nelsonmuntz
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And I'm sure Pitt would say the same thing about what they did.
It's everyone looking out for themselves and not being concerned about anyone else.
ESPN offered the Big East money that was more than fair. The schools turned it down - was ESPN just supposed to pay them more because they said no?
ESPN did pay them more, A LOT MORE.
The problem with your logic is that ESPN probably could have gotten away with paying a 17 team Big East $150 million a year. Instead, it ended up paying about the same amount for a lot less content. ESPN now only has Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, Notre Dame basketball, part of Rutgers, part of TCU and part of West Virginia from the Big East. It lost the foundation of its winter basketball coverage, put FS1 in business as a college sports network, brought the BTN into New York, and devalued the three remaining properties that it held onto (USF, Cincinnati and UConn). It also tipped the first domino that may take down the Big 12 also. If big time college athletics gets any more concentrated, it risks becoming a niche sport. ESPN also severely damaged the flagship university of a state that has given them over $100 million in tax credits, just as ESPN's business model is collapsing and it needs all the friends it can get.
14 of the 17 Big East schools DOUBLED the payout that ESPN offered them in 2011. ESPN's offer was clearly a lowball, and most of the Big East made the correct decision in turning it down. Sponsoring the ACC raid on the Big East was a stupid business decision that looks like it was emotionally driven to teach the Big East a lesson, and which backfired badly.