NY Post: BE Basketball holds key to TV

The Big East to NBC bears a great deal of risk and requires a leap of faith. That is why I think NBC is going to have to shell out some major money to get us to make that leap.

I think NBC wants to "mainstream" it's ancillary channels with a college sports lineup. I am not certain that the Big East on its own is enough to do that. I also can't believe that that the NBC execs are naive enough to believe that either.

I would not be surprised if the Big East ends up with a "hybrid" deal. Maybe with the bulk of the games on ESPN/ABC and the pick of the litter on NBC. Temple/Memphis Football will not do anything on NBC but Boise/Louisville will.

Anyone who thinks the BE doesn't plan on doing everything allowed within the contract to present its case to bidders and get a "feel" for other bids even as I type, is wrong. Whatever the language of the contract says, you can get around it. BE will know what potential bidders are thinking well before ESPN gives its "take it or leave it: bid.
I've seen contract negotiations where a bidder has given "3 take it or leave it bids and then gave a 4th bid to win the contract". Amazing what happens in contract negotiations.

Are you saying that in BB people don't care about the teams? That the Uconn brand is on par with Fordham?
I have to disagree with that line of logic.

Negotiations are essentially a game of chicken...
Never been directly involved but have also seen multiple 'Best Offers' to the point of pure bs.

Didn't Syr win one as well? Is that an ACC nc now?

if you don't think viewers would know the difference you're nuts. there's 120, or whatever there are now, 1A teams but that doesn't mean people won't know the difference between Michigan/Minnesota and Bowling Green/Troy State. BE basketball is a nice draw. the individual ratings aren't the same as top football games, but there's also games on most nights of the week, and i have to think we draw very good overall numbers from Jan-March

Teams have to win. The PAC-10 was on SC all the time when their games were Fox. Couple of years ago it was Jimmer time on SC even though his games were on CBS College Network.

I agree there is a leap of faith. NBC sports is not ESPN. But remember in the mid 90's CNN dominated cable news. Fox news came along and slowly cut into CNN viewership. Now Fox news viewership is 4.5X that of CNN. I am not saying NBC will do this to ESPN but what I am saying I'd that NBC has a lot of room to grow. The BE would just need to win and viewership would sig. improve.

I knew this was going to come up, and I guess I should have put it in parentheses as a "I know, I know....Syracuse." I thought that my addition of the name Memphis in the Final Four on that post was enough to let everyone know that I was talking about the Big East going forward, but perhaps not.

Just like the Big East can no longer talk about our football championship with Miami, we can probably no longer talk about Syracuse with Carmelo...

Yeah, even ESPN doesn't have enough hubris to think it can exclude teams from its SC coverage simply because they don't own the broadcasting rights.

for the longest time ESPN, like CNN, was the only game in town and they took advantage. i know they've lost a lot of luster for me and others, and not just because they don't support the BE the way i'd like, but b/c there's better options in general. if i want quick i check the internet, if I want genuine good quality i read SI, for NFL coverage i prefer the NFL network, and pretty soon for college football games I'll check NBCsports I guess

on a somewhat separate issue, i think it's funny that by being NBC-mates (assuming we go there) with ND, the BE now has more in common with them than we did before all the raids that were meant to squash the BE and force ND's hand. now it looks like we may be united with them against a common enemy:ESPN

Marty,
That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that you could easily fill the time slot with other games. Would UMass-Fordham draw what UConn-St Johns does? In an average weeknight game, probably not. But I think they'd draw reasonably well, and you could get that one for much less. If you have to pay say $6 million for the Big East but can get the A-10 for $1 million, which I think you could, I'm not sure it makes sense to break the bank for the big East because I doubt that Big East basketball, or any basketball for that matter is going to draw that well as to justify such big numbers. On the other hand, if the big East is so desirable that it is worth those kind of dollars for basketball, it seems pretty unlikely that a move to NBCSports, especially for more money, would be damaging to the conference? Either the big East brings the fans and they'll follow it where ever it lands, or the Big East is simply the beneficiary of ESPN's following to a large extent, and should really take whatever it is offered to stay there. another way of putting it is "Is Big East basketball a creation of ESPN or is it valuable in its own right?"

Is it possible that UConn (BE) basketball made ESPN?

uconnell, that is a possibility too, but the problem from the Big East's perspective is that ESPN has grown to the point where it can do quite well without the Big East. The question is can the Big East do as well without ESPN? by the way, I happen to think it will be fine on NBC. Better football coverage and solid basketball. Maybe a weekend game on NBC, plus regular coverage on NBCSports and the other NBC properties, and regional coverage on various cablevision properties for "lesser" games which don't have national interest. Providence Seton Hall could still be televised in Rhode Island and Bayonnne, while UConn-Louisville is on the Monday Game of the Week on NBCSports. And if the Big East has 10 teams going to the NCAA tourney each year, Sports Center will cover it. If UConn is ranked #1 and Louisville is #3, they'll report on that game in a big way, too...or they will simply lose any credibility they might have.

Putting NBE basketball on NBCSports would be a mistake. Not on as many cable systems as ESPN.

Good point. No one carries CNBC or MSNBC.

Within 2-3 years, all the sports channels will be in a row on every cable/ATT/satellite provider. Wait a minute...they already are.

It amazes me that some people would prefer to be on ESPN even if the money is the same. ESPN's goal is to reduce the amount of content they have to pay for in the future. The last thing they want to do is give exposure to yet another league. The only reason ESPN is going to bid up for the Big East is so they can box NBC out forever and then drown the Big East in the bathtub.

nelson, I agree. And I don't know about other cable providers, but with mine, ESPN is like 605,608 and 612 for 2 and U and NBCSports is 610. Not a heck of a lot of difference...and it isn't like I have any Super package. And it isn't like I have to push fewer buttons, though that can be a trial...