Aresco Asking Navy to Join Early

[Fishy]

Honestly, you really should try to get out there for a game.

 

[mavblues]

You don't have any value if you can't compete. When you lose 35-3 every week people stop watching.

Totally untrue.

Not sure why this is so difficult for you to comprehend - it's a relatively simple concept.

 

[whaler11]

Totally untrue.

Not sure why this is so difficult for you to comprehend - it's a relatively simple concept.

Except it is. When there are 20 games to pick from on Saturday nobody is watching SMU beat up on Army 41-0.

They quit CUSA because they can't compete. Their oh so valuable television status has them getting paid peanuts on CBS cable.

They play one game a year that people watch.

I just hope the TV thing ends soon so there will be fewer delusional theories posted here.

 

[UConnDan97]

Except it is. When there are 20 games to pick from on Saturday nobody is watching SMU beat up on Army 41-0.

They quit CUSA because they can't compete. Their oh so valuable television status has them getting paid peanuts on CBS cable.

They play one game a year that people watch.

I just hope the TV thing ends soon so there will be fewer delusional theories posted here.

Whaler, I'll just throw my points out there about Army. Without my knowing what their average ratings are (I need to look up that info), it seems at least anecdotally true to me that the fans of Army football watch Army football despite the fact that they haven't had much success in many decades. The point being made is that those eyeballs are eyeballs across the country that are not currently watching Big East football. Under the new paradigm of the Big East being a cross-country-type conference and with large urban centers (which I have to think contain plenty of Army folks), it is reasonable to believe that their addition will help the conference and not hurt it, from a tv perspective.

Most pundits seem to support the idea that the addition of Army and Air Force would add to the overall value of the contract (obviously, BYU would be a much bigger addition and nobody is arguing against that). And with the remaining targets out there that make sense for the Big East to add, Army has to be included in the "short-list" for that very reason. Wouldn't you agree with those points?

 

[whaler11]

Whaler, I'll just throw my points out there about Army. Without my knowing what their average ratings are (I need to look up that info), it seems at least anecdotally true to me that the fans of Army football watch Army football despite the fact that they haven't had much success in many decades. The point being made is that those eyeballs are eyeballs across the country that are not currently watching Big East football. Under the new paradigm of the Big East being a cross-country-type conference and with large urban centers (which I have to think contain plenty of Army folks), it is reasonable to believe that their addition will help the conference and not hurt it, from a tv perspective.

Most pundits seem to support the idea that the addition of Army and Air Force would add to the overall value of the contract (obviously, BYU would be a much bigger addition and nobody is arguing against that). And with the remaining targets out there that make sense for the Big East to add, Army has to be included in the "short-list" for that very reason. Wouldn't you agree with those points?

When you have 13 teams I don't think any school can raise the average by much.

I don't know that Army is on any real short list. It seems to be Air Force who wants them included. The same Air Force that didn't want to join prior. I want no part of Army - I actually care about the quality of play on the field. I don't believe they are some huge TV draw no one on CBS cable is - note the two lowest rated ND games of all time are Air Force and Army.

The whole urban market cross country thing is nonsense. The only cities in this league that are the top draw in their television market are Boise, Hartford and Louisville. In half the cities the teams are third or fourth or deeper on the list. It's the sort of thing that sounds good in theory and is a disaster in practice.

We'll see soon enough. I hope for NBCS sake they find something to air soon - their schedule is a joke.

 

[UConnDan97]

When you have 13 teams I don't think any school can raise the average by much.

I don't know that Army is on any real short list. It seems to be Air Force who wants them included. The same Air Force that didn't want to join prior. I want no part of Army - I actually care about the quality of play on the field. I don't believe they are some huge TV draw no one on CBS cable is - note the two lowest rated ND games of all time are Air Force and Army.

The whole urban market cross country thing is nonsense. The only cities in this league that are the top draw in their television market are Boise, Hartford and Louisville. In half the cities the teams are third or fourth or deeper on the list. It's the sort of thing that sounds good in theory and is a disaster in practice.

We'll see soon enough. I hope for NBCS sake they find something to air soon - their schedule is a joke.

Well let me put it another way; do you believe that having the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy entirely in the Big East is marketable? I happen to think that we can market something like that to our advantage. I also am a big believer in the fact that every conference...EVERY....has to have a couple of "pick on" teams. We've tried out having the situation where everyone in the league was similarly talented, and it led to a bunch of 9-3 teams that were 5-2 in conference. Part of what has made teams in the other BCS conferences look better is the fact that they get their free wins out of the bottom of the conference (Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Wake Forest, Washington State, etc.). Obviously, you don't want to have a lot of those teams, but a couple will serve our top teams well when it comes to rankings, since all anyone ever seems to care about is wins and losses...

 

[whaler11]

Well let me put it another way; do you believe that having the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy entirely in the Big East is marketable? I happen to think that we can market something like that to our advantage. I also am a big believer in the fact that every conference...EVERY....has to have a couple of "pick on" teams. We've tried out having the situation where everyone in the league was similarly talented, and it led to a bunch of 9-3 teams that were 5-2 in conference. Part of what has made teams in the other BCS conferences look better is the fact that they get their free wins out of the bottom of the conference (Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Wake Forest, Washington State, etc.). Obviously, you don't want to have a lot of those teams, but a couple will serve our top teams well when it comes to rankings, since all anyone ever seems to care about is wins and losses...

The New Big East will have no shortage of pick on teams.

Ah for the Trophy? Eh. It's better than nothing, but only slightly.

Army football is the kind of thing that sounds good until you actually have to sit down and watch it on TV for three and a half hours.

Great place to go to a game every once in a while. The quality of play is worse than Tuesday night MACtion.

But we'll see.

 

[Marty Jackson]

My buddy in the reserves has told me that seeing a game at Mitchie (sp?) Stadium is like nothing else that I would experience. I don't know if he is waxing poetic, or if he's serious, but based on the responses I'm seeing here, he's probably right...

Michie stadium...
Pronounced to rhyme with Nike.

 

[Fishy]

I love Army football and being from the Hudson Valley, I went to Army games when I thought UConn was a school in Alaska.

I don't know if they add any value to the conference, though. The only thing I know for certain is that they'd be the best program in the greater Boston area this year, but then again, what's that worth?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Army would be an unmitigated disaster.

It does nobody any good to have to see Army get drubbed by 40 points every week.

If Army, Navy or Air Force have these large national followings as people seem to be proclaiming, then why are they never on TV? How dumb can these networks be that having these 3 gold mines relegated to CBS Sports Network all these years?

Come on guys. Temple, Memphis and SMU were mistakes. Every additional team added on further decreases UConn's pay out and makes our games with Boise State and whoever else gets put in the other division even less frequent.

 

[UConnDan97]

Army would be an unmitigated disaster.

It does nobody any good to have to see Army get drubbed by 40 points every week.

If Army, Navy or Air Force have these large national followings as people seem to be proclaiming, then why are they never on TV? How dumb can these networks be that having these 3 gold mines relegated to CBS Sports Network all these years?

Come on guys. Temple, Memphis and SMU were mistakes. Every additional team added on further decreases UConn's pay out and makes our games with Boise State and whoever else gets put in the other division even less frequent.

Again, it's not clear to me how much Army would bring to any tv negotiation. I have only heard and read what many of you have heard and read. I have to trust that Aresco, et al., understand the tv business and what makes the negotiation fruitful.

And that also goes for the Temple / Memphis / SMU thing. Although Aresco wasn't on board at the time, we had other firms and other people (i.e., Tagliabue) looking into their prospective value for contract negotiations. I have to trust that they know a great deal more about it than I do. And even with my trust....Memphis???

 

[UConnDan97]

The whole Army point may not be relevant in the near-term. It seems clear to me that, at least when it comes to team #14, it is either going to be BYU or :

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/oct/13/sdsu-football-notes-big-east-official-takes-aztecs/

A slight mention by Nick Carparelli (Asst. Commish - Big East) at the bottom of the article states in reference to the 14th team:

“We don’t know who that team is going to be right now, but if I had to follow my gut, I’d probably tell you it’ll be a team in the West,” Carparelli said.

Umm...your "gut" is probably pretty reliable when it comes to the next acquisition, Mr. Carparelli. Pretty reliable...

 

[whaler11]

I wouldn't be so sure. If BYU wanted to join they would already have joined. Air Force already passed once.

With the Big East's luck it will end up some non-entity like Fresno.

 

[uconNYC]

I wouldn't be so sure. If BYU wanted to join they would already have joined. Air Force already passed once.

With the Big East's luck it will end up some non-entity like Fresno.

If we can't get BYU, I'd rather just stay at 12 schools for football. I'm sure Navy could live without joining the BigEast.

 

[UConnDan97]

If we can't get BYU, I'd rather just stay at 12 schools for football. I'm sure Navy could live without joining the BigEast.

Navy's coming, and we aren't sending them home. They are a calculated part of the tv contract, I'm sure.

Remember, BYU said "no" before any of the new playoff or big-bowl implications were spelled out. I'm wondering how much that would change the situation. And it could still be also...

 

[alexd]

Navy's coming, and we aren't sending them home. They are a calculated part of the tv contract, I'm sure.

Remember, BYU said "no" before any of the new playoff or big-bowl implications were spelled out. I'm wondering how much that would change the situation. And it could still be also...

Everything I read stated that BYU didn't say "no" to joining the BE. The issue was their demands regarding their own TV rights. The BE walked away.

 

[UConnDan97]

Everything I read stated that BYU didn't say "no" to joining the BE. The issue was their demands regarding their own TV rights. The BE walked away.

That's what I've read too. You can look at that in two different ways; 1) The Big East walked away from BYU's demands, or 2) BYU wasn't willing to meet the Big East's criteria. I don't consider it as anyone walking away. I consider it a situation where there wasn't a meeting of the minds, so the contract wasn't made.

The $64 question now is whether or not the college landscape and tv contract situation has changed enough for one of the two parties to change their respective stances...

 

[RS9999X]

Some BE assumptions:

There is very little national content for BE Football. Aresco was on the team negotiating the contracts for the Military Services Series on CBS. If the BE is looking to wrap up the noon time slot on CBS as part of a deal then they want to neutralize the military series as opponents and fold that contract into theirs. We know they want and has contract issues like Navy under their present deal. They have terms to complete. Also the 3 service teams usually book at least two good home games a year between them against ND of whoever.

Add in the best 7 Conference matchups and the best 5 OOC matchups and there's just about enough inventory there to make a credible run for the early Sat time slot on National if the shcedule is hand massaged by CBS

Aresco knows how to package this stuff and what the players are looking for. The other big piece is the Cablevision and Fox Sports Regional (in areas where Cablevision is a non-player).

The question is whether ESPN or ABC are players in the early Sat time slot given their ACC content and other deals. Check out the current ESPN ABC carve up for this Sunday. And look at the sad coverage for Louisville USF on ABC

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/page/CFBmaps/2012-espn-college-football-tv-maps

 

[zls44]

The question is whether ESPN or ABC are players in the early Sat time slot given their ACC content and other deals. Check out the current ESPN ABC carve up for this Sunday. And look at the sad coverage for Louisville USF on ABC

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/page/CFBmaps/2012-espn-college-football-tv-maps

Damn. Was hoping to watch TT-TCU on my TV, but I can't because of three crappy teams playing (and UL).