NY Post: BE Basketball holds key to TV

This position should go over well on this board.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/coll...nference_Iz9DBJqbfyAt0f7ojmGKCI#ixzz246QL53Zr

I think this is only partly true, but Aresco has to say it for 2 reasons. First to keep peace in the family, but also because it is the Big east's best known asset...so you tell the other guys that it is what they should care about even if they don't. But the reality is that there are some 320 basketball teams playing at the D1 level. If the Big East disappeared off the face of the earth tomorrow, you could easily fill those time slots with any of the 306 remaining teams and 75% of the audience would know the difference. And you would save money too. Replace St Johns-UConn with UMass-Fordham and a little marketing and nobody would be the wiser. and you'd get them for a third the cost, too.

ESPN could fill those time slots with other content, because it has the rights to the other 306 teams. NBC Sports Network can't, it doesn't have rights to their content. For NBC, Big East basketball supplies a lot of inventory that can fill any gaps in live content.

i think the new commissioner actually "gets it." Plus I'm psyched that the BET is about to sign 10 more years with MSG.

That's actually a good point, pj. I was speaking more on a theoretical basis. There is just so much basketball content out there that no one league is worth all that much. But it might matter to NBC since they don't control much of that content while ESPN could easily substitute another conference.

If BE BB leaves ESPN, you'll see very little coverage of BE BB on ESPN. Not that any decision should be based solely on that fact, but it'd be dumb to ignore.

The commish has it right, it's a combo of $ and premium exposure. NBC doesn't spend 4 months talking about CBB for 4 hours a day, ESPN does.

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I know that many here hate ESPN and not without reason, but a decent dollar bump from them in the new contract should be taken by the BE. The reason is BB. I know FB "drives the bus". But for the BE, whether we like it or not BB is the relief driver. Protecting BB is important. No other bidder has the platform to showcase our strongest product like ESPN. In the future BE FB may come into its own but for now any reasonable commissioner would protect BB. Monday night on NBCSC would be worse than Wednesday night on ESPN 2 for FB. It would be going against "Big Monday" w/o the BE and in most markets no one would notice after the first two weeks.

Man, I like the sound of that!!

It really isn't that big a deal. If NBC offers more money the Big East should be on NBC. The leagues on ESPN will be a competitors for sure, but I wouldn't be too concerned for 2 reasons. first, if the Big East continues to send 9-10 teams to the NCAA Tourney, it will continue to be recognized as the power conference. It go that rep because it sent lots of teams, not because they won anything. Until UCONN in 2011, the Big East had zero national Champions in the "realignment era" yet had the rep as having surpassed other leagues who actually produced multiple champs. Why? Numbers in the dance, that's why. And as far as Big Monday goes, I'm not sure it works anymore if half the Big is on another network. ESPN has as much to lose on that score. UConn-Temple at 7 followed by Georgetown-Villanova at 9 isn't such a bad match-up. If it is the difference between $15 million and $15.5 million, maybe you don't make the deal. but if its $17 vs. $14, it isn't even a question. And if you have even equal money but with NBC you have a commitment to grow the football side, with feature games on NBC leading or following Notre Dame, and others in evening prime time onNBCSports, plus marketing the hell out of the league on NFL telecasts, it isn't even close.

Why? The headline doesn't match the article. Basketball rights are valuable? Nobody said they weren't - but even the article says football is more valuable.

You won't be if UConn isn't in the Big East.

If UConn stays in the Big East I wasn't worried that MSG was going in a different direction.

If UConn is in the ACC or any other conference, why would I not like it? I have been a fan of the Big East my entire life (I was 4 years old when it was founded). If UConn chose to leave the Big East, I wouldn't wish the league any ill will on the Big East at all. And the bottom line for me is: the Big East and MSG belong together. Period.

I don't disagree about the Big East and MSG. I was 6, I figured we are the same age.

If UConn leaves the Big East what is left for basketball? Georgetown, Villanova, St John's and Marquette? I'll still go to MSG every year as long as it
exists, even without UConn involved. That is how great college basketball is at the Garden. It's the best non college football days of the year for me.

If UConn and Louisville end up elsewhere the tournament will be a shell of it's former self. If UConn were in the ACC I think we'd be sitting there after a few years lamenting what used to be and wishing UConn, Syracuse, UNC, Duke and others had that ultimate stage.

I guess the bottom line is at what point does the Big East stop being the Big East. How many teams represents a quorum? UConn, Syracuse, Pitt and BC would be gone. Are Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's and the corpses of
Seton Hall and Providence enough to
still call it the Big East Tournament?

I don't think I could bring myself to go if UConn wasn't in the Big East anymore. Seeing what used to be such an amazing tournament reduced to scraps and especially without UConn even there would just be depressing.

The whole thing just pisses me off just thinking about it.

Part of me wonders, if 50 years down the line, conferences break up into more regionally and rivalry centric conferences. I guess we can only hope.

I'm not worried about the point when the Big East stops being the Big East so long as UConn is in it. So long as the Big East can boast that we have 3 of the last thirteen national championships, along with countless other Final Fours (including the Ville, Marquette, and Memphis), there is still plenty of magic in the Big East. UConn goes....so does the BE. But I'm not worried about that until it happens...

So when did your "realignment era" start? Mine started in 2003, when the ACC set off the mess. The BE has 3 titles since then.

I just like having a day or two in city to break up that half of year. I also just like tournament basketball, I usually warm up for BET at the America East or
MAAC

Sure, I just don't see UConn in the Big East too far in future. If UConn and Louisville stay for the long term it can be saved, I just don't see it.

So how much less, then? $0.90 on the dollar? $0.80? At some point, there has to be a cutoff. I don't believe that ESPN is going to make an honest push to offer the Big East more than say 10-11 million per team per year. So if NBC is 14 million, the Big East should say "no"?

The answer is "Of course not," just in case anyone was wondering. If the package is the same amount, it is likely that the Big East will stay with ESPN. If ESPN is less, there is no doubt in my mind that we're going to NBC or FOX...