Reflections on the last 4 days

[nelsonmuntz]

While I think there will be more cycles of drama over the next few days, I think things will settle down for a while. It is time to be a little strategic now rather than reactive.

First, tomorrow is the time to make that last call to the ACC. I am honestly feeling less panicked than i was over the weekend, mostly because I think the ACC still has a TV contract problem that did not get solved with Pitt and Syracuse, nor will it get solved with UConn. I may be wrong, but I don't see any teams leaving the Big East for the Big 12 as long as they think UConn and Rutgers are staying.

I think Comcast might still have a giant bag of cash for the Big East.

I don't feel like Syracuse and Pitt are that big losses. This isn't Miami circa 2003. TCU is joining the league, and they will unleash a hurt on us that an all-star team of Syracuse and Pitt players couldn't do. We also have 3 years to fix this, since Pitt and Syracuse will not play their first season in the ACC until 2014-2015. Boeheim may never coach an ACC game. A lot can happen between now and then.

Assuming that the next TV deal is shaping up to be strong, I think the Big East can think long-term. Markets are driving this, and in my opinion, concentration is more important than breadth. On the other hand, I would be willing to take on quality. I like Houston, I like Temple for football only, and I think the league should take a long look at UMass for football only to build the northeast presence.

The key thing is that with Pitt and Syracuse locked up for so long, I would take my time at least until I saw how the next TV deal was shaping up.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I agree with everything you are saying. I would just feel better if we had stronger leadership in the form of a different Commissioner.

 

[jbdphi]

I just don't see someone walking up to a 7 team football conference with a huge bag of cash for a TV contract. There are definitely some good teams in the league but none of these teams really brings any national cache / interest and the markets, while OK, are still either smallish or come behind professional sports. In addition, what distribution network wants to sign a long-term agreement with a league that is likely to fold in the face of the next slight breeze / defection?

As much as I am a fan of the basketball side, I think we can all recognize that the money in that portion of the business, per team, is around 35% to 50% of the value of the football money pool, even in today's weak TV payouts. With a lucrative contract like what the PAC 12 got, the ratio would be even more skewed towards football.

This is not a long term solution. It isn't even a medium term solution. I wish I could magically make things better but I'm drawing a blank and just feel a bit depressed about it.

 

[hardcorehusky]

If the Big East tries to survive -watch ESPN piss all over it!!

 

[huskypantz]

I've felt fairly comfortable that we'd land in a BCS conference since the Cuse/Pitt announcement. There are a ton of moving parts and our fate is definitely subject to where some of those parts land, but UConn is no slouch. I try not to read too much into some of these twitter feeds, media insights and "posters in the know" - we heard nothing about Pitt/Cuse until the deal was almost done. I'm not so confident that the BE TV deal will be a windfall. In the interim, we need to hope that the BCS bid stays in play and TCU stays in the fold. We probably can get away with 2 schools - UCF is my first pick. Maybe Houston is worth consideration, but I would imagine that TCU will have a strong opinion on that and we'll want to keep them happy either way.

 

[UCDaveD]

What's the deal with the BCS bid? I know we technically don't have to worry about it for ~27 months, but what's the criteria to keep the auto-bid? Can it just be taken away on a whim or as long as we meet the qualifications (what are they?), we keep it?

 

[RS9999X]

Texas AM, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Missouri could still end up in the SEC and Texas could still go independent.

Nova upgrade will ger revisited. UCF and ECU will get looked at. That's the 9 game schedule pitch in the growing South.

ACC is still alive maybe not immediately.

We can still schedule Pitt and SU in home and away.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

If the Big East tries to survive -watch ESPN piss all over it!!

That is exactly the truth. ESPN will not let the BE grow into a big TV property so NBC/COMCAST can come in and snatch it away. ESPN will plot with the ACC/SEC to destroy the BE before it get a chance to grow. Jimmy B from CUSE was saying one of the reason SU left was because they did not vote to accept ESPN's new TV contract. Why did you think ACC made their move right before the next negotiation? There was no reason for them to expand right now. They did it to destroy the BE.

UCONN could be left in this crap of conference because BE lacked a strong leader. BE did not up the exit fee to $20M+ like the ACC did. Pitt wanted to add UCF and be pitched Nova. What a freaking joke. If we have to stay in this mess, I hope we leave to form a new all-Sports conference.

 

[coachcap]

If we're going to stay in this confernce (even temporarily) we should get to at least 10 for football (12 would be better). Take UCF, Houston for sure & MAYBE ECU, SMU, & Memphis. There are NO other candidates. This conference should tolerate no further 1-AA upgrades so Nova, UMass et al are out of the question.