Memphis???

[birddogger]

Methinks I smell a TROLL.

[redpony]

birddog- I think you are correct and it also smells like a buzzard turd. They just can't stand to stay on their own board and talk about their intern jobs and wally mart and 7-11 can they?

GO PONIES!!!

[USF04]

I didn't mean to start a big fight over here, I was just trying to temper expectations with reality. I have no idea what your trustees and AD are saying but I'm sure they are not lying.

As a poster above said, we turned down a $110M (for 9 teams). Since then we have lost our top 3 tv schools in Syracuse, Pitt, and West Virginia.

Now you are trying to tell me that we will get a deal for $180M (12 teams) just because NBC will push up the price?

That just doesn't make any sense to me at all, but hopefully I am completely wrong.

I also think it's not true because senators from Kentucky and West Virginia wouldn't be fighting against each other for who gets to go to the Big 12 if those schools believed in the $15M annual football contract that some people are speaking about on this board.

[Digetydog]

I didn't mean to start a big fight over here, I was just trying to temper expectations with reality. I have no idea what your trustees and AD are saying but I'm sure they are not lying.

As a poster above said, we turned down a $110M (for 9 teams). Since then we have lost our top 3 tv schools in Syracuse, Pitt, and West Virginia.

Now you are trying to tell me that we will get a deal for $180M (12 teams) just because NBC will push up the price?

That just doesn't make any sense to me at all, but hopefully I am completely wrong.

I also think it's not true because senators from Kentucky and West Virginia wouldn't be fighting against each other for who gets to go to the Big 12 if those schools believed in the $15M annual football contract that some people are speaking about on this board.

The original offer from ESPN was based upon an exclusivity provision in their current contract. Because ESPN had exclusivity (and thought the BE wouldn't dare turn them down), it didn't make a great offer to the BE. Having turned down ESPN, the BE definitely lost something with the loss of those three teams.

Nevertheless, assuming it survives (which is not a given), the BE still has the NYC market bracketed with Rutgers and Uconn, added the Dallas, Houston, and Memphis markets, added Navy (which is a big national draw), and added a very good Boise State Team.

Because NBC Sports is desperate to add live programming and no other big sports properties are up for bid any time soon, the expectation is that the total BB and FB contracts for the BE will be very good. I don't think the BE would have walked away from the ESPN deal without at least a wisper number from NBC in hand.

Bottom Line: it is going to be an interesting year as the BE tries to survive and could end up with a sweet TV deal or a crappy one.

[USF04]

Digetydog,

I agree with your assessment. The concern of most Big East fans is that the conference walked away from the $110M deal with West Virginia, Syracuse, Pitt, (and also TCU on the way), but now things have changed dramatically.

Trust me, I have learned to hate all 4 of those schools for leaving, but there is a reason why they were sought out and why USF, Rutgers, UCONN, etc...are still in the conference. The TV execs all said those were the schools with the most value so the ACC/Big12 took them.

I'm afraid $110 is the best we can now get, and that is with 12 teams.