Re: ESPN Matches NBC's Offer For Big East
Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:46 pm
Analysis: Big East TV Will Be Where It Needs to Be
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... n/1938503/
"When the deal finally gets signed, and it really could be any minute now, the told-you-sos and revisionist histories will be easy to find because no matter how much of the Big East's misfortune in conference realignment was its own fault, sportswriters rarely pass up the opportunity to pick off such low-hanging fruit.
So yes, as the Big East closes in on a media rights contract - likely with ESPN, for a reported $22 million annually - prepare for another round of snarky stories about how the league turned down a $130 million deal from the same company just two years ago.
That narrative, of course, presumes taking the ESPN deal in 2011 would have prevented the departures of Pittsburgh and Syracuse, followed by West Virginia, then Louisville and Rutgers and ultimately the seven Catholic non-football schools. It seems unlikely, but we'll never know for sure. And so whether the Big East is a victim of horrible luck or gross mismanagement no longer matters, really, because this is what it is today: The sixth-best conference that will have to earn its way on merit, fighting it out with the Mountain West, Conference USA, the MAC and the Sun Belt for one lucrative spot in the new playoff system that arrives in 2014......"
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... n/1938503/
"When the deal finally gets signed, and it really could be any minute now, the told-you-sos and revisionist histories will be easy to find because no matter how much of the Big East's misfortune in conference realignment was its own fault, sportswriters rarely pass up the opportunity to pick off such low-hanging fruit.
So yes, as the Big East closes in on a media rights contract - likely with ESPN, for a reported $22 million annually - prepare for another round of snarky stories about how the league turned down a $130 million deal from the same company just two years ago.
That narrative, of course, presumes taking the ESPN deal in 2011 would have prevented the departures of Pittsburgh and Syracuse, followed by West Virginia, then Louisville and Rutgers and ultimately the seven Catholic non-football schools. It seems unlikely, but we'll never know for sure. And so whether the Big East is a victim of horrible luck or gross mismanagement no longer matters, really, because this is what it is today: The sixth-best conference that will have to earn its way on merit, fighting it out with the Mountain West, Conference USA, the MAC and the Sun Belt for one lucrative spot in the new playoff system that arrives in 2014......"