Big East is done, man

[mr. pony]

BCS meeting reveals Big Four strengths, Big East withering away
Published 23 hours and 15 minutes ago Last updated 18 hours and 13 minutes ago

Matt Hayes Sporting News

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla.-As bad as it has looked for the Big East in conference realignment, rock bottom seemingly has yet to arrive.

Guess what, everyone? It just did.

The BCS announced Tuesday the official pairings for the initial college football playoff in 2014, and while the strong got publicly stronger, the weak continued to plummet off the radar.

The Big Four conferences-the SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12-take center stage in Year 1 of the new system with the Rose and Sugar Bowls hosting national semifinals. Meanwhile, the Big East-dodging body blows over the last year of conference realignment-has unofficially lost any remaining leverage as a major player in college sports.

BCS sources here expect San Diego State to return to the Mountain West Conference by the end of this week, leaving the reeling Big East absorbing yet another logistical gut punch. If that’s not bad enough, consider this anecdote on state of the league:

Multiple sources said Tuesday that the Big East’s initial proposal to ESPN in negotiations for media rights fees was for an astounding $300 million a year-10 times what the league likely will get, and more than any current BCS league receives from its annual media rights deal.

More than one BCS source said the Big East was, "laughed out of the room."

With the BCS playoff on its way in 2014, the Big East is on the outside looking in after a rough 2012 that included Boise State pulling out of its commitment to join the conference. (AP Photo)

Translation: rock bottom.

The Big East will continue as a BCS conference for the 2013 season and will continue to receive an automatic bid to a BCS bowl. But the loss of Boise State and San Diego State clearly leaves the Big East scrambling in a media rights-driven sports world-and seventh (at best) in the current lineup of FBS conferences.

Meanwhile, the Mountain West is on the verge of doing exactly what the Big East wanted to do: expand to 12 teams, split into two divisions and play a championship game at a campus site.

"I think that’s the plan," said MWC commissioner Craig Thompson.

The BCS, too, is quickly firming up plans for scheduling the new playoff. The conference commissioners released dates for all 12 years of the system, with the semifinals being played Jan. 1 in Year 1, and the championship game played Jan.12.

The shortest layoff between the semifinals and championship game is six days (2018 season), and the longest layoff is 12 days (2019, and 2024). The average layoff is nine days.

A BCS source said Monday that the goal for the six semifinal host cities (a rotation of two games per year among six cities) is similar time zones. In other words, two cities in the East, two in the Central and two in the West.

The Rose, Sugar and Orange bowls are locked into the semifinal rotation, and the Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-Fil-A bowls are expected to complete the six. The Request For Proposal-the bids by cities-for the remaining three semifinal rotation cities will be sent out later this spring.

[fifty]

Boo hoo. Rather be in Conference USA next year playing UNCC, FIU, UNT, UTSA, and Middle Tenn St? Or how about touring Idaho and New Mexico for prime exposure to the abyss of the midwest?

[The PonyGrad]

Not what it might have been or what we hoped for but certainly not done.

[Comet]

Notice "Big Four," the ACC has been officially put in the poop-list with the Big East.

[The PonyGrad]

Notice "Big Four," the ACC has been officially put in the poop-list with the Big East.

Good point, I did notice that.

[PonyKai]

lol there's nothing in that article except the shaping the narrative. Somehow I don't think that Boise annotating itself King of the Midgets with that sweetheart MWC deal and SDSU not being the only western school 1700 miles away from the others ought to count as body blows.

[HB Pony Dad]

The veracity of a non-existent publication...

After 126 Years, 'The Sporting News' Stops The Presses

by Steve Mullis
December 11, 2012 6:10 PM

It's a story we in the news business have heard all too often lately.

After 126 years, The Sporting News, the wise old man of sports journalism, will cease publishing as of Jan. 1, 2013. Editor-In-Chief Garry Howard and publisher Jeff Price made the announcement in a letter to readers Tuesday.

Established in 1886, TSN, as it has come to be known, became the dominant American publication covering baseball. It later expanded its coverage to most other major U.S. sports. For much of its history, TSN was a decidedly nonglamorous, black-and-white newsprint publication considered the place serious sports fans went to follow their teams.

It was only in October when the publication announced it was ending its biweekly publication and going monthly, but in the print world the situation changes fast. And as Howard told readers:

"Having spoken with many of our longtime subscribers, we recognize this is not a popular decision among our most loyal fans. Unfortunately, neither our subscriber base nor the current advertising market for print would allow us to operate a profitable print business going forward."

Don't get out the bagpipes quite yet, however. The Sporting News will continue as an all-digital brand with its AOL-partnered website, as well as its iPad and Android apps.

Howard also told Poynter in an email that its yearbooks for baseball, NFL football, college football and fantasy leagues will still find their way to newsstands.

TSN's Matt Hayes tweeted the publication's final print cover. The two college teams on the cover, Alabama and Notre Dame, didn't even exist when TSN was first published.

After 126 Years, 'The Sporting News' Stops The Presses

[LHS81]

I'm just thankful the world didn't end on 12/21/12.

[ponyinNC]

over react much???

[Stallion]

Wormer dropped the big one mam
What the hell we s'pposed to do?

[NavyCrimson]

If someone is 'thinking' in the SMU admin office, the lines should be burning up between Dallas, the BE headquarters, & the ACC headquarters on some cooperative arrangement or whatever.

What a shame for the ACC & the schools that jumped ship from the nBE! All for naught? (sarcasm)

[birddogger]

The ACC's exclusion from the Big 4 will be the impetus for a nBE-ACC merger/re-merger. We are better off than being in the MWC. BTW, what a BB conference!

[gostangs]

could be the best thing that ever happened if we connect with the ACC - and makes it easier to not carry western baggage (not having tulane and ECU would have also made it easier). Basketball would absolutely rock.

Or alternatively we are screwed. That is also possible.

Lets just get our 10 billionaries to hire Saban, open a coaching major in our education school, hire 1 for 1 tutors, add a deck Ford, build the best IPF in the country, bring back the "Pony Hostess Club", and swing for the back fence!

[jkflamebo]

Non delusional pony fans know already that the big east is done. Nothing new here. Sign up for the MW already

[gostangs]

no way. MWC = being sent to siberia