ESPN - BE 14 / 16 Members

[SMU_Alumni11]

So wait let me get this straight, according to Espn they will be low balling us and the amount SMU will get will only be: 4-8.7 mil?! Wasn't it like 10-12 mil last agreement before? Geez I sure hope NBC can match the old Espn offer... That old commish was an idiot to give up 10-12 mil a team now look at this dump. I realize even the low number is still tons more than we get now but what we could have had... Ugh. I hope they just stick to 14 members to get more out of it and adding army I doubt will make it more stable navy an A/F is all we need

[SMU_Alumni11]

Well to the who cares about OOC focus on CUSA schedule... Look at the proposed schedule: we play uconn, louisville, Houston and South Florida, if we played like we did this year expect (if we had 3 cupcakes) to go 4-8 most of the time. There are two reasons why I freaked about getting rid of JJ, our lack of talent and completely getting demolished by most likely our OOC an regular schedule, secondly messing up this tv deal which we are factor into the value. That's why this OOC was more important than the cupcake conference schedule.

[ReedFrawg]

http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/story?storyId=8398279

Those divisions look exactly like CUSA did a few years ago.

[Stallion]

What happened to 14-16 Million per team? I predicted negotiations would start at 8 Million per team but I could see it going up 10 maybe 12 if there was a heated competition. I think 14-16 Million is really inflated considering none of these teams will be anywhere close to the No. 1 teams in their market. Still a very good deal for SMU.

[SMU_Alumni11]

What happened to 14-16 Million per team? I predicted negotiations would start at 8 Million per team but I could see it going up 10 maybe 12 if there was a heated competition. I think 14-16 Million is really inflated considering none of these teams will be anywhere close to the No. 1 teams in their market. Still a very good deal for SMU.

Wasn't the orginial deal though 10-12 mil a team? If so why didn't they freaking take it!!! I'm pulling for fox since I hate Espn and NBC. Even though only hope is NBC since they don't have much market share. Do you think 14 or 16 teams?

[sbsmith]

so to summarize SMU's BE schedule will be:
Louisville, South Florida, Connecticut, San Diego State, SMU, Navy, Memphis, Houston. two games against : Cincinnati, Central Florida, Rutgers, Boise State, Temple and the 14th team.

I take Rutgers over CT which is in the middle of no where. Rutgers is 45 minutes from NYC and a much better road trip. Also Temple is in Philly another big city that has more to offer.

Since we play 2 games in the other division we might plat Rutgers and Temple next year anyway.

I believe one of those 2 games is a permanent cross-over (Houston for us) so we would only play one different opponent from blue division every year.

[Water Pony]

I like the permanent pairing of two region schools in separate FB divisions, e.g. Red and Blue (good colors, btw ;-D) Divisions without a geographical alignment.

As for schools to add, BYU should be the highest priority and stop at 14. If 16 is the answer, then Air Force and Army are the only attractive universities which add national appeal, which is the new media branding approach for BE. BYU would be great in BB too, but FB only is OK. Forget Army and Air Force for BB, just like Navy did.

[Charleston Pony]

not bad, although I would prefer going to 16 teams, putting those "permanent cross-over/rivalry teams in the same division and playing 9 conference games. That would mean you would play everyone from the other division at least once during a 4 year career. Could work considering the schools mentioned may not be interested in anything but football membership

[CalallenStang]

So wait let me get this straight, according to Espn they will be low balling us and the amount SMU will get will only be: 4-8.7 mil?! Wasn't it like 10-12 mil last agreement before? Geez I sure hope NBC can match the old Espn offer... That old commish was an idiot to give up 10-12 mil a team now look at this dump. I realize even the low number is still tons more than we get now but what we could have had... Ugh. I hope they just stick to 14 members to get more out of it and adding army I doubt will make it more stable navy an A/F is all we need

McMurphy has been throwing out those low numbers even back when he was working at CBS. He used to have good sources at the Big East because he was friends with Marinatto (in fact, he wrote a big column effectively condemning the Big East for using Marinatto as a "scapegoat") but now doesn't have good inside sources.

Working for ESPN who is currently in contract negotiations with the Big East, his employer has an incentive to try to drive the market price down

[lwjr]

so to summarize SMU's BE schedule will be:
Louisville, South Florida, Connecticut, San Diego State, SMU, Navy, Memphis, Houston. two games against : Cincinnati, Central Florida, Rutgers, Boise State, Temple and the 14th team.

So, when we play ourselves, do you think we have a chance to win that one?

Doubt it.

[SMU_Alumni11]

So wait let me get this straight, according to Espn they will be low balling us and the amount SMU will get will only be: 4-8.7 mil?! Wasn't it like 10-12 mil last agreement before? Geez I sure hope NBC can match the old Espn offer... That old commish was an idiot to give up 10-12 mil a team now look at this dump. I realize even the low number is still tons more than we get now but what we could have had... Ugh. I hope they just stick to 14 members to get more out of it and adding army I doubt will make it more stable navy an A/F is all we need

McMurphy has been throwing out those low numbers even back when he was working at CBS. He used to have good sources at the Big East because he was friends with Marinatto (in fact, he wrote a big column effectively condemning the Big East for using Marinatto as a "scapegoat") but now doesn't have good inside sources.

Working for ESPN who is currently in contract negotiations with the Big East, his employer has an incentive to try to drive the market price down

True but low balling the number outside negotiations doesn't do anything. If anything shoot the number high to make NBC and Fox say screw it. I know some people say 16 but I don't think army and A/F solidifies anything plus we lose quite a share that we crucially could use

[westexSMU]

Remember who wrote this article, ESPN. There was an article last month saying NBC would pay 12-14 million per full member team per year in BE with football getting about 70 % of the total amount. So who ever wrote this ESPN article was told to put a low ball amount in the article for starting negotiation purposes.

[MustangStealth]

You guys should be expecting single digits.

[SMU Pony Mom]

so to summarize SMU's BE schedule will be:
Louisville, South Florida, Connecticut, San Diego State, SMU, Navy, Memphis, Houston. two games against : Cincinnati, Central Florida, Rutgers, Boise State, Temple and the 14th team.

I take Rutgers over CT which is in the middle of no where. Rutgers is 45 minutes from NYC and a much better road trip. Also Temple is in Philly another big city that has more to offer.

Hartford is not the middle of nowhere. It is a direct flight from DFW to Bradley on American Airlines. I can be in Manhattan in 1.5hrs by car.

I don't know who designed the field, but it looks like an upsized version of Plano's John Clark field. Very good sight lines. Very nice place to watch a game.

Personally, I want to see Rutgers, Army, and Uconn on the schedule - all of them are in driving distance from my house. Navy would be a doable drive.

But - I am biased.

And only about the same amount of time to Boston, which is a great city.

[SMU_Alumni11]

so to summarize SMU's BE schedule will be:
Louisville, South Florida, Connecticut, San Diego State, SMU, Navy, Memphis, Houston. two games against : Cincinnati, Central Florida, Rutgers, Boise State, Temple and the 14th team.

I take Rutgers over CT which is in the middle of no where. Rutgers is 45 minutes from NYC and a much better road trip. Also Temple is in Philly another big city that has more to offer.

Hartford is not the middle of nowhere. It is a direct flight from DFW to Bradley on American Airlines. I can be in Manhattan in 1.5hrs by car.

I don't know who designed the field, but it looks like an upsized version of Plano's John Clark field. Very good sight lines. Very nice place to watch a game.

Personally, I want to see Rutgers, Army, and Uconn on the schedule - all of them are in driving distance from my house. Navy would be a doable drive.

But - I am biased.

And only about the same amount of time to Boston, which is a great city.

Boston, pretty much all north east = yuck, I save my money, I would love to go see the game in San Diego and be there extended vacation.