PonyFans.com

USF04, I hear your concerns. But I do think that many of them are unfounded.

First, Memphis is great in basketball (obviously) so adding them offsets some of the loss we have seen on the hoops side with Pitt, WVU, and Cuse leaving.

Second, Memphis football really has a lot of potential to be great. Stadium seats 60k, school is in a fertile recruiting territory (pretty much every D-1 recruit from Tennessee is from Memphis, so if they can keep some of that talent home, they will be good), new head coach in football that understands how to win.

Third, they bring a nice-sized market.

what do you mean the BE makes almost nothing now? The contract is already over 10 M as it sits, and they have done a great job of adding better markets with the new additions. Expectations are over 15M on the next contract per school per year.

Losing WV, Syracuse and Pitt does not hurt your TV dollars one bit if you back fill Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Orlando Washington DC, and Denver (anticipating AF). on the contrary - it is going up. Memphis hurts nothing.

I don't want Memphis but I'm pretty sure this move was made after consultation and approval of NBC/Verizon executives.

Here are the football numbers for all BCS conferences for those interested.

http://collegesportsinfo.com/2011/10/03 ... nference/#

Yes basketball helps us but all the other conferences get decent basketball payouts also. Plus, you have to remember that our pie is divided in 16 ways for bball revenue.

Stallion wrote:I don't want Memphis but I'm pretty sure this move was made after consultation and approval of NBC/Verizon executives.

Nice. A little bummed at myself that I didn't think of this. Marinetto isn't just pulling rabbits out of his as* to please Rick Pitino. If Memphis is the puzzle piece to go on the board at this point, it isn't just because DePaul, Marquette, Pitino, and G-Town want it. Nice catch.

AusTxPony wrote:Also, every conference has their weak sisters, i.e. Washington State, Kansas, Vanderbilt, Duke, and Ole Miss.

So thats who the BE is going after, the weak sisters. This is not good for the future of the BE, they bring zero BCS points. This is a down grade in my eyes. I just hope the Big 12 picks us up in a couple of years

gostangs wrote:what do you mean the BE makes almost nothing now? The contract is already over 10 M as it sits, and they have done a great job of adding better markets with the new additions. Expectations are over 15M on the next contract per school per year.

Losing WV, Syracuse and Pitt does not hurt your TV dollars one bit if you back fill Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Orlando Washington DC, and Denver (anticipating AF). on the contrary - it is going up. Memphis hurts nothing.

You must not understand CFB, TV markets matter but so does the quality of play. If you suck then people won't watch the games thus a profit loss for the TV networks and that will be remembered when realignment comes up again. This is a desperate move, something bigger is going on. ECU or Tulane would've been a better pick up, footballl rules the land not basketball.

Of course viewership matters the most. But markets matter also. That's why ecu and Tulsa are a lost cause - but SMU is not

Also - the posted tv numbers are not accurate. Cusa per year per school is just over a million. Big east is over 10 million, per school per year - with likelihood of around 15 when it comes up next in about a year.

There is no one getting added to any conference without a TV exec from FOX, NBC, ESPN, CBS or PBS signing off on it. If they are getting an invite it isn't because of charity. It is because they add value to the league and by value I mean $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

NYC, New England (CT/RI), Philadelphia, Washington DC, Orlando, Tampa, Cincinnati, Louisville, Chicago, Milwaukee, Memphis, Dallas, Houston and San Diego. Markets matter. BYU (UT) and AFA (CO) may be back at the table in the future.

The engine that drives the BE TV$$$$ is hoops. With Louisville, UConn, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, you have National Championships. With Houston, Providence, Memphis, you have multiple Final Four appearances. Memphis strengthens the hoops brand and improves TV match-ups.

Keep in mind, a couple of months ago people were going

"SMU???"

Gostangs,

Those numbers are accurate (or atleast materially accurate). They relate to football only numbers.

It's not accurate to compare our football plus basketball numbers and then compare to another conferences football only numbers. We are not the only conference who makes money off basketball. Heck look at the Big 12 and all of their top 10 matchups this year on ESPN with Baylor, Kansas, and Mizzou. Or the ACC with Duke and UNC matchups.

The truth of the matter is we have a SUCKY tv contract right now and i'm afraid that TV execs will stick it to us that our brand has only decreased since our last contract was signed, not increased.

It is not reasonable to think that Houston and SMU will bring the Dallas and Houston tv markets with them. Just like it is insane to think that USF brings the Florida market.

I'm just worried that all we are doing is adding more pieces to the pie but not necessarily making the pie any bigger itself.

Will the total revenue from TV contracts go up... It better. But does the addition of Memphis alone, or Houston alone, or San Diego St alone make it go up enough to warrant the individual slices of the pie getting bigger??? I doubt it

EastStang wrote:The engine that drives the BE TV$$$$ is hoops. With Louisville, UConn, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, you have National Championships. With Houston, Providence, Memphis, you have multiple Final Four appearances. Memphis strengthens the hoops brand and improves TV match-ups.

Don't forget ND and St John 's which have large BB followings.

I am in NYC right now. Driving in, the NYC sports talk guys mentioned Memphis joining and were genuininely excited. BB drives this conference. The fact is that the acc took Syracuse and Pitt because ESPN wanted to stick it to the BE for not taking espn's tv deal. If the Big East can survive, NBC, which now owns Versus, needs a lot of programing. Because the other conferences are locked in, the BE is their best choice to offer a large amount of live sports.

Simply put, the BE could end up as "the franchise" for NBC Sports in college sports.

Am I looking at this right? According to the numbers, we would be taking a pay cut going to the BE from CUSA...