I'm a Hawaii fan first (undergrad), Cal fan second (where I went to grad school). Was chatting about college football on the Hawaii message boards and someone from Hawaii who went to the Cal-Hawaii game in Australia brought up a good point that seems relevant today.

He said the Australians enjoyed the game, bought tons of merchandise. He said we "played in Sydney Olympic Stadium hats and shirts were Sold Out even before the Game got started ! I still wear that hat and shirt proudly since NO one on our tour of 3 buses got any !."

Ok, back to topic.

Could it be the "Hawaii (or the Pac-12) is close to Asia, so Hawaii/Pac-12 could be Asia's favorite team/conference" talk was actually just ahead of its time - but ultimately True? Here's why.

Before, in the age of only cable television where I would doubt the channels I can barely get in SF without paying $10 more per month (ie CBS Sports) would be readily available by the Australian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino cable provider. Just too complicated. Think Pac-12 Network woes.

"Hawaii (or the Pac-12) is closer to Asia, so they get the market" that was a pipe dream…

BUT… 2022 enter streaming services.

In the Streaming world (Netflix, Disney, Paramount, YouTube, etc) they are not as limited geographically compared to cable tv.

An Australian could log onto their Netflix account and see the same content as an American. If we were just limited to cable, I'd say that's difficult. But streaming? Easy. Hawaii should play more games in Australia then. Or the Philippines.

Hawaii could be the Halem Globetrotters (literally). PAC-12 worried about East Coast eyeballs? F 'em. We (pac-12 + Hawaii) got Asia.

The time zone. 6pm PST kickoff is late morning in Australia on Sunday. 9pm PST Hawaii kickoff is 1pm Sunday afternoon in Australia with nothing else on from the United States. The NFL games fall on their Monday. Australians been loving the Super Bowl (the announcers in the Cal-Hawaii game mention that).

The other thing is Week Zero is great for cable and Streaming subscriptions because if you want to watch a particular game at Week Zero, you subscribe and probably will keep that channel/stream until end of the season knowing you might watch more games. Playing at Hawaii gets the Hawaii Exemption (extra game, so 13 games in regular season) and the Week Zero rule allows the team that played at Hawaii to start the season a week earlier than everyone else.

Cal vs Hawaii took advantage of those rules and was one of the first games played in 2016.

The US viewers to subscribe. The Asian viewers to subscribe.

Is Streaming a game changer for Hawaii and the Pac-12 for the International Market?

Hawaii should schedule Week Zero in Asia/Australia every season with the Pac-12. Different country on rotation. Hawaii vs ____ and then promote the Hawaii/Pac-12 schedule, the players, the travel packages, etc.

The cheers were loudest for… HAWAII or CAL?

I didn't go to the game in Australia. Instead watched it at Paina Sports Bar in SF Japantown with my family and Cal buddies.

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I'm a Hawaii fan first (undergrad), Cal fan second (where I went to grad school). Was chatting about college football on the Hawaii message boards and someone from Hawaii who went to the Cal-Hawaii game in Australia brought up a good point that seems relevant today.

He said the Australians enjoyed the game, bought tons of merchandise. He said we "played in Sydney Olympic Stadium hats and shirts were Sold Out even before the Game got started ! I still wear that hat and shirt proudly since NO one on our tour of 3 buses got any !."

Ok, back to topic.

Could it be the "Hawaii (or the Pac-12) is close to Asia, so Hawaii/Pac-12 could be Asia's favorite team/conference" talk was actually just ahead of its time - but ultimately True? Here's why.

Before, in the age of only cable television where I would doubt the channels I can barely get in SF without paying $10 more per month (ie CBS Sports) would be readily available by the Australian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino cable provider. Just too complicated. Think Pac-12 Network woes.

"Hawaii (or the Pac-12) is closer to Asia, so they get the market" that was a pipe dream…

BUT… 2022 enter streaming services.

In the Streaming world (Netflix, Disney, Paramount, YouTube, etc) they are not as limited geographically compared to cable tv.

An Australian could log onto their Netflix account and see the same content as an American. If we were just limited to cable, I'd say that's difficult. But streaming? Easy. Hawaii should play more games in Australia then. Or the Philippines.

Hawaii could be the Halem Globetrotters (literally). PAC-12 worried about East Coast eyeballs? F 'em. We (pac-12 + Hawaii) got Asia.

The time zone. 6pm PST kickoff is late morning in Australia on Sunday. 9pm PST Hawaii kickoff is 1pm Sunday afternoon in Australia with nothing else on from the United States. The NFL games fall on their Monday. Australians been loving the Super Bowl (the announcers in the Cal-Hawaii game mention that).

The other thing is Week Zero is great for cable and Streaming subscriptions because if you want to watch a particular game at Week Zero, you subscribe and probably will keep that channel/stream until end of the season knowing you might watch more games. Playing at Hawaii gets the Hawaii Exemption (extra game, so 13 games in regular season) and the Week Zero rule allows the team that played at Hawaii to start the season a week earlier than everyone else.

Cal vs Hawaii took advantage of those rules and was one of the first games played in 2016.

The US viewers to subscribe. The Asian viewers to subscribe.

Is Streaming a game changer for Hawaii and the Pac-12 for the International Market?

Hawaii should schedule Week Zero in Asia/Australia every season with the Pac-12. Different country on rotation. Hawaii vs ____ and then promote the Hawaii/Pac-12 schedule, the players, the travel packages, etc.

The cheers were loudest for… HAWAII or CAL?

---

Hawaii is my second favorite team. I live in Guam, same time zone as Sydney, an hour ahead of Tokyo. Agree with your thoughts. The PAC and Hawaii have the Saturday night East Coat, Sunday morning in Asia slot to ourselves. Both are valuable but need to be developed.

Hawaii just announced they are moving ahead with a new $400 million stadium. I really think Hawaii could develop a great brand that is different and interesting for TV viewers. And of course, California too. I've long been for a late season "California and Hawaii Sugar Classic" sponsored by C&H (even though they get none of their sugar from Hawaii now).

There are three time slots we could own: 6:00 pm EST, 9:00 pm EST and (from Hawaii) midnight EST. Those are 11 am, 2 pm and 5 pm Sunday in Sydney. Instead of looking at our location as a disadvantage, it should be seen as an advantage if it is developed.

We should add Hawaii to the Pac, and to OP's point put a stranglehold on the australia+SE asia market lol. You could pitch "if we can even grab .1% of this market it would put UCLA/USC to shame" to the tv executives

That game looked awesome, I should have gone. Lots of stories of bewildered-but-clearly-interested Australia fans making it out to their first american football game and enjoying themselves while having very little idea what was going on

Seriously though there way worse options. Pair them with SDSU and a few others strictly for the interesting road trips

I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

---

East Coast has the potential to become a crock, but it is the stew right now.

Development of the Asia or global market is intriguing and might be the lever that could trump the B1G market. I assume that Kliav and the remaining Pac ADs have pitched this to ESPN or whoever.


The problem with it might be that the rest of the world might look at the lunatic self-interested back stabbing that's going on right now and saying "No thanks."

SadbutTrue999 said:

---

We should add Hawaii to the Pac, and to OP's point put a stranglehold on the australia+SE asia market lol. You could pitch "if we can even grab .1% of this market it would put UCLA/USC to shame" to the tv executives

That game looked awesome, I should have gone. Lots of stories of bewildered-but-clearly-interested Australia fans making it out to their first american football game and enjoying themselves while having very little idea what was going on

Seriously though there way worse options. Pair them with SDSU and a few others strictly for the interesting road trips

---

Add Japan and S Korea to the mix.

Send hs coaches to the Pac Rim to hold development workshops for hs's in those places. Plus, air edu stuff on their local stations.Lots of ideas wait to be voiced and implemented.

I would love to see a "Last Chance U" like series exclusively of PAC-12 and Hawaii featuring international student athletes is a few different sports at different schools (Hawaii Men's Volleyball - National Champs), Cal (football), UW, Oregon, etc Men's and Women's. This would be in conjunction with the Streaming service of games, co-marketing and branding.

I saw an interview that there's the PAC-12 Network up for renewal, but the conference could need to throw 3-4 games a week to a Streaming service, and get more revenue that way.

I love this idea. Of course, if it were profitable, the other teams would just move in and steamroll us, but it's worth a try. If Pacific Islanders became the primary feeder for this league, the o-lines and d-lines would benefit….immensely.

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

---

How is this any different than what Larry Scott was trying to sell?

mbBear said:

---

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

---

How is this any different than what Larry Scott was trying to sell?

---

Real deal vs smoke and mirrors?

ignoring all the travel and associated issues for a moment... does Hawaii have much of a fan base? I just checked and attendance for their last couple home games was 6k.

Pre-covid, they won 10 games in 2019. They hosted a PAC12 team (UA) for their home opener. Official attendance: 22k.

If people in Hawaii don't want to watch Hawaii football why would people in other countries?

mbBear said:

---

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

---

How is this any different than what Larry Scott was trying to sell?

---

I think Larry & Co saw the potential but it was too soon.

- Other than Football, it might be wayyy too soon for other sports. In Asia, they don't really follow college athletics like they do in the US. Larry thought the prestige of the Conference of Champions would just beckon the poor unwashed on the other continent to care about sports even Americans hardly care about. Reality, people want to watch American football, the athleticism and brutality of the sport.

- Football viewing can benefit from Streaming and the global success of the NFL Super Bowl. Global Streaming Services being the new thing that Larry didn't have in 2013. When the PAC-12 Network was having a hard time being seen regionally or nationally - Netflix was growing basically a movies/shows library accessible by the entire world. There was Netflix and that's it. Now these huge companies are getting into Streaming and willing to pay up the nose for Market Share - so we are sort of in a bubble.


- I think Australia/New Zealand is the top market, followed by the Philippines (they love American pop culture and basketball, and they haven't done much in soccer), then Japan, then maybe the rest. Australians have more familiarity with American Football - they've had some players come and play in the NFL. Philippines, while less wealthy, they really like what Americans like: basketball, maybe football, boxing/MMA


Bottomline is Larry didn't have the Streaming service arms race $$$ of 2022. Was probably trying to create the "Netflix for college sports" without the know how and funding. And the PAC-12 wasn't in a crisis so business as usual. Instead of a strategy for Asia to differentiate; Asia/Pacific was a nice to have.

The PAC-12 was patting their own backs about the equal revenue share that did not result in a rising sea of all schools improving (in 2013, they thought that would play out differently). The on-field results didn't remarkably change. The league was feeling great that all the team websites were uniform. And they thought that funding from the Championship game would be enough (I'm just saying the Conference network didn't work out and that leaves less revenue). Moving to SOMA from Walnut Creek (create the "Netflix of sports").

Anyways, Larry early years were when the conventional way of working still had legs, and if only we got more teams in the playoffs thing would be different.

We are in different times.

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I'm a Hawaii fan first (undergrad), Cal fan second (where I went to grad school). Was chatting about college football on the Hawaii message boards and someone from Hawaii who went to the Cal-Hawaii game in Australia brought up a good point that seems relevant today.

He said the Australians enjoyed the game, bought tons of merchandise. He said we "played in Sydney Olympic Stadium hats and shirts were Sold Out even before the Game got started ! I still wear that hat and shirt proudly since NO one on our tour of 3 buses got any !."

Ok, back to topic.

Could it be the "Hawaii (or the Pac-12) is close to Asia, so Hawaii/Pac-12 could be Asia's favorite team/conference" talk was actually just ahead of its time - but ultimately True? Here's why.

Before, in the age of only cable television where I would doubt the channels I can barely get in SF without paying $10 more per month (ie CBS Sports) would be readily available by the Australian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino cable provider. Just too complicated. Think Pac-12 Network woes.

"Hawaii (or the Pac-12) is closer to Asia, so they get the market" that was a pipe dream…

BUT… 2022 enter streaming services.

In the Streaming world (Netflix, Disney, Paramount, YouTube, etc) they are not as limited geographically compared to cable tv.

An Australian could log onto their Netflix account and see the same content as an American. If we were just limited to cable, I'd say that's difficult. But streaming? Easy. Hawaii should play more games in Australia then. Or the Philippines.

Hawaii could be the Halem Globetrotters (literally). PAC-12 worried about East Coast eyeballs? F 'em. We (pac-12 + Hawaii) got Asia.

The time zone. 6pm PST kickoff is late morning in Australia on Sunday. 9pm PST Hawaii kickoff is 1pm Sunday afternoon in Australia with nothing else on from the United States. The NFL games fall on their Monday. Australians been loving the Super Bowl (the announcers in the Cal-Hawaii game mention that).

The other thing is Week Zero is great for cable and Streaming subscriptions because if you want to watch a particular game at Week Zero, you subscribe and probably will keep that channel/stream until end of the season knowing you might watch more games. Playing at Hawaii gets the Hawaii Exemption (extra game, so 13 games in regular season) and the Week Zero rule allows the team that played at Hawaii to start the season a week earlier than everyone else.

Cal vs Hawaii took advantage of those rules and was one of the first games played in 2016.

The US viewers to subscribe. The Asian viewers to subscribe.

Is Streaming a game changer for Hawaii and the Pac-12 for the International Market?

Hawaii should schedule Week Zero in Asia/Australia every season with the Pac-12. Different country on rotation. Hawaii vs ____ and then promote the Hawaii/Pac-12 schedule, the players, the travel packages, etc.

The cheers were loudest for… HAWAII or CAL?

---

LOL our defense in that game. But miss the passing offense big time.

Hawaii Haas said:

---

mbBear said:

---

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

---

How is this any different than what Larry Scott was trying to sell?

---

I think Larry & Co saw the potential but it was too soon.

- Other than Football, it might be wayyy too soon for other sports. In Asia, they don't really follow college athletics like they do in the US. Larry thought the prestige of the Conference of Champions would just beckon the poor unwashed on the other continent to care about sports even Americans hardly care about. Reality, people want to watch American football, the athleticism and brutality of the sport.

- Football viewing can benefit from Streaming and the global success of the NFL Super Bowl. Global Streaming Services being the new thing that Larry didn't have in 2013. When the PAC-12 Network was having a hard time being seen regionally or nationally - Netflix was growing basically a movies/shows library accessible by the entire world. There was Netflix and that's it. Now these huge companies are getting into Streaming and willing to pay up the nose for Market Share - so we are sort of in a bubble.


- I think Australia/New Zealand is the top market, followed by the Philippines (they love American pop culture and basketball, and they haven't done much in soccer), then Japan, then maybe the rest. Australians have more familiarity with American Football - they've had some players come and play in the NFL. Philippines, while less wealthy, they really like what Americans like: basketball, maybe football, boxing/MMA


Bottomline is Larry didn't have the Streaming service arms race $$$ of 2022. Was probably trying to create the "Netflix for college sports" without the know how and funding. And the PAC-12 wasn't in a crisis so business as usual. Instead of a strategy for Asia to differentiate; Asia/Pacific was a nice to have.

The PAC-12 was patting their own backs about the equal revenue share that did not result in a rising sea of all schools improving (in 2013, they thought that would play out differently). The on-field results didn't remarkably change. The league was feeling great that all the team websites were uniform. And they thought that funding from the Championship game would be enough (I'm just saying the Conference network didn't work out and that leaves less revenue). Moving to SOMA from Walnut Creek (create the "Netflix of sports").

Anyways, Larry early years were when the conventional way of working still had legs, and if only we got more teams in the playoffs thing would be different.

We are in different times.

---

This is a really good post.

My two cents on Larry is:

1) Larry was tone deaf on costs on way too many other things. I don't know of George has what it takes to get the Pac into survival mode, but George gets it, as the kids say.

2) Larry has some visionary ideas, but his timing and execution were just incredibly awful. He needed a COO who knew football and could actually get things done.

3) His strategic understanding of college sports was awful. He should have been educating his college CEOs on how to put football first and market the football product. It is a hard conversation to have with CEO's who get vet excited about championships in non-revenue sports, and Larry either didn't have the backbone to do it, or just didn't understand what was happening. As soon as Texas A&M moved to the SEC, every Commissioner should have understood the economics driving that decision, and that was almost a decade ago, The B1G got it right and went on the offensive.

My two cents on the Australia game and visit is we had a fantastic time, and I hope the players did as well.

wifeisafurd said:

---

Hawaii Haas said:

---

mbBear said:

---

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

---

How is this any different than what Larry Scott was trying to sell?

---

I think Larry & Co saw the potential but it was too soon.

- Other than Football, it might be wayyy too soon for other sports. In Asia, they don't really follow college athletics like they do in the US. Larry thought the prestige of the Conference of Champions would just beckon the poor unwashed on the other continent to care about sports even Americans hardly care about. Reality, people want to watch American football, the athleticism and brutality of the sport.

- Football viewing can benefit from Streaming and the global success of the NFL Super Bowl. Global Streaming Services being the new thing that Larry didn't have in 2013. When the PAC-12 Network was having a hard time being seen regionally or nationally - Netflix was growing basically a movies/shows library accessible by the entire world. There was Netflix and that's it. Now these huge companies are getting into Streaming and willing to pay up the nose for Market Share - so we are sort of in a bubble.


- I think Australia/New Zealand is the top market, followed by the Philippines (they love American pop culture and basketball, and they haven't done much in soccer), then Japan, then maybe the rest. Australians have more familiarity with American Football - they've had some players come and play in the NFL. Philippines, while less wealthy, they really like what Americans like: basketball, maybe football, boxing/MMA


Bottomline is Larry didn't have the Streaming service arms race $$$ of 2022. Was probably trying to create the "Netflix for college sports" without the know how and funding. And the PAC-12 wasn't in a crisis so business as usual. Instead of a strategy for Asia to differentiate; Asia/Pacific was a nice to have.

The PAC-12 was patting their own backs about the equal revenue share that did not result in a rising sea of all schools improving (in 2013, they thought that would play out differently). The on-field results didn't remarkably change. The league was feeling great that all the team websites were uniform. And they thought that funding from the Championship game would be enough (I'm just saying the Conference network didn't work out and that leaves less revenue). Moving to SOMA from Walnut Creek (create the "Netflix of sports").

Anyways, Larry early years were when the conventional way of working still had legs, and if only we got more teams in the playoffs thing would be different.

We are in different times.

---

This is a really good post.

My two cents on Larry is:

1) Larry was tone deaf on costs on way too many other things. I don't know of George has what it takes to get the Pac into survival mode, but George gets it, as the kids say.

2) Larry has some visionary ideas, but his timing and execution were just incredibly awful. He needed a COO who knew football and could actually get things done.

3) His strategic understanding of college sports was awful. He should have been educating his college CEOs on how to put football first and market the football product. It is a hard conversation to have with CEO's who get vet excited about championships in non-revenue sports, and Larry either didn't have the backbone to do it, or just didn't understand what was happening. As soon as Texas A&M moved to the SEC, every Commissioner should have understood the economics driving that decision, and that was almost a decade ago, The B1G got it right and went on the offensive.

My two cents on the Australia game and visit is we had a fantastic time, and I hope the players did as well.

---

Larry saw what a lot of people saw. Streaming was coming and millennials were getting Netflix instead of cable. The warning signs for cable going away and streaming taking its place were there and I remember having those conversations at the time with a lot of people.

The problem? The cable companies noticed it too. They also noticed that they had one thing that Netflix/Hulu didn't. People are happy to skip commercials. They are happy to wait til the next day for the right to do so. Waiting to binge watch a tv show was starting to become a thing...for tv shows.

For sports people were still tuning in to watch in real time. They were, for the most part, watching commercials watching it live and in real time. Cable companies realized their very survival was predicated on the offering of live sports, something no one else was offering.

So instead of the Pac12 network starting the wave of moving live sports to dedicated live streaming platforms cutting out the middle man, cable networks started overpaying for exclusive access to live sporting content. Spend a billion dollars on college football so people get that cable subscription and end up paying 150 bucks a month for the rest of your offerings as well. That doesn't even get into the fact it brings in more advertisers who know they have a captive audience who will pay more for those slots. There is a reason that the Super Bowl has been a marquee advertising event for decades...

I wouldn't be surprised if the very creation of the Pac12 network...a network designed to cut out the middle man (fox/espn) and bring the product directly to consumers, didn't piss off the likes of ESPN/Fox. The Pac12 network was positioning itself to make them obsolete...forcing them to pony up. And pony up they did...spending out the nose to keep NBA, NFL, MLB, College Football, etc, off of dedicated streaming platforms and part of their cable bundles.

As far as emphasizing the non Football sports...the pac12 network was *designed* to do it and it was fundamental to its creation. Why do we need 7 pac12 channels for 12 teams? If you have 7 channels you need 7 channels worth of content, and you can only replay old football/basketball games so many times. 7 networks was created under the premise that people would want to watch the non revenue sports. In hindsight we would have been MUCH better off with 2 channels, a primary for the main show and a secondary for overrun during football/basketball games that could literally show nothing when there wasn't a conflict.

That likely would have cut down costs for the pac12 network substantially (it costs something to televise non rev sports that no one is watching). It also likely would have preserved the DirecTV deal which would have put us in a very different place right now.

Either this emphasis and spending on non revenue sports was driven to Larry (who was a tennis guy) by the Presidents/AD's of the pac12...or he brought it with him/cultured it. Either way I don't think he was emphasizing football or trying to sell that to the Pac12 AD's at all. Or if he was, he wasn't showing it with his actions.

Hawaii Haas said:

---

mbBear said:

---

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

---

How is this any different than what Larry Scott was trying to sell?

---

I think Larry & Co saw the potential but it was too soon.

- Other than Football, it might be wayyy too soon for other sports. In Asia, they don't really follow college athletics like they do in the US. Larry thought the prestige of the Conference of Champions would just beckon the poor unwashed on the other continent to care about sports even Americans hardly care about. Reality, people want to watch American football, the athleticism and brutality of the sport.

- Football viewing can benefit from Streaming and the global success of the NFL Super Bowl. Global Streaming Services being the new thing that Larry didn't have in 2013. When the PAC-12 Network was having a hard time being seen regionally or nationally - Netflix was growing basically a movies/shows library accessible by the entire world. There was Netflix and that's it. Now these huge companies are getting into Streaming and willing to pay up the nose for Market Share - so we are sort of in a bubble.


- I think Australia/New Zealand is the top market, followed by the Philippines (they love American pop culture and basketball, and they haven't done much in soccer), then Japan, then maybe the rest. Australians have more familiarity with American Football - they've had some players come and play in the NFL. Philippines, while less wealthy, they really like what Americans like: basketball, maybe football, boxing/MMA


Bottomline is Larry didn't have the Streaming service arms race $$$ of 2022. Was probably trying to create the "Netflix for college sports" without the know how and funding. And the PAC-12 wasn't in a crisis so business as usual. Instead of a strategy for Asia to differentiate; Asia/Pacific was a nice to have.

The PAC-12 was patting their own backs about the equal revenue share that did not result in a rising sea of all schools improving (in 2013, they thought that would play out differently). The on-field results didn't remarkably change. The league was feeling great that all the team websites were uniform. And they thought that funding from the Championship game would be enough (I'm just saying the Conference network didn't work out and that leaves less revenue). Moving to SOMA from Walnut Creek (create the "Netflix of sports").

Anyways, Larry early years were when the conventional way of working still had legs, and if only we got more teams in the playoffs thing would be different.

We are in different times.

---

No question the streaming services have increased their interest in sports rights ownership. I couldn't be more ignorant about the American football interest anywhere west of Catalina Island; though my long time Cal roommate and friend lived in Hawaii for a lot of years, bought Bows season tickets, but remained unimpressed in the overall interest. To be fair, Hawaii football has a pretty set market to draw from, in Honolulu...and though that's bigger than a lot of SEC cities, though don't have the ability to draw from good size cities a 2 hour drive away. Even Oregon and Arizona are in better shape in terms of a population center...
I do know that people with a better understanding than I thought that what Scott was talking about would be an expensive marketing effort....but, you have to spend money to make money as the cliche goes.
However, if I were working for Amazon, Apple +,et. al. I would certainly be looking to see how to expand the footprint of soccer, first and foremost, because the growth, when you include the women's game, doesn't seem to stop. The NFL seems to be always a good barometer...the NBA as well, who have shown interest in the areas you are talking about.

MrGPAC said:

---

wifeisafurd said:

---

Hawaii Haas said:

---

mbBear said:

---

Hawaii Haas said:

---

I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

---

How is this any different than what Larry Scott was trying to sell?

---

I think Larry & Co saw the potential but it was too soon.

- Other than Football, it might be wayyy too soon for other sports. In Asia, they don't really follow college athletics like they do in the US. Larry thought the prestige of the Conference of Champions would just beckon the poor unwashed on the other continent to care about sports even Americans hardly care about. Reality, people want to watch American football, the athleticism and brutality of the sport.

- Football viewing can benefit from Streaming and the global success of the NFL Super Bowl. Global Streaming Services being the new thing that Larry didn't have in 2013. When the PAC-12 Network was having a hard time being seen regionally or nationally - Netflix was growing basically a movies/shows library accessible by the entire world. There was Netflix and that's it. Now these huge companies are getting into Streaming and willing to pay up the nose for Market Share - so we are sort of in a bubble.


- I think Australia/New Zealand is the top market, followed by the Philippines (they love American pop culture and basketball, and they haven't done much in soccer), then Japan, then maybe the rest. Australians have more familiarity with American Football - they've had some players come and play in the NFL. Philippines, while less wealthy, they really like what Americans like: basketball, maybe football, boxing/MMA


Bottomline is Larry didn't have the Streaming service arms race $$$ of 2022. Was probably trying to create the "Netflix for college sports" without the know how and funding. And the PAC-12 wasn't in a crisis so business as usual. Instead of a strategy for Asia to differentiate; Asia/Pacific was a nice to have.

The PAC-12 was patting their own backs about the equal revenue share that did not result in a rising sea of all schools improving (in 2013, they thought that would play out differently). The on-field results didn't remarkably change. The league was feeling great that all the team websites were uniform. And they thought that funding from the Championship game would be enough (I'm just saying the Conference network didn't work out and that leaves less revenue). Moving to SOMA from Walnut Creek (create the "Netflix of sports").

Anyways, Larry early years were when the conventional way of working still had legs, and if only we got more teams in the playoffs thing would be different.

We are in different times.

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This is a really good post.

My two cents on Larry is:

1) Larry was tone deaf on costs on way too many other things. I don't know of George has what it takes to get the Pac into survival mode, but George gets it, as the kids say.

2) Larry has some visionary ideas, but his timing and execution were just incredibly awful. He needed a COO who knew football and could actually get things done.

3) His strategic understanding of college sports was awful. He should have been educating his college CEOs on how to put football first and market the football product. It is a hard conversation to have with CEO's who get vet excited about championships in non-revenue sports, and Larry either didn't have the backbone to do it, or just didn't understand what was happening. As soon as Texas A&M moved to the SEC, every Commissioner should have understood the economics driving that decision, and that was almost a decade ago, The B1G got it right and went on the offensive.

My two cents on the Australia game and visit is we had a fantastic time, and I hope the players did as well.

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Larry saw what a lot of people saw. Streaming was coming and millennials were getting Netflix instead of cable. The warning signs for cable going away and streaming taking its place were there and I remember having those conversations at the time with a lot of people.

The problem? The cable companies noticed it too. They also noticed that they had one thing that Netflix/Hulu didn't. People are happy to skip commercials. They are happy to wait til the next day for the right to do so. Waiting to binge watch a tv show was starting to become a thing...for tv shows.

For sports people were still tuning in to watch in real time. They were, for the most part, watching commercials watching it live and in real time. Cable companies realized their very survival was predicated on the offering of live sports, something no one else was offering.

So instead of the Pac12 network starting the wave of moving live sports to dedicated live streaming platforms cutting out the middle man, cable networks started overpaying for exclusive access to live sporting content. Spend a billion dollars on college football so people get that cable subscription and end up paying 150 bucks a month for the rest of your offerings as well. That doesn't even get into the fact it brings in more advertisers who know they have a captive audience who will pay more for those slots. There is a reason that the Super Bowl has been a marquee advertising event for decades...

I wouldn't be surprised if the very creation of the Pac12 network...a network designed to cut out the middle man (fox/espn) and bring the product directly to consumers, didn't piss off the likes of ESPN/Fox. The Pac12 network was positioning itself to make them obsolete...forcing them to pony up. And pony up they did...spending out the nose to keep NBA, NFL, MLB, College Football, etc, off of dedicated streaming platforms and part of their cable bundles.

As far as emphasizing the non Football sports...the pac12 network was *designed* to do it and it was fundamental to its creation. Why do we need 7 pac12 channels for 12 teams? If you have 7 channels you need 7 channels worth of content, and you can only replay old football/basketball games so many times. 7 networks was created under the premise that people would want to watch the non revenue sports. In hindsight we would have been MUCH better off with 2 channels, a primary for the main show and a secondary for overrun during football/basketball games that could literally show nothing when there wasn't a conflict.

That likely would have cut down costs for the pac12 network substantially (it costs something to televise non rev sports that no one is watching). It also likely would have preserved the DirecTV deal which would have put us in a very different place right now.

Either this emphasis and spending on non revenue sports was driven to Larry (who was a tennis guy) by the Presidents/AD's of the pac12...or he brought it with him/cultured it. Either way I don't think he was emphasizing football or trying to sell that to the Pac12 AD's at all. Or if he was, he wasn't showing it with his actions.

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Good read. Will be interesting to see what the new Pac 12 media negations come back with

mbBear said:

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Hawaii Haas said:

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mbBear said:

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Hawaii Haas said:

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I remember hearing a podcast about how Instagram the social media network, was created - which was originally a travel photo sharing site.

The founders said they were surprised that overnight in the US, there was still a lot of activity. They realized that night time in the US is daytime somewhere else in the world.

Anyways, we will live our lives with blinders on if we only think "daytime" is only where we are.

East Coast bias is a crock.

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How is this any different than what Larry Scott was trying to sell?

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I think Larry & Co saw the potential but it was too soon.

- Other than Football, it might be wayyy too soon for other sports. In Asia, they don't really follow college athletics like they do in the US. Larry thought the prestige of the Conference of Champions would just beckon the poor unwashed on the other continent to care about sports even Americans hardly care about. Reality, people want to watch American football, the athleticism and brutality of the sport.

- Football viewing can benefit from Streaming and the global success of the NFL Super Bowl. Global Streaming Services being the new thing that Larry didn't have in 2013. When the PAC-12 Network was having a hard time being seen regionally or nationally - Netflix was growing basically a movies/shows library accessible by the entire world. There was Netflix and that's it. Now these huge companies are getting into Streaming and willing to pay up the nose for Market Share - so we are sort of in a bubble.


- I think Australia/New Zealand is the top market, followed by the Philippines (they love American pop culture and basketball, and they haven't done much in soccer), then Japan, then maybe the rest. Australians have more familiarity with American Football - they've had some players come and play in the NFL. Philippines, while less wealthy, they really like what Americans like: basketball, maybe football, boxing/MMA


Bottomline is Larry didn't have the Streaming service arms race $$$ of 2022. Was probably trying to create the "Netflix for college sports" without the know how and funding. And the PAC-12 wasn't in a crisis so business as usual. Instead of a strategy for Asia to differentiate; Asia/Pacific was a nice to have.

The PAC-12 was patting their own backs about the equal revenue share that did not result in a rising sea of all schools improving (in 2013, they thought that would play out differently). The on-field results didn't remarkably change. The league was feeling great that all the team websites were uniform. And they thought that funding from the Championship game would be enough (I'm just saying the Conference network didn't work out and that leaves less revenue). Moving to SOMA from Walnut Creek (create the "Netflix of sports").

Anyways, Larry early years were when the conventional way of working still had legs, and if only we got more teams in the playoffs thing would be different.

We are in different times.

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No question the streaming services have increased their interest in sports rights ownership. I couldn't be more ignorant about the American football interest anywhere west of Catalina Island; though my long time Cal roommate and friend lived in Hawaii for a lot of years, bought Bows season tickets, but remained unimpressed in the overall interest. To be fair, Hawaii football has a pretty set market to draw from, in Honolulu...and though that's bigger than a lot of SEC cities, though don't have the ability to draw from good size cities a 2 hour drive away. Even Oregon and Arizona are in better shape in terms of a population center...
I do know that people with a better understanding than I thought that what Scott was talking about would be an expensive marketing effort....but, you have to spend money to make money as the cliche goes.
However, if I were working for Amazon, Apple +,et. al. I would certainly be looking to see how to expand the footprint of soccer, first and foremost, because the growth, when you include the women's game, doesn't seem to stop. The NFL seems to be always a good barometer...the NBA as well, who have shown interest in the areas you are talking about.

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I was on BearInsider timeout because I posted too much in a 24 hour period. There were a couple questions about Hawaii's market size and game attendance. I'm not a media expert, but see an angle.

• Hawaii's home market (Honolulu) is ranked #65 in the country with 442K households (for a population of 1.3 million).

• Between 9 - 10 million visitors go to Hawaii each year, a lot from the West Coast and Japan.

• Hawaii had a following for late night ESPN games in the 2000's, top 3 passing offense, and unique football vibe and setting (seeing a live game when the sun is going down when it's midnight on the East Coast; Polynesian players with long hair/tattoos; Haka/Ha'a; mascot with a spear; and crazy games with WAC foes and P5 upsets; and leading passers current head coach Timmy Chang and Heisman finalist Colt Brennan).

• I think the appeal of Hawaii was what Oregon tried to do (during the Mariota years), and that is become America's 2nd Favorite Team.

• In the Streaming Age, does the match-up appeal? Hawaii vs Cal; or does San Diego State vs Cal or UNLV vs Cal, or Boise State vs Cal? Each match up conjures up a different meaning to the football mind (one that has a blood alcohol content of who knows as the evening approaches). For Hawaii home games, there won't be any other games on TV (since 12am EST kick-off).

• I think a big revenue differentiator for Hawaii is the Hawaii Exemption and Week Zero. This next round of media negotiations will see the impact of USC/UCLA leaving. I believe the PAC-12 could benefit from playing an extra game (13th game) due to the Hawaii Exemption.

• Teams that play in Hawaii earn an extra game - can be a home game or away game. If 6 teams play in Hawaii, there can be 6 extra games. The value of this for Hawaii's opponents is really a derivative of the value of the opponents. For Mountain West teams, it is lower value ($3 million for year media revenue), whereas for PAC-12 ($30ish million/team), the value is greater.

• If Streaming come into the picture, the PAC-12 will need to provide 3-4 games a week to the streaming service. More games, more inventory.

• Added Week Zero, the ability to play one week before the rest of college football, and the value of those games increases. Essentially, the ability to play those extra games could pay for a large part of Hawaii's admission. Hawaii and other MWC, make due with $4MM revenue per year from media. It is amazing how efficient they've used their resources.

• Hawaii's 50,000 seat stadium, Aloha Stadium was condemned in 2020 due to safety issues. The nearly 50 year old stadium was built out of steel in a ocean environment and rusted. For safety, they shut it down. Hawaii committed last week to fund $400,000,000 to build a new 30,000 - 35,000 seat stadium on the site of the old stadium, along with having a P3 (public-private partnership) for an entertainment district on the 100 or so acres. The site will be accessible by Oahu's new and long delayed rail system.

• In the meantime, the school is playing their games on their practice field on-campus, which they upped the seat count from like 3,000 to 9,000 in 8 months for the 2021 season. The 2021 season did not have capacity crowds due to COVID stringent protocols.

As far as streaming goes, I don't think the Asian (or really, any foreign country's) market can be bundled in to that of the US. I say this based solely on my experience as a consumer of the MLB app.

As some of you may already know, MLB games are streamed through the MLB app. However, games played by local teams are blacked out. Thus, if you're a SoCal resident wanting a SF Giants or an Oakland As game is fine, until they play one of the SoCal teams, then the game is blacked out. In order to watch a Giants or As game, you have to have a VPN and use an IP address in a different area. If your VPN routes you to Canada, Mexico, or some other country, however, the MLB app will not allow the game to be broadcast on your streaming device.

My best guess is that the MLB (and likely, the NCAA) have put the streaming rights (not to be confused with the TV or radio broadcast rights) of their product into separate bundles or baskets. The US is one bundle/basket and Asia (if not each country in Asia) is a separate bundle/basket. As a result, just because someone has paid for US streaming rights for the MLB (or NCAA) does not mean that person would be able to stream a MLB (or NCAA) game in Asia.

I believe this is also how it works for streaming devices. I suspect if I were to take my Apple TV or my Roku Express and connect it to the internet in Asia (so that it now had an Asian IP address), my device would no longer work. The reasoning behind that, again, would be that my device only had US streaming rights. In order for my device to work in Asia, I'd either have to use a VPN to generate an US IP address for my device or I'd have to sign up for a streaming service in Asia and connect my device to that service.

Of course, none of this means that the Pac can't try to lease/sell its Asia streaming media rights to an intermediate distributor (e.g., ESPN, Fox, CCTV, TBN). However, that may be part of a separate media rights deal. Given the low amount of actual interest in American university athletic events overseas, it'd already be pretty difficult to sell any distributor on a Pac streaming package. That said, it may not be a bad idea for the Pac to create a Pac app for Roku, Firefox, AppleTV, etc. that shows Pac sporting events prime time (in local time zones in Asia/Australia) for free to generate more interest in Pac sports in its next media rights package. Once there are more Pac fans in Asia, then the Pac could negotiate for an even larger contract in the following media rights deal (including charging Asian distributors for the streaming rights).

I actually experienced this first hand when Hawaii and Cal played in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. I was on my way to Tokyo and absolutely had to watch that game. It was on TBS website streaming, but when I logged in - no game because I was international. While in my Tokyo taxi, I downloaded a vpn for my laptop and was able to watch.

I don't know if the same problems would exist on a true Streaming service that is not the NCAA tourney. I know for Hawaii games that get streamed, international fans can access.

What's a bigger brand in Asia?

Berkeley, Stanford, USC, UCLA

Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Norte Dame

01Bear said:

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As far as streaming goes, I don't think the Asian (or really, any foreign country's) market can be bundled in to that of the US. I say this based solely on my experience as a consumer of the MLB app.

As some of you may already know, MLB games are streamed through the MLB app. However, games played by local teams are blacked out. Thus, if you're a SoCal resident wanting a SF Giants or an Oakland As game is fine, until they play one of the SoCal teams, then the game is blacked out. In order to watch a Giants or As game, you have to have a VPN and use an IP address in a different area. If your VPN routes you to Canada, Mexico, or some other country, however, the MLB app will not allow the game to be broadcast on your streaming device.

My best guess is that the MLB (and likely, the NCAA) have put the streaming rights (not to be confused with the TV or radio broadcast rights) of their product into separate bundles or baskets. The US is one bundle/basket and Asia (if not each country in Asia) is a separate bundle/basket. As a result, just because someone has paid for US streaming rights for the MLB (or NCAA) does not mean that person would be able to stream a MLB (or NCAA) game in Asia.

I believe this is also how it works for streaming devices. I suspect if I were to take my Apple TV or my Roku Express and connect it to the internet in Asia (so that it now had an Asian IP address), my device would no longer work. The reasoning behind that, again, would be that my device only had US streaming rights. In order for my device to work in Asia, I'd either have to use a VPN to generate an US IP address for my device or I'd have to sign up for a streaming service in Asia and connect my device to that service.

Of course, none of this means that the Pac can't try to lease/sell its Asia streaming media rights to an intermediate distributor (e.g., ESPN, Fox, CCTV, TBN). However, that may be part of a separate media rights deal. Given the low amount of actual interest in American university athletic events overseas, it'd already be pretty difficult to sell any distributor on a Pac streaming package. That said, it may not be a bad idea for the Pac to create a Pac app for Roku, Firefox, AppleTV, etc. that shows Pac sporting events prime time (in local time zones in Asia/Australia) for free to generate more interest in Pac sports in its next media rights package. Once there are more Pac fans in Asia, then the Pac could negotiate for an even larger contract in the following media rights deal (including charging Asian distributors for the streaming rights).

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Someone who understands this please explain to me why a streaming service would block its own business "outside the US"? I come across this ("not available outside the US") often in Guam which is doubly frustrating because Guam is part of the US.

Why not allow anyone anywhere who pays the subscription to stream your content?

I feel like that's the old way of doing business, where TBS or ESPN makes you login using your cable subscription account: Cox, Charter, Xfinity, Direct TV, etc

(the regional gatekeepers and middlemen)

Streaming = no cable
No cable = global distribution


I'm not an expert, but this seems logical

Hawaii Haas said:

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I feel like that's the old way of doing business, where TBS or ESPN makes you login using your cable subscription account: Cox, Charter, Xfinity, Direct TV, etc

(the regional gatekeepers and middlemen)

Streaming = no cable
No cable = global distribution


I'm not an expert, but this seems logical

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All about monetization. The "old way" meant monthly per sub payment to the programmer...obviously, you have an ESPN offering streaming, but at a cost. "Global distribution" sounds good, but what's the money making model. Advertising buy-in at some point? You need the metric to show them the eyeballs...not just because you are "available" in millions of homes.

mbBear said:

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Hawaii Haas said:

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I feel like that's the old way of doing business, where TBS or ESPN makes you login using your cable subscription account: Cox, Charter, Xfinity, Direct TV, etc

(the regional gatekeepers and middlemen)

Streaming = no cable
No cable = global distribution


I'm not an expert, but this seems logical

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All about monetization. The "old way" meant monthly per sub payment to the programmer...obviously, you have an ESPN offering streaming, but at a cost. "Global distribution" sounds good, but what's the money making model. Advertising buy-in at some point? You need the metric to show them the eyeballs...not just because you are "available" in millions of homes.

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There is also the ease of access argument.

There is a significant portion of the tv watching population that either doesn't know how or is unable to install an app on their TV (Assuming we got our app picked up by all the main smart tv platforms and didn't force them to get a dongle).

Cable is something people know how to use because they've been using it for so long...

I'm borrowing this from a Hawaii poster. Regarding what a PAC-12 dominated Week Zero would look like:


This is the Week Zero schedule for 2022.

https://fbschedules.com/college-football-tv-schedule/

Every visiting 2022 UH opponent will take advantage of the Week Zero opportunity. Only WKU took a 13th game. Duquesne will play at Florida St. ESPN and FOX will air games unrelated to the Hawaii exemption (Fox sports 1 will air UConn at Utah St.). But imagine if UH was in the Pac 12. The Week Zero schedule might look like this....(using USC's 2022 Pac 12 schedule)

- Arizona St. at Oklahoma St. ESPN 2 (replacing Idaho St. vs UNLV)

- Washington St. at Wisconsin FOX (replacing Wyoming vs Illnois)

- California at Notre Dame NBC (replacing UConn vs Utah St.)

- TCU at Colorado ESPN (replacing Nevada vs New Mexico St.)

- Vanderbilt at Hawaii CBSSN

These teams could take the extra game or take the bye if they prefer, but either option adds value to having Hawaii in your Conference when combined with an opening day schedule like this.. Plus the "Asia Market" time zone angle (which is also a cultural fit for Pac 12 as well).

MrGPAC said:

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mbBear said:

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Hawaii Haas said:

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I feel like that's the old way of doing business, where TBS or ESPN makes you login using your cable subscription account: Cox, Charter, Xfinity, Direct TV, etc

(the regional gatekeepers and middlemen)

Streaming = no cable
No cable = global distribution


I'm not an expert, but this seems logical

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All about monetization. The "old way" meant monthly per sub payment to the programmer...obviously, you have an ESPN offering streaming, but at a cost. "Global distribution" sounds good, but what's the money making model. Advertising buy-in at some point? You need the metric to show them the eyeballs...not just because you are "available" in millions of homes.

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There is also the ease of access argument.

There is a significant portion of the tv watching population that either doesn't know how or is unable to install an app on their TV (Assuming we got our app picked up by all the main smart tv platforms and didn't force them to get a dongle).

Cable is something people know how to use because they've been using it for so long...

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No question you are right. But I was around for the infancy of cable, so I saw that change, so I guess you never know.
And I wasn't going to bring up your point because we have seen cord cutting and some streaming success, but the move away from cable isn't an overnight success. The NFL Sunday Ticket is an interesting next step, but the financial success of an NFL product in the US is a no brainer. How that translates to the Pacific Rim because people know something about the academics of West Coast schools, travel to Hawaii a fair amount, and have seen some American football in Australia isn't clear at all IMO.

Raging debate about the 4th time zone on the Hawaii board. Here's another Hawaii poster on the subject:

Football in Japan is in it's "niche" stage (not real mainstream) in popularity. Golf and Tennis are more popular there. Probably even Boxing and MMA. Baseball is number one and Sumo is number two. Thirty years ago (1993) American Football in the UK was in a similar stage. Not real popular as compared to Soccer, Rugby, Cricket, and Tennis. Even Darts was more popular than American Football was in a 2003 poll. But by 2007 the NFL "exported games to London in an attempt to expand it's International audience". And although a large majority of British polled found American Football to be "quite boring" the NFL has been very successful there, selling out venues pretty easily. The NFL even went as far as to contemplate locating a franchise there eventually. That's crazy.

The NFL played 14 exhibition games in Japan from 1976 to 2005. They however chose to expand their "Brand" in Europe over Asia. Good decision in hindsight. The NCAA held it's Mirage Coca-Cola Classic games in Tokyo from 1977 to 1993 averaging 50000+ in attendance every year. That popularity spawned College and Pro American Football leagues there. And although the style of play is not really "physical" (very "polite" not real aggressive) they are pretty efficient and "detailed" in execution, just the techniques need "anger" judging from some of the video I watched. A very different path than London's "journey" but got some similarities as well. Potential.

The point is that the NFL took a "risk" in applying it's brand of Football to such a seemingly "indifferent" foreign market. Risk. Then Reward. But risk first. Asia has over 120 US Military bases in Japan, South Korea, Phillipines, and Guam deploying over 90000 servicemen. That's not counting US civilians, vendors and their personnel, and even locals in their collective regions that all may become Pac 12 fans by listening to the radio or seeing the television while on their job. Same deal for that "niche" Japanese potential fan base. It's there. It exists. Just like in London.

Hawaii Haas said:

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Raging debate about the 4th time zone on the Hawaii board. Here's another Hawaii poster on the subject:

Football in Japan is in it's "niche" stage (not real mainstream) in popularity. Golf and Tennis are more popular there. Probably even Boxing and MMA. Baseball is number one and Sumo is number two. Thirty years ago (1993) American Football in the UK was in a similar stage. Not real popular as compared to Soccer, Rugby, Cricket, and Tennis. Even Darts was more popular than American Football was in a 2003 poll. But by 2007 the NFL "exported games to London in an attempt to expand it's International audience". And although a large majority of British polled found American Football to be "quite boring" the NFL has been very successful there, selling out venues pretty easily. The NFL even went as far as to contemplate locating a franchise there eventually. That's crazy.

The NFL played 14 exhibition games in Japan from 1976 to 2005. They however chose to expand their "Brand" in Europe over Asia. Good decision in hindsight. The NCAA held it's Mirage Coca-Cola Classic games in Tokyo from 1977 to 1993 averaging 50000+ in attendance every year. That popularity spawned College and Pro American Football leagues there. And although the style of play is not really "physical" (very "polite" not real aggressive) they are pretty efficient and "detailed" in execution, just the techniques need "anger" judging from some of the video I watched. A very different path than London's "journey" but got some similarities as well. Potential.

The point is that the NFL took a "risk" in applying it's brand of Football to such a seemingly "indifferent" foreign market. Risk. Then Reward. But risk first. Asia has over 120 US Military bases in Japan, South Korea, Phillipines, and Guam deploying over 90000 servicemen. That's not counting US civilians, vendors and their personnel, and even locals in their collective regions that all may become Pac 12 fans by listening to the radio or seeing the television while on their job. Same deal for that "niche" Japanese potential fan base. It's there. It exists. Just like in London.

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South Korea is probably a better market than Japan. South Korea (and the Philippines) LOVE the NBA, very common to see Koreans wearing NBA caps. Koreans love US culture and immigration is still strong. Also, Korean entertainment has far more violence (think Squid Game) than Japanese so football might be an easier sell.

Guam is America. Friday Night high school football with big crowds. Super Bowl Monday is an unofficial holiday. Companies throw parties at bars and restaurants where breakfast and lunch is served. After all that eating and drinking most take the afternoon off

NFL teams with big followings on Guam: Raiders, Niners, Seahawks, Cowboys, Chargers

College teams are mostly Hawaii and Oregon State, some Boise State. We have a small Cal contingent. The Governor went to UCLA. For generations, wealthy families send their kids to Santa Clara or USF. A new PAC with Hawaii, OSU, etc would be watched here, but the market is tiny. Of course the SEC and B1G are big with the military personnel from those states. I presume Air Force and Navy would be popular but I've never seen evidence of it.

I was in Santa Barbara today
My Lyft driver was from Australia and I asked him if he was a sports fan and he said yes.

He said that Aussies love sports. Their favorite are rugby, rugby Union (the private school version), Australian Rules Football, soccer (lots of Greeks, Italians and North Africans) and cricket.

I asked him about the "Fall" from September through November, what kind of sports are on early afternoon on a Sunday. Fall is their Spring.

He said the playoffs for Rugby and Aussie Rules end around September and that is very popular.

I asked after that what can you watch and then he said there is actually a hole in the live sports in October and November.

I asked about American Football. He said that that is popular. Aussies call it Gridiron. They particularly watch professional football (NFL). College football isn't usually what they follow. They've heard about the big college football teams, as they will read about in sports news.

I asked about Hawaii and that I'm from Hawaii and that I want to help my alma mater. He said that live sports watching is generally really hard to get for international sports.

I explained that could Hawaii have some affinity with Australia with the Pacific Islander connection (which in Australia they call them Islanders), and he said sure, yes. Will have to take marketing and building the following, but he could see it. Especially to fill the dead time of Oct and Nov, after the rugby and Aussie rules seasons.

Anyways, this is the Intel I got from my driver. He seemed knowledgeable and I got his business card. He said he has a lot of connections in Australia.

Melbourne and Sydney have populations of 5 million each (total 10 million).

Hawaii Haas said:

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I was in Santa Barbara today
My Lyft driver was from Australia and I asked him if he was a sports fan and he said yes.

He said that Aussies love sports. Their favorite are rugby, rugby Union (the private school version), Australian Rules Football, soccer (lots of Greeks, Italians and North Africans) and cricket.

I asked him about the "Fall" from September through November, what kind of sports are on early afternoon on a Sunday. Fall is their Spring.

He said the playoffs for Rugby and Aussie Rules end around September and that is very popular.

I asked after that what can you watch and then he said there is actually a hole in the live sports in October and November.

I asked about American Football. He said that that is popular. Aussies call it Gridiron. They particularly watch professional football (NFL). College football isn't usually what they follow. They've heard about the big college football teams, as they will read about in sports news.

I asked about Hawaii and that I'm from Hawaii and that I want to help my alma mater. He said that live sports watching is generally really hard to get for international sports.

I explained that could Hawaii have some affinity with Australia with the Pacific Islander connection (which in Australia they call them Islanders), and he said sure, yes. Will have to take marketing and building the following, but he could see it. Especially to fill the dead time of Oct and Nov, after the rugby and Aussie rules seasons.

Anyways, this is the Intel I got from my driver. He seemed knowledgeable and I got his business card. He said he has a lot of connections in Australia.

Melbourne and Sydney have populations of 5 million each (total 10 million).

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Hawaii definitely should be trying to build a fan base throughout the Pacific and Asia with live telecasts of football, basketball and volleyball (the later two are big pro sports in the PI). It might not generate a lot of revenue immediately, but it could be very powerful in the long run. Plus, it would further open up recruiting pipelines, and specially in the South Pacific.