Great Article about Big East.....by ESPN

[ponydawg]

Hope she doesn't get fired for this! Great article stating our case. You should read the whole thing.
Here are a few clips:

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/ ... ell-itself

Nobody in the Big East has even attempted to make this case. Or to provide a breakdown of how the Big East has done vs. the ACC in the BCS. It should be an absolute outrage that the Big East is teetering on the brink of being left out of the big BCS money. Why? Going back to the first BCS game in 1999, the ACC is 2-13 all-time; The Big East is 8-6.

The ACC has gotten two schools into the BCS just once, and that was this past season, when Clemson got embarrassed by a Big East school and Virginia Tech lost again. And let's not forget, the Big East and the ACC are the only conferences to send teams with at least three losses to a BCS game multiple times.

One more: Since 2005, the Big East has had three teams finish the season with just one loss. Two of them -- Cincinnati and Louisville -- are remaining members. Let's add in future members, just for fun. That would give the Big East six more (Boise State 5, Houston 1). By comparison, the ACC has had zero teams finish with just one loss in the same time frame.

So why is it nobody is even talking about the ACC being left out from its seat at the table?

Oh, because the Big East is losing a bunch of teams and adding a hodgepodge? Boise State had two BCS appearances in the past six seasons. That equals the total number of BCS appearances from departing schools West Virginia, Pitt and Syracuse during the same time period.

It is high time the Big East start selling itself and its future members, not only for future TV partners, but for its BCS life.

[ponyte]

The most positive article about the future Big east I have seen. Great find

[AusTxPony]

Over on the Big East board, one poster provided some info showing the Big East is better and rated higher for the last 7 years than the ACC conference to conference. The New Big East would probably rate even higher. Glad to see that the NBE has a cheerleader Commissioner. Now let's knock off the PAC -12 in 2013. Go Ponies, Go Coogs and Broncos and Aztecs and Tigers and Knights and Owls. Win those OOC games.

[ponyscott]

Yeah saw this...good points. She should have pointed out that SMU beat departing member Pitt easily this year as well....

[smitty329]

Yes but is the conference stable yet? Louisville is still looking (I'm sure Pitino wants the ACC) and Boise State has not notified the MWC that it is leaving like all the CUSA schools have.

http://blog.syracuse.com/sports/2012/05/sources_louisville_wants_to_le.html

[Grant Carter]

I agree, good article and she has a point that the Big East should not be afraid to make the case for itself.

I can't find the file anymore, but I calculated the Sagarin ratings for the all of the new conferences as of the
end of last season and the Big East was superior to the ACC on that as well.

[that's great raplh]

kate, you have been replaced


all hail andrea

[SMU89]

SI: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... ef=writers


Quote:
I was in Boise recently and the local chatter was that with the BCS dropping the AQ concept and the apparent demise of the WAC, where Boise was playing all sports but football, the Broncos would stay in the Mountain West. The only thing keeping them in the Big East is television dollars. Is the new look Big East really going to get a much sweeter TV deal than the Mountain West? It seems the media markets are similar, as are the national reputations of the respective teams.|
-- Scott F., Portland, Ore.

I don't believe Boise will go back, but if it does, the issue of where to place its other sports will be a more pressing reason than AQ status. You may not believe it, but the Big East, even in its depleted state, will fetch a hefty payday when its TV contract comes up this fall. Television networks covet live sporting events because of the DVR factor, and the Big East stands to provide a lucky network or networks with a massive amount of inventory (with 12 teams in 2013), some very attractive television markets (Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, Orlando) and an extremely popular multi-day event, the Big East basketball tournament. With multiple bidders (ESPN, Fox, NBC) likely to drive up the price, TV consultant Neal Pilson told the New York Times this week that the league could approach or exceed the ACC's $155 million annual deal with ABC/ESPN. Contrast that to the Mountain West, which is getting a measly $12 million a year from its current partners in a deal that's locked in through 2016.

But the issue with the other sports is a real concern. Even if the WAC manages to rebuild, it will probably rank among the lower tier of the 31 Division I conferences. The Mountain West is adamant that it will only take Boise back as an all-sports member. The Big West already passed on Boise once, taking San Diego State's strong basketball program instead. Presumably Boise will make another run at that league (which will discuss expansion again next week) but it doesn't have much to offer. The MWC may be its only appealing fallback. But with so much potential new Big East revenue on the table, I have to imagine Boise will find a way to make it work.

[-Stewart Mandel]

[AusTxPony]

The real thorn in the NBE side is Louisville. If they would tone down the "we want/deserve the Big 12" rhetoric, the NBE would look more stable to the sports fans. The NBE needs to get a contract larger than the ACC to help the perception that we are in it for the long run. If I were the Big 12, my focus would be Virginia Tech and Florida State.

[SMU89]

We look more stable than the Big12 did.

[Mexmustang]

Louisville brings nothing to the Big 12.

[SMUer]

Cornrows...

[RGV Pony]

Manicured toes

[SMU89]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/co ... int.column

League officials remain open-minded about some aspects of the final details. Presidents and chancellors met Sunday at Big Ten headquarters in Park Ridge, and they declined public comment until Monday, when Nebraska's Harvey Perlman, Indiana's Michael McRobbie, league Commissioner Jim Delany and BTN President Mark Silverman will take reporters' questions on a conference call.

But from all indications, the league will not draw a line in the sand on the prickliest remaining issue - the makeup of the playoff. The Big Ten, Pac-12, ACC and Big East favor an automatic berth for the three highest-ranked conference champions - plus a wild-card fourth team.

[SMU89]

Saw this written by a poster on another board.....


The TV business is really very simple to understand. ESPN charges cable/sat. providers $4.59 per subscriber in addition to advertising rates for national and regional commercials. There is usually an 80/20 split where 20% of the total advertising time is held back for the local affiliates/cable/sat. providers to sell local advertising. A college football game provides roughly 120 30 second ad spots per broadcast. That means there is roughly 96 national/regional commercials and 24 local commercials per broadcast though this can obviously vary between channels and providers at very lucrative rates. For example, ABC charged $85K per 30 second spot for college football in primetime last season.

If NBC wins the Big East contract and we assume an 8 game conference schedule and all 14 teams played two home and two road non-conference games, Comcast/NBC would have access to 56 conference games and 28 home non-conference games for a total of 84 football games. If the Big East holds back at least 14 games for a conference network and each school retained the rights to one game under their Tier 3 rights that would still leave 56 games for NBC and NBC Sports. If NBC broadcasted 18 Big East games and NBC sports broadcast the remaining 38 games assuming the 80/20 split with local providers that would mean that NBC and NBC Sports would have roughly 96 spots per game to sell. If we assume NBC would only charge $50K per national spot (41% discount to ABC) and that NBC Sports would only charge $8K per national spot that would mean each game on NBC would be worth roughly $4.8 million and each game on NBC Sports would be worth $768K for a yearly total of $115 million for regular season football alone on the low end.

In addition, NBC/ NBC Sports would have the football championship, Big East regular season and tournament bastketball, and the Big East's olympic sports where the majority of the broadcasts would originate from top 50 television markets across all time zones. All of this Big East programming will drive additional cheap programming such as pre and post game shows, coaches shows, highlight shows, game rebroadcasts, etc. Comcast/NBC needs to drive eyeballs to NBC Sports as they are currently only getting $0.30 per subscriber (per month) while ESPN is getting $4.59 per subscriber (per month). If NBC Sports can just get it's carriage rates up $1.00 per subscriber to $1.30 per month that would result in roughly $80 million more in monthly revenue for NBC Sports based on the fact they are in roughly 80 million households. In addition, since Comcast owns NBC/NBC Sports the carriage rates for NBC Sports is just intercompany profit and the next time they get into a carriage rate fight with ESPN they will have a competing low cost sports channel to leverage against ESPN. The Big East is crucial for Comcast/NBC from both a content standpoint as well as the ability push back on the seemingly annual carriage rate increases demanded by ESPN.

Therefore it is a no brainer why the named media sources (they understand these numbers) all claim that if the Big East can hold it's membership together they will get a huge payday while only unnamed sources (ESPN anyone?) say otherwise. Fans look at the names on the jerseys and calculate the values of the conferences while the tv executives are looking at the much bigger picture. It has been painfully obvious that the Big East is being remade for the benefit of Comcast/NBC to drive up the number households and the carriage rates for NBC Sports. The folks at ESPN also know this so they have gone scorched earth on the Big East .........