Hawaii, gambling, and the potential future of TV rights valuations

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Figuring out the potential value for college athletic media rights can be a complicated process. Valuation is heavily influenced by who is in the market to buy rights, how those entities plan to monetize those rights, and what sports rights those companies already have.

But there’s also some regular ol’ math involved, regardless of who the broadcaster partner might be. Consultants, schools and media companies typically look for similar types of data. They might decide to weigh it differently, but typically, valuation includes looking at information like historic broadcast ratings, total addressable fanbase size, local media market, demographics of fanbases, and how folks are watching the games.

I worked on a story about how mid-major rights are typically created last year, speaking to several consultants and academics. Back then, I was cautioned to pay more attention to not just the topline Nielsen rating number, but who, and how, those folks were watching:

How people watch isn’t just a function of whether a fan is watching at a bar, on a TV at home, or on a mobile phone…or how long they may decide to watch a broadcast. And now, there’s potentially a new metric entering the equation that could significantly change how some rights are perceived in the marketplace.

How many people are betting on the games?

And you know who that information could specifically benefit?

Hawaii.

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