Big East TV Deal with FOX, TNT, and NBC

[FfldCntyFan]

Every Big East school is intrinsically linked to their basketball and the Big East. It's why people all over the country know Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence, Nova.

I would be surprised if in most of the US (everything south of DC; everything west of the Mississippi) the majority of people know where Seton Hall is.

 

[noeynox]

Why wouldn't you expect that? These Big 10 schools have hundreds of thousands of alumni addicted to their sports programs.

We have DePaul, Seton Hall and Butler.

What are the BB ratings for the respective conferences also?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Sure, the Big East has a much better brand, athletically, I don’t deny that.

Ask the average American if they know what state Purdue or Clemson or Vanderbilt is in and they’ll probably be right. Ask them what state Seton Hall, Creighton or Xavier is in and I bet it’s just about as good of a hit rate as Drake or Belmont.

But that’s besides the point. From a financial stand point, when the Xavier administration is creating their 10 year growth plan, they aren’t benchmarking themselves against large public universities like Cincinnati or Ohio State, they are looking at peers like Dayton or St. Louis. Which is why $7million from a TV contract would thrill them, because that’s $7 million their D1 private Catholic peers don’t have to operate with.

I think many people are confusing revenue and profitability. In the post-House world, maybe 20-30 football programs will be profitable, and that will take substantial reductions in overhead to pull off.

 

[noeynox]

We shouldn't expect Big 10 basketball to bring in three times the money Big East basketball brings in. We get it, the Big East doesn't have football but it's one of the 5 major basketball conferences and everyone knows they're excellence in the sport.

The Big10 and SEC have separated themselves from the other P5 schools and you expect the Big East to be closing ground on them? I sorta get it because cause we are UConn fans, but no other BE squad is on UConn's level, especially with Nova down.

 

[king conn]

Every Big East school is intrinsically linked to their basketball and the Big East. It's why people all over the country know Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence, Nova. It's why every school in the Big East has gone up in applicants since they've been in the Big East. Georgetown is a very good school Clinton went there, Scalia, a bunch of Senators, and business leaders but people know Georgetown around the country because of John Thompson, Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson etc.

People around the country don't know those schools you named. You ask the average person they'll think you're talking about the rapper or store bought coffee cake if you bring up Drake. You bring up Belmont and they'll think you're talking about the horse race.

Does Drake still make those coffee cakes?

I used to love those things

 

[superjohn]

The Big10 and SEC have separated themselves from the other P5 schools and you expect the Big East to be closing ground on them? I sorta get it because cause we are UConn fans, but no other BE squad is on UConn's level, especially with Nova down.

Closing ground on them?

 

[WestHartHusk]

Everybody is out of control. What were the options?the American was death row. Our AG sued other conferences and individuals. We did not kiss flippers butt. The big wanted Rutgirls. The 12 did not want us. We will find out what is sustainable and what is not and if we need to go back to the Yankee conference, so be it

Please, please can we ban posts blaming lawsuits? Clemson and FSU are suing everyone under the sun and nobody is worried about that.

 

[noeynox]

Closing ground on them?

I expect those 2 conferences to continue to pull away from everyone including the Big East. This contract seems in line with what the Big12 and ACC get for their BB which can only be looked at as great.

Otherwise the schools should do what some have suggested and fire Ackerman.

 

[Chuck]

They have more palm trees, better weather and better parties, but from an institutional level, yes ASU (a Top 20 Public University and AAU member) is a school UConn benchmarks themselves against.

Don't mean to derail the conversation. I think at some point all big public research universities give you a similar experience as a student, but that's the only time I've heard ASU called a Top 20 public university. I'm sure you can get a great education, but that's not the primary goal of any of the kids that go there from my area and some are pretty academically challenged.

But, regarding the thread at hand, I get the point that UConn is a fish out of water. That isn't going to change while in the Big East. But there is no other option at this point. The Big East is the only tweener conference. I think the problem is that our academic peers look at us as more closely aligned with UMass, Delaware, UVM athletically than the P4 schools. So, we don't compare ourselves to Drake, but Michigan doesn't consider us part of their friend group either. Of course, we deserve to be and hopefully a spot opens before we can't afford to keep up.

 

[Rdkid]

The market has spoken. To imply incompetence or malfeasance is more than likely just you spouting off. BE is a nice basketball league, but the masses don’t care much for regular season CBB.

 

[superjohn]

I expect those 2 conferences to continue to pull away from everyone including the Big East. This contract seems in line with what the Big12 and ACC get for their BB which can only be looked at as great.

Otherwise the schools should do what some have suggested and fire Ackerman.

What did the Big 12 and ACC get for their basketball? I didn't even think the ACC got a new contract.

 

[JMick]

It’s not a made-up number. It’s conservative. If anything it’s closer to 85/15.

Ok if it's not a made up number then where did you get the number from?

 

[JMick]

Ever used Peacock?

I got it for free, tried to use it a few times and realized there's nothing good on there. So I've never watched anything live with it.

 

[noeynox]

What did the Big 12 and ACC get for their basketball? I didn't even think the ACC got a new contract.

I don't know, i do know you bought the 15 million dollar pipe dream and posted anything under 12 would be a disappointment. I dont see how an 85 percent increase is a disappointment unless i expected something like a 300 percent increase.

At the end of the day if someone was willing to pay more they would have. The BE is now making more than most G5 leagues with FB. That is a huge win.

 

[McLovin]

Don't mean to derail the conversation. I think at some point all big public research universities give you a similar experience as a student, but that's the only time I've heard ASU called a Top 20 public university. I'm sure you can get a great education, but that's not the primary goal of any of the kids that go there from my area and some are pretty academically challenged.

But, regarding the thread at hand, I get the point that UConn is a fish out of water. That isn't going to change. I think the problem is that our academic peers look at us as more closely aligned with UMass, Delaware, UVM athletically than the P4 schools. So, we don't compare ourselves to Drake, but Michigan doesn't consider us part of their friend group either. Of course, we deserve to be and hopefully a spot opens before we can't afford to keep up.

Every ranking system is different, and of course the schools will tout the one that looks best for them (UConn, for example was ranked the 9th best by WSJ but 26th by US News) but ASU also probably just takes anyone who applies - their enrollment is nearly 60,000 on just their Tempe campus. Either way, they are a solid academic school and new AAU member, which is an accreditation UConn strives to get.

 

[JMick]

I don't know, i do know you bought the 15 million dollar pipe dream and posted anything under 12 would be a disappointment. I dont see how an 85 percent increase is a disappointment unless i expected something like a 300 percent increase.

At the end of the day if someone was willing to pay more they would have. The BE is now making more than most G5 leagues with FB. That is a huge win.

I don't want to comment too much until we have actual numbers but I dont think it was unreasonable to hope for more than the current guesstimates. The $15 and $12 numbers were totally laughable but I figured we'd get $8-9

 

[Ha Who]

Please, please can we ban posts blaming lawsuits? Clemson and FSU are suing everyone under the sun and nobody is worried about that.

Grow up are you the Karen of the boneyard now?

 

[bendm]

Does Drake still make those coffee cakes?

I used to love those things

 

[superjohn]

I don't know, i do know you bought the 15 million dollar pipe dream and posted anything under 12 would be a disappointment. I dont see how an 85 percent increase is a disappointment unless i expected something like a 300 percent increase.

At the end of the day if someone was willing to pay more they would have. The BE is now making more than most G5 leagues with FB. That is a huge win.

So what's the number on this deal? I think we're making about 5 million a year currently. 85% increase on what we're making would put us at around $9 mil or a little more than that. I would be disappointed with that but it's not the end of the world. $7 million would be absolutely pathetic.

 

[ZooCougar]

So you were on the fence before, but now you think UConn should join the Big 10?

No. But bad money and being on the worst streaming services possible is nothing to celebrate.

It’s not like it’s going to matter anyways.

 

[CJasmer]

So what's the number on this deal? I think we're making about 5 million a year currently. 85% increase on what we're making would put us at around $9 mil or a little more than that. I would be disappointed with that but it's not the end of the world. $7 million would be absolutely pathetic.

The announcement said 30% to 40% increase. If current number is $5 million then between $6.5 million to $7 million.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Because the # of viewers doesn't add up.

Surely you know alumni doesn't tell the story in who watches and goes to games. UConn has way more non-alumni fans than alumni fans.

Surely you'd think TV executives would have a better feel for the value of a league than you?

You picked like 10 games over one season where UConn was the #1 team coming off a title..they are probably looking at more data than just that.

 

[superjohn]

Surely you'd think TV executives would have a better feel for the value of a league than you?

You picked like 10 games over one season where UConn was the #1 team coming off a title..they are probably looking at more data than just that.

I picked the Fox games every week where both the Big 10 and Big East had men's basketball games.

Four or those games were Purdue games and three of them were UConn games. Purdue was #1 preseason, #1 for a lot of the season, and the #1 overall seed.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I picked the Fox games every week where both the Big 10 and Big East had men's basketball games.

Four or those games were Purdue games and three of them were UConn games. Purdue was #1 preseason, #1 for a lot of the season, and the #1 overall seed.

UConn was the #1 overall seed but that's besides the point.

Big Ten had a down year with its biggest brands and the Big East had just about it's best case scenario with it's top program.

 

[JMick]

No. But bad money and being on the worst streaming services possible is nothing to celebrate.

It’s not like it’s going to matter anyways.

I still have a hard time believing it could be worse than paramount+

It routinely soft locks my TV and I have to unplug it to fix it.