— Skyline Chili (@Skyline_Chili) November 12, 2021

That's how it's supposed to work, but like you said, there's things going on right now that don't feel like that—Feels like something else—Feels like pay for play. So we gotta be aware of that. We're certainly not going to back down to anybody in terms of how we approach being competitive as possible, but we are going to do it within our values.

On expanding Nippert Stadium:

You know demand is good when it comes to ticket sales. We have demand right now, and we are going to have demand for a while. This is the first time that we've ever sold out season tickets in Nippert, that we can remember. So, let's ride the demand wave for a while and fill Nippert up, make it a really special venue like it is, and increase it, and just make it a really, really tough place for opposing teams to come in and play. But certainly down the line, we gotta explore what an expansion of Nippert would look like if the demand continues to be there.

I believe it will, so we'll look at that at the appropriate time. There are discussions.

On the timeline for early Big 12 success in multiple sports:

To be perfectly honest I think it depends on the sport. We recognize that going into the Big 12, some of our sports are going to have a bigger runway than the others to be ready to compete and win championships, and that's just something that we'll deal with and look at. But for sure, we gotta go in in football, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, we gotta go in in some of those sports and be ready day one. So that's really what we are focused on.

On the Big 12 announcement impacting recruiting:

I think absolutely when you talk to our coaches—they are in on recruits they've never been in on before, and certainly, the level of recruit is rising across every one of our sports. Football-wise, Coach Fickell does an amazing job, and just the culture of football is what's driving that in my mind, and him specifically and who he is, the nine guys we put in the NFL.

So, I think we were going to be successful no matter what, but certainly, the talent is going to increase overall because of the Big 12 for sure.

Watch Cunningham's full press conference below.

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