There is still so much for the splintering Big East to resolve. There’s no shortage of rumors and reports of how the Big Priest portion would love to be split in time for the 2013 season. That, however, seems to be an impossibility. From setting up a new conference — hiring people, finding a commissioner, getting NCAA recognition for an auto bid to the NCAA Tournament, and so forth — to the very thorny issue of the money reserves in the Big East — all the exit fees, NCAA Tournament units particularly.
Then there is the issue of poaching programs from other conferences to get to a 10-12 team conference.
[Outgoing Xavier AD Mike] Bobinski said if Xavier receives the expected offer from the departing Big East schools to become one of its new members then it would have to listen. It would be situation where there were like-minded schools with a common purpose. He also said that 2014 would be more realistic for any movement while 2013 could be a bit rushed, although everything is negotiable. He didn’t say Xavier would definitely leave, but it sure sounded like the Musketeers have given this a lot of thought and are likely gone if asked, whenever that occurs. Xavier and Butler are expected to be first up on the docket to join Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul, St. John’s, Villanova, Seton Hall and Providence — with the choice for a 10th or possibly 11th or 12th coming from a pool of Creighton (MVC), Dayton, Richmond, VCU and Saint Louis (all A-10).
Sorry, Duquesne.
There is no question that teams in the A-10 or MVC would jump. The A-10 TV deal gives each member $400,000/year. The Big Priest conference is looking at a deal that is anywhere from $3-4 million per year.
Sources say that Fox, whose Fox Sports 1 channel is set to launch in August, has an initial high offer on the table of more than $500 million for a 12-year deal. Fox Sports 1 will replace the network’s motorsports channel Speed, already in 81 million homes. Sources say officials with Fox are scheduled to meet with those representing the interest of the “Catholic 7” in New York City on Wednesday. A Fox spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. A high-ranking source at NBC Sports Network, which has so far engaged in preliminary discussions with the “Catholic 7,” declined comment. ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz also declined comment on the network’s interest in the “Catholic 7” games.
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But the television deal is said to be far along. In fact, before the non-football schools left the Big East, sources say the presidents knew they’d be better off leaving. That’s because Jordan Bazant, the main partner of New York-based The Legacy Agency, which represents Fox broadcasters including Troy Aikman, Chris Myers and Daryl “Moose” Johnston, already had helped bring Fox to the table. Representatives of St. John’s and Georgetown took the lead in those early discussions.
And yes, the core group of the Big Priest is looking to keep a larger cut of the TV money than the teams they bring in.
As for the UConn, Cinci, USF and the others to be called up from C-USA. Welcome to hell.
Two people familiar with the deal say the Big East is closing in on a six-year contract with NBC Sports Network for football and basketball rights that will pay the conference about $20 million per year.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because negotiations weren’t being made public.
One person said the deal would likely be announced within the next two weeks. The Big East first has to go through the process of allowing ESPN, which currently holds the conference’s football TV rights, to match the offer.
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The Big East’s current football deal with ESPN expires after the 2013 season and has paid football members about $3.1 million per year. The deal in the works would pay members about $2 million per year, depending upon whether the league has 11 or 12 members.
For UCF, it’s an especially disappointing revelation. The program was hoping to take a major step in its growth, especially financially, from moving to the Big East. Now, they will be making only a small amount more than what they earned in Conference USA.
According to most reports, the C-USA deal paid an average of $1.17 million to member schools.
For UConn, USF and Cinci, this is a big step back. They actually lose TV money. Plus see the Big Priest getting more for just one sport. About the only potential upside is the hope that as the primary piece for NBC’s sports network, they will get heavy promotion on NBC itself (assuming NBC is smart enough to follow the ESPN/ABC model).
Basically NBC had no competition for the TV rights. Fox and ESPN have little interest or need. For whatever reason, CBS still has little interest in bidding for regular season college sports beyond its small basketball deal and its SEC football contract. You would think, they would also need more live content, but they just aren’t willing to do do so.
As much as ESPN takes the blame for their role in expansiopocolypse and the demise of the Big East with regards to Pitt and Syracuse leaving for the ACC, a real case is made that the utter destruction of the Big East is by the hands of Fox.
Fox is a 51% owner of the Big Ten Network. The grabbing of Rutgers and Maryland was all about TV markets. That was a big benefit to Fox. And it hurt ESPN in that respect. The loss of Rutgers and then Louisville when the ACC took them to replace Maryland was killer for the Big East and spiked the west coast grab of Boise St. and SDSU.
Then there is the very clear overpayment for the Big Priest. And the fact that they had been in negotiations before the split.
Do you see what occurred here if this is true? Fox approached the Catholic 7 before they split off, which means it’s not so crazy that Fox wanted them to split off. So, if you believe that Fox is overpaying for the Catholic 7, then you might be right. However, the point is that Fox needed to overpay the Catholic 7 in order to serve as a catalyst for them to split off. If Fox just merely offered “fair market value” to the Catholic 7, then they likely would have stayed in the hybrid. (Anyone that thought that the Catholic 7 would have split off without the knowledge that they’d be getting paid more compared to staying in the hybrid Big East isn’t thinking straight.) There needed to be an extraordinary financial windfall from Fox in order for the Catholic 7 to take the extraordinary step of splitting off from the Big East football schools. As a result, it’s almost pointless to try to compare the on-the-court basketball quality of the Catholic 7 versus the New Big East. The amounts that are being offered by Fox to the Catholic 7 reflect a “blood money” premium offer that they couldn’t refuse, whereas the Big East isn’t going to garner any premium at all and will be subject to the “normal” market forces in play.
Why? The same reason that the Big East first began with ESPN all those years ago. The network needs content. Fox is aggressive in wanting to compete with ESPN. Moreso than NBC. Fox has fall content with playoff baseball, NASCAR, college football via Big 12 and Pac-12. But it needs winter programming in some volume, i.e., college basketball.
That makes too much sense, because it isn’t for the ratings. College basketball in the regular season is just a blip even when ESPN hypes it.
Of the 316 games on CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU through last Sunday, only 26 earned at least a 1.0 U.S. rating. Keep in mind this does not include the December 29 Kentucky/Louisville game on CBS, which would likely bring the total to 27.
A 1.0 rating, is roughly around 1.5 million TVs. ESPN still makes its money. Not on the one game, but on the volume of games. Spread those games over the multiple networks and loyal sports fans need to have all their networks to ensure they see their team.
College football makes the money for ESPN more heavily on advertising revenue. College basketball keeps the money flowing with the cable subscription fees.
BB teams in the big east football schools then
in the catholic 7
and why brake them up they could have had both
football and the 7 for say 4 mill per year
that is the part i dont get.
Glad we are in the ACC.
you can get netflix with moves and tv shows
for 42 dollars a month bye the internet on your tv
but no sports which is to bad.
Chas, the Catholic schools had to do what they are doing. They have no interest in football; never did. They put up with it to pacify the big name football schools in the old Big East.
What do the Catholic 7 have in common with SMU, Houston, Memphis,and UCF? There is not even a regional connection. Plus academically they are better off on their own. Basketball is what they do.
Not dividing the money equally for new members will not work out too well.
My neighbor has zero interest in sports but he has basic cable which means he’s paying almost $5 a month for ESPN. $60 bucks a year he’s paying for ESPN so they can pay these huge license fees and he’s never watched a minute of any sport all year.
(I would be pretty pissed if I found out I was paying $60 for the ballet every year.)
It’s getting easier and easier for people who don’t watch sports to get the other shows they want without cable via the internet and it is only going to continue to go that route.
I would SO gladly pay subscription or a la carte for online access to get full access to teams I like in sports I care about. Works well for MLB and NHL, NBA and it used to work well with NCAA men’s hoops until ESPN majorly dialed back on what you could see without an accompanying cable subscription.
#2 It’s a shame that college athletics/expansion is being driven by TV deals/cable contracts.
#3 Every time I read one of these articles, I thank my lucky stars that Pitt landed in the ACC.
HTP
Now, that’s extra programming that we realized we never watched, can’t do ala carte cutting, but, none the less, cutting.
I also have noticed, that several channels have been combined. Something called RFD, Blue Highway and another one, combined into one station.
Happened with two others I cannot think of now.
There are now 3 channels that say “unavailable”, because they got lumped into the others.
I have never seen that before. That’s telling me that there are in fact channels that cannot stand alone.
With Iphones and I pads and getting content direct from the tv station, you may not be far off.
We have over 200 hundred channels, and not exaggerating, we watch a total of about 8 or 9.
ESPN, Fox Sports, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, AMC, and Turner Classic movies. That’s about it.
They start coming out with apps for all of these, cable ala carte may not be far away.
I also believe Google is talking about making tv’s and giving viewers an ala carte menu.
This would indeed have an impact on The Big Ten network, The Longhorn Network, The ACC Network if they proceed with that.
I actually could see widdling down to 5.
ESPN, ROOT, Fox Sports, AMC and TCM.
News??? Get most of that online now anyhow.
at the old franklin club with the wife.
the two men behind us were talking pitt
basketball.
two outher people stood up to leave and the man with a lady said to the two men yes a great
school but they cant even hire a DC when small schools can.
the two men shock there head yes and said something that i could not hear.
when i left i said to my wife that is what
i had benn saying on line also.
so you see it is not just us who want to know
why we cant hire a dc outhers are also upset.
unless it was one of us.
back to cable try netflix thru the internet it has
more tv shows then you can watch and movies all
for 42 dollars month just no sports all on your
tv and no commericals.
my son has it and it is great.
The Big Priest as is described above in the first referenced article is actually a pretty attractive league that also includes a lot abig TV markets. It may well work out.
All for 8 bucks a month. Such a deal, oy vey!
holmes in a row if i want it is great.
In the immortal words of Shooter McGavin – “Go back to your shanties.”
Must be 30% of his wins 🙂
we should also .
i hate to go to cream puff games if it was up to me i might play a mac school now and then but no more
FCS programs.
ATTN: Creighton, Butler, Richmond, Xavier, Dayton et al…..be careful of joining these guys when they say they get a higher percentage of the league money!!!
These guys still don’t get it. Now they want to form a league, but they get to keep more $$$ than the teams they are inviting.
If it comes together, agreed, I’d enjoy watching them greatly.
Just putting these teams on TV isn’t going to magically make a big fan base appear. College hoop ratings aren’t so big in generally, even when elite teams play. Only the tourney carries any ratings weight. Then again, what do I care if Fox, NBC or ESPN want to piss away $.
Hmm, Sleepy is a senior and Adams leaving will leave, uh, no bigs.
Does Ron Cook have a complete brain? His intelligence, marginal at best, leads me to think he has but a brainstem and nothing more. And yet, the Post-Gazette continues to pay him?
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!
Toss in Xavier, Butler, maybe Richmond, Dayton and VCU.
Good, competiive hoops. No, not ACC or anything, but not a bad league, IMHO.
Hopefully Pitt does not have bad blood with Georgetown and Villanova, would love to have them on our OOC schedule in the future.
That would leave room for 5 Albany’s and Kennesaw States!!! LOL
@Dan, agree Cath 7 still don’t get it, wanting to keep a bigger slice of the TV pie than the schools they will invite. I guess they figure they can pull it off because the invitees will still get a pay raise, but if I’m the X and Butler I play hardball. Without the addition of those two and VCU, the league is much less appealing.
Sadly, just as with some of the conference changes in football, I don’t think actual fan base and TV ratings have much impact on these deals; it’s all about the number of TVs in the market, not the number actually tuned in. TV market size is one thing the Cath 7 have.
1. the Steelers hired a new receivers coach and it wasn’t Bobby Engram
2. Mikayla Christ signed an LOI to play soccer at Pitt. She just led her high school to its 2nd straight Wisc state championship, so glad that she is joining her dad here.
Nah….what would lead you to believe that? (sarcasm)
🙂
After any big loss or anything that make PITT looks bad, his article appears on the PG site almost immediately.
And you can tell he took great relish in writing it.
And yet they only grudgingly covered it. And to the barest extent they could.
If you wanted some real & extensive coverage of that sordid event you went to Harrisburg’s Patriot News site at http://www.pennlive.com or the Philly Enquirer site.
Cook isn’t a journalist he’s a shill and a booster.
The way I look at is: we went our way and they are going theirs. So we should just leave it at that.
If one remembers the beginnings of the BigEast, IT WAS A BASKETBALL ONLY LEAGUE and PITT was quite ecstatic it got invited to this league when it did. As was everyone.
So the fact that the core of the original BigEast wants to go back to being a basketball ONLY conference after over 20 years as a hybrid conference should certainly be left up to them.
Just as it was up to us to leave the BigEast.
We should just be thankful to BC’s former AD Gene DiFillipo or we most likely would have been in the same undesirable position as Uconn, USF & Cincinnati. Or be playing basketball games in places like Lubbock, Texas or Ames, Iowa.
And for those of you that don’t know, Boston College is a Catholic school as well.
But what galls me the most is when he does a recap of a game, he just tells you everything you already know … doesn’t add a freakin thing!!
BTW, looks like quick whistles and home cookin’ in Durham. A little scary for what may be in store.
lets start with revenge at Marquette and see where we go from there.
Which explains why he’s such a PSU fan and hates Pitt…
Leave the Catholic schools alone! All they have is basketball.
Yes, Boston College did save our lives. Now we will save theirs. Watch their recruiting improve with closer competition. Sorry we lost Maryland, and Rutgers. I liked the geographic locations.
Quality trumps geography, at least for me.
… now I understand why Cook annoys me so much all of the time!
And #11 Butler goes down to unranked Charlotte, formerly UNC-Charlotte or UNCC. Yes the team that had Cornbread Maxwell and made the Final 4 in 1977.
Funny thing Syracuse lost twice in one week to unranked teams (us & Nova) and didn’t drop out of the Top 10. They are fading fast even with Southerland back. Now only have one less loss than us. And as dino mentioned have a very tough schedule to hoe.
We keep winning and who knows PatMac might be right. A conf. championship and another #1 seed.
Just win against Marquette on Saturday, we’ll take it slow & easy , one game at a time.
Appreciate the kind words Old Pitt Grad and Pittscript.
That means the Big 12(10) will have to get aggressive in finding new members.
WVUlgar is the test case and the early returns are not good.
Their football attendance will take a big hit in ’13 and their men’s basketball is struggling. Every time they lose Huggins gains 5 pounds and he is huge!
More to the point, the travel issue and dilution of brand name has begun and WVUlgar is the first victim.
So the ACC had better get aggressive and complete their own network deal. Otherwise, this blog will be splattered with “Expansionapolis” stuff ad naseum beginning in June.
there will be alot of open office space open somewhere in Providence…Big East won’t need it and I seriously doubt if The Big Heaven will make the same mistake twice and call Providence home.
