If the Big East had any guts

[nelsonmuntz]

Someone from the Big East office would email the main contact at ESPN the following:

A) A term sheet that had the following key points:

1) Per team payouts to Big East teams would be benchmarked off the higher of $18MM/year or the ACC's per team take. Hoops schools would get 50% of the football schools.

2) ESPN would agree to NEVER finance another conference's raid of the Big East under any construct or series of transactions, without the prior consent of the Big East. I.e. someone resigning from the Big East and joining another league counts as ESPN's participation in a raid.

3) Clause 2 would be retroactive to the beginning of the year. In other words, TCU, Syracuse and Pitt are all coming back.

B) A .pdf of the Blauschon article with Defillippo's money quote highlighted.

C) the text of the email would say "Don't ask questions, just sign the term sheet and return it."

Stop screwing around and asking nicely. Defillippo handed us a gigantic present. Time to unwrap it.

 

[Hoophound]

Someone from the Big East office would email the main contact at ESPN the following:

A) A term sheet that had the following key points:

1) Per team payouts to Big East teams would be benchmarked off the higher of $18MM/year or the ACC's per team take. Hoops schools would get 50% of the football schools.

2) ESPN would agree to NEVER finance another conference's raid of the Big East under any construct or series of transactions, without the prior consent of the Big East. I.e. someone resigning from the Big East and joining another league counts as ESPN's participation in a raid.

3) Clause 2 would be retroactive to the beginning of the year. In other words, TCU, Syracuse and Pitt are all coming back.

B) A .pdf of the Blauschon article with Defillippo's money quote highlighted.

C) the text of the email would say "Don't ask questions, just sign the term sheet and return it."

Stop screwing around and asking nicely. Defillippo handed us a gigantic present. Time to unwrap it.

While it would be nice if things were that simple, which they probably aren't, I am still all for it. Sometimes shock and awe is the way to go. You can't go through life being overly empathetic or kind in the business world. The sharks will eat you alive. You need to be ethical and honest, but you don't need to be nice when it comes to things like this. It doesn't help. The Big East is not any one school, so the conference can lay the smack down without signaling out one school as the instigator. I don't want UConn being viewed as litigous, but I want the conference as a whole to protect its members.

 

[Viao]

LoL.

So what if ACC asked ESPN what would you pay for Syracuse, Pitt or Uconn, and ESPN said *if* you add Syracuse, or Pitt, thats +2Mil/school, if you add Uconn, that's -1Mil/school or whatever, does it mean that ESPN finances the raid? lol

So the MWC or C-USA can sue whoever is paying for the cable rights of BE?

Just send it yourself. lol

 

[nelsonmuntz]

While it would be nice if things were that simple, which they probably aren't, I am still all for it. Sometimes shock and awe is the way to go. You can't go through life being overly empathetic or kind in the business world. The sharks will eat you alive. You need to be ethical and honest, but you don't need to be nice when it comes to things like this. It doesn't help. The Big East is not any one school, so the conference can lay the smack down without signaling out one school as the instigator. I don't want UConn being viewed as litigous, but I want the conference as a whole to protect its members.

I am sure it isn't that simple, but shock and awe and taking the initiative, are very effective strategies in uncertain, multidimensional conflict situations.

 

[flyonthewall]

Great strategy...not.

Piss off ESPN.

That worked well with respect to BC.

 

[CTMike]

I am sure it isn't that simple, but shock and awe and taking the initiative, are very effective strategies in uncertain, multidimensional conflict situations.

Taking the initiative could be construed as begging.

 

[arnie3]

Taking the initiative could be construed as begging.

LOL, and we all no what Nelson thinks of "begging"!

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Taking the initiative could be construed as begging.

Great point. My approach is just like begging. Except it is the polar opposite.

 

[uconnfan68]

Someone from the Big East office would email the main contact at ESPN the following:

A) A term sheet that had the following key points:

1) Per team payouts to Big East teams would be benchmarked off the higher of $18MM/year or the ACC's per team take. Hoops schools would get 50% of the football schools.

2) ESPN would agree to NEVER finance another conference's raid of the Big East under any construct or series of transactions, without the prior consent of the Big East. I.e. someone resigning from the Big East and joining another league counts as ESPN's participation in a raid.

3) Clause 2 would be retroactive to the beginning of the year. In other words, TCU, Syracuse and Pitt are all coming back.

B) A .pdf of the Blauschon article with Defillippo's money quote highlighted.

C) the text of the email would say "Don't ask questions, just sign the term sheet and return it."

Stop screwing around and asking nicely. Defillippo handed us a gigantic present. Time to unwrap it.

ESPN/Disney-ABC have more lawyers than the Big East. Contract lawyers are their specialty.

 

[BlueMAB]

ESPN/Disney-ABC have more lawyers than the Big East. Contract lawyers are their specialty.

But we have businesslawyer. winning!

 

[Hoophound]

This isn't going to piss anyone off. It would just push them a little to add UConn if they are ever going to and it would give the ACC the nudge it needs to tell BC "now that you made all of us look like sneaky dbags, get over it and let UConn in so we can avoid this storm".

 

[BlueMAB]

It's the right idea even the suggested manner of execution isn't remotely realistic.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

ESPN/Disney-ABC have more lawyers than the Big East. Contract lawyers are their specialty.

I am sure. The good thing about in-house counsels is that they are not paid by the hour, but rather for performance. I am sure there is a team at ESPN working on damage control right now, and I would not be surprised if someone, such as Tagliabue, is on the phone with a very senior ESPN exec in the next week to ask WTF is going on.

The last thing they want to do is escalate this issue to the corporate parent. Disney is a company that produces family friendly entertainment and hires thousands of college students as interns every year. The absolute last thing they want here is to be perceived to have eliminated a university athletic program or 6.

 

[businesslawyer]

If I had to guess, Flipper, under oath, would testify that he didn't mean that statement the way it came out and he was just trying to make himself look important. As you can tell from other statements, the ACC offices and ESPN are not happy about this at all.

The suggestion of that kind of gimmick approach, hopefully, was said to make a point. But I would bet that someone in the Governor's or AG's office in Hartford has probably asked for a meeting with ESPN. Privately and without publicity. Where you don't back ESPN into a corner. But you're going to have to wait. If Mizzou stays, this may all work out easily anyway. If it doesn't, ESPN will have more behind the scenes pressure to deal with UConn than it otherwise would have.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

If I had to guess, Flipper, under oath, would testify that he didn't mean that statement the way it came out and he was just trying to make himself look important. As you can tell from other statements, the ACC offices and ESPN are not happy about this at all.

The suggestion of that kind of gimmick approach, hopefully, was said to make a point. But I would bet that someone in the Governor's or AG's office in Hartford has probably asked for a meeting with ESPN. Privately and without publicity. Where you don't back ESPN into a corner. But you're going to have to wait. If Mizzou stays, this may all work out easily anyway. If it doesn't, ESPN will have more behind the scenes pressure to deal with UConn than it otherwise would have.

Criminals lie under oath. Businessmen may lie under oath. I suspect that academics will almost always tell the truth. This is an industry that prides itself in its honor code. Flipper got to play shark in expansion and then does an interview and pride takes over and he brags about it. Big mistake, and shows how far over his head he is.

So I don't think Flipper will say anything like what you said. You put a decent lawyer in the deposition, and I bet a guy like Flipper would crack and tell everything he knew.

 

[BlueMAB]

I suspect that academics will almost always tell the truth. This is an industry that prides itself in its honor code.

You have got to be kidding.

 

[UDann]

The irony behind all is this is that ESPN founders started it because they wanted to bring UCONN sports via satellite to the State of Connecticut. When they realized going nationally cost the same thus ESPN was born. This is like having parents eat their young or is it the young eating their parents. Very strange.

 

[businesslawyer]

Criminals lie under oath. Businessmen may lie under oath. I suspect that academics will almost always tell the truth. This is an industry that prides itself in its honor code. Flipper got to play shark in expansion and then does an interview and pride takes over and he brags about it. Big mistake, and shows how far over his head he is.

So I don't think Flipper will say anything like what you said. You put a decent lawyer in the deposition, and I bet a guy like Flipper would crack and tell everything he knew.

I don't understand where you are coming from. Antitrust violations, tortious interference,, that's all fine for academics. But they draw the line at having fuzzy memories under oath?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I don't understand where you are coming from. Antitrust violations, tortious interference,, that's all fine for academics. But they draw the line at having fuzzy memories under oath?

There is a difference between playing tough guy and going under oath. You know this. Real bad guys can handle it, because they know at some point they will be caught, and beating whatever trouble they are in is just part of doing what they do. Most businessmen are not very good at it. They don't think they will get caught and when they do, they don't appreciate the consequences of what they have done until it is staring them in the face. About half the time they panic.

Academics? Really? They live in some artificial, protected world of theory and honor codes. I don't know too many litigators that wouldn't eat an academic as an appetizer in a deposition. If you don't have litigators like that in your firm, you need new litigators.

 

[JaYnYcE]

Taking the initiative could be construed as begging.

Hahahahahahahahaha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[zls44]

I cannot believe how literally people are taking AND TRUSTING a quote from Gene D. If you really think ESPN told the ACC to raid the Big East, and specifically, who to raid to kill it off, you are out of your friggin' mind. Stop overanalyzing.

The terms of their existing contract said they could re-negotiate if they added two teams. That's what he meant by "told us what to do". He read their contract.

This idea that ESPN was lurking in the shadows manipulating is one of the most absurd things I have ever read in my life.

Nelson, if anyone was stupid enough to send what you are suggesting they send- you know, threaten their primary existing television partner- here is where that letter goes.

After that, ESPN notifies the Big East that they will not be interested in bidding on their next TV contract after being threatened. Congratulations. You just took the bidder with the deepest pockets out of the process, thereby hurting the chances of bidding up the price.

Do you ever think about the big picture? I mean, at all? Or is the tinfoil you used to build your pirate ship of revenge blocking out all reality?

 

[zls44]

I am sure. The good thing about in-house counsels is that they are not paid by the hour, but rather for performance. I am sure there is a team at ESPN working on damage control right now, and I would not be surprised if someone, such as Tagliabue, is on the phone with a very senior ESPN exec in the next week to ask WTF is going on.

The last thing they want to do is escalate this issue to the corporate parent. Disney is a company that produces family friendly entertainment and hires thousands of college students as interns every year. The absolute last thing they want here is to be perceived to have eliminated a university athletic program or 6.

Nobody is working on anything.
Disney isn't involved.
Disney isn't going to get involved.
Nobody in Bristol cares.
Nobody in Bristol will ever care.
This is not a story.
This is an idiot in Boston running his mouth with nothing behind it, and desperate fans are clinging onto it like it's the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Nobody is working on anything.
Disney isn't involved.
Disney isn't going to get involved.
Nobody in Bristol cares.
Nobody in Bristol will ever care.
This is not a story.
This is an idiot in Boston running his mouth with nothing behind it, and desperate fans are clinging onto it like it's the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I recognize you have mixed loyalties on this issue, but this is the wrong place to be telling UConn fans that "we asked for it" and there is nothing we can do. ESPN has behaved abysmally, and pretty much everyone who is not directly connected with the worldwide leader believes that ESPN did the things they are being accused of.

Edit: The VT AD gave a non-denial, denial when asked whether ESPN played a role.

You are beginning to sound like Whaler with your endless "UConn and the Big East sucks" posts, and I am beginning to sense an agenda here.

 

[zls44]

I recognize you have mixed loyalties on this issue, but this is the wrong place to be telling UConn fans that "we asked for it" and there is nothing we can do. ESPN has behaved abysmally, and pretty much everyone who is not directly connected with the worldwide leader believes that ESPN did the things they are being accused of.

Edit: The VT AD gave a non-denial, denial when asked whether ESPN played a role.

You are beginning to sound like Whaler with your endless "UConn and the Big East sucks" posts, and I am beginning to sense an agenda here.

Let me make sure I have your position clear.

Do you really think that ESPN is conspiring with the ACC behind the scenes to raid the Big East, specifically telling them which teams to go after, in order to fork over even more money/years for a partner they already have, while opening themselves up to a gigantic antitrust/collusion lawsuit that could cost them 10 figures? And your proof of this is a quote from Gene DeFillipo, someone you have repeatedly called a liar and a shady character?

Really? That sounds logical to you? You really think that's what happened? Be honest, do you really think that's what happened at all? Really?

How about the idea that Gene was using UConn as a pawn to get some support from a BC community that's been trying to run him out of town for a year and a half? Maybe the Big East overreacts (by doing something stupid like you suggested) and ticks off ESPN, driving down the value of their own contract negotiations?

Either of those far more logical ideas ever run through that brain of yours, or were you already on the sixth draft of your insane missive?

What can UConn/the Big East do? They can go through diplomatic channels and ask questions- as partners of the last 30 years, with another negotiation coming up, with ESPN's participation serving to only enhance the bidding price for all parties involved. That's how you get answers. By talking to people, quietly, behind the scenes. Not by lobbing hand grenades at them because of what some unreliable boob in Boston told another reporter. Enough airing this crap in public- nobody likes it, it leads to stupid questions being asked of coaches and players who don't know anything about it and could care less. It's unbecoming. Act like adults- the sad thing is that would be setting a great example at this point.

You also have some nerve talking to me about mixed loyalties. I wish I had that kind of influence or power. Far, far from it. Unless UConn joins the National League, my current line of work doesn't even involve them. At all. Nice try.

I'm using Occam's Razor. You're using a tinfoil hat and searching for the soundstage where they filmed the moon landing. That's my agenda- sticking to what we know, and what makes logical sense, without polluting it with another layer of conspiracy theories by a Husky-themed Jesse Ventura.

 

[SAMCRO]

the tinfoil you used to build your pirate ship of revenge blocking out all reality?

just killin it w/ great movie references.
"anybody want a peanut"

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Let me make sure I have your position clear.

Do you really think that ESPN is conspiring with the ACC behind the scenes to raid the Big East, specifically telling them which teams to go after, in order to fork over even more money/years for a partner they already have, while opening themselves up to a gigantic antitrust/collusion lawsuit that could cost them 10 figures? And your proof of this is a quote from Gene DeFillipo, someone you have repeatedly called a liar and a shady character?

Really? That sounds logical to you? You really think that's what happened? Be honest, do you really think that's what happened at all? Really?

How about the idea that Gene was using UConn as a pawn to get some support from a BC community that's been trying to run him out of town for a year and a half? Maybe the Big East overreacts (by doing something stupid like you suggested) and ticks off ESPN, driving down the value of their own contract negotiations?

Either of those far more logical ideas ever run through that brain of yours, or were you already on the sixth draft of your insane missive?

What can UConn/the Big East do? They can go through diplomatic channels and ask questions- as partners of the last 30 years, with another negotiation coming up, with ESPN's participation serving to only enhance the bidding price for all parties involved. That's how you get answers. By talking to people, quietly, behind the scenes. Not by lobbing hand grenades at them because of what some unreliable boob in Boston told another reporter. Enough airing this crap in public- nobody likes it, it leads to stupid questions being asked of coaches and players who don't know anything about it and could care less. It's unbecoming. Act like adults- the sad thing is that would be setting a great example at this point.

You also have some nerve talking to me about mixed loyalties. I wish I had that kind of influence or power. Far, far from it. Unless UConn joins the National League, my current line of work doesn't even involve them. At all. Nice try.

I'm using Occam's Razor. You're using a tinfoil hat and searching for the soundstage where they filmed the moon landing. That's my agenda- sticking to what we know, and what makes logical sense, without polluting it with another layer of conspiracy theories by a Husky-themed Jesse Ventura.

I am just going off what he said and what ESPN has done. You are the one creating an elaborate explanation for what is happening right in front of your face. Sometimes things simply are as they seem.

I wish we lived in your world where if you ask nice and say "pretty please" you get what you want, and we all had a personal unicorn too. It is an incredibly naive view of business and the world. ESPN has already gutted the Big East, in case you didn't notice. The conference already tried asking nicely, and when it didn't accept ESPN's lowball offer, ESPN tried to take the league out. If ESPN wanted to play nice with the Big East, it could have simply told the ACC that ESPN had a contract with the Big East and as a result wanted no part of a raid.

There are billions of dollars in play and you would expect people to play rough as a result. If UConn and the Big East are not prepared to play rough too, they will be destroyed. Pretty please doesn't cut it.

 

[RS9999X]

ESPN is like Gordon Gecko. They listen to proposals and back the ones they like.

They have what they want: enough primo teams to win almost every time slot in College Football. Fox can throw one Big12 game out there and a one BiG game a week tops and at best they are competitive with ESPN for 2 time slots a week.

 

[The Funster]

If we're looking for a conspiracy, where looking in the wrong place, IMO.

Swofford and the ACC geniuses determine that they've signed a below market deal. They discuss this with ESPN and are told that by adding teams, they can renegotiate. ESPN, of course would be asked if there would be teams that would or would not be preferred.

IIRC, the ACC has said that they had about 10 teams that they considered. They run these teams by ESPN who replies with market-based preferences. Syracuse, Pitt, RU and UConn all pass this muster with SU, Pitt and UConn being amongst the top 3. UConn gets hurt by BC and the ACC sends out feelers to SU and Pitt.

Pitt, when confronted with the dilemma of having to approve the new ESPN deal and facing the prospect of bailing on the BE after it approved the deal, leads the charge to quash it. How would Pitt look if it approved the deal, explained to it's fan base how good the deal is and then left the BE for a lesser deal with the ACC?

I think this is where the conspiracy lies and the majority of the machinations occurred. Pitt will say they killed the deal on it's own merit and then jumped but I question the likelihhood.