Interesting Aresco Quote

[BlueWhiteOrange]

Aresco said in first news conference on Wednesday

"I think you approach realignment with the idea that you strengthen your conference," said Aresco, who is leaving his job as an executive vice president with CBS Sports to take over the Big East in early September. "You make it a place people want to be. You make it a place where people who have left would rather have been back there. You make sure that there is a consensus among the schools."

This is from a guy who knows college sports and television contracts better than almost anyone. Why throw that quote in there if not for a purpose. Does he have insider info on teams leaving the acc and making the acc less desirable for pitt and cuse or past big east defectors? Does he know the big east will be getting big tv$ and includes pitt &cuse in contract scenarios which makes those 2 think twice about leaving?

I don't think this is a throw away line, not from a guy like this. I think he already knows something.

 

[HartbeatHusky]

Aresco said in first news conference on Wednesday

"I think you approach realignment with the idea that you strengthen your conference," said Aresco, who is leaving his job as an executive vice president with CBS Sports to take over the Big East in early September. "You make it a place people want to be. You make it a place where people who have left would rather have been back there. You make sure that there is a consensus among the schools."

This is from a guy who knows college sports and television contracts better than almost anyone. Why throw that quote in there if not for a purpose. Does he have insider info on teams leaving the acc and making the acc less desirable for pitt and cuse or past big east defectors? Does he know the big east will be getting big tv$ and includes pitt &cuse in contract scenarios which makes those 2 think twice about leaving?

I don't think this is a throw away line, not from a guy like this. I think he already knows something.

I agree. Coming from his position he has a very clear picture of how much the BE will be able to get. He probably knows how much it would've been able to get if cuse and pitt didn't leave. Like he said, he wouldn't have taken this job if the BE was going to be reduced to CUSA/MWC levels.

 

[ZooCougar]

I wish him all of the luck in the world. I hope we can leave the Big East, although the outlook is really doubtful.

 

[uconNYC]

Would those two schools have to pay a penalty to the ACC if miraculously they decided to stay in the BE?

 

[The Funster]

Is that quote about really about teams that have already left or is it directed towards current teams who are thinking of leaving?

 

[huskymedic]

Is that quote about really about teams that have already left or is it directed towards current teams who are thinking of leaving?

Both... He clearly has a vision (and a bit of piss and vinegar in him).

 

[ZooCougar]

Both... He clearly has a vision (and a bit of piss and vinegar in him).

He played a huge role in creating the monster that is the SEC on CBS. He should.

 

[whaler11]

Can anyone identify a school in a BCS conference who would leave their current conference for the Big East even if the deal was a few million bigger than the ACC's? Certainly no one in the Big 10/12 are in play.

 

[ZooCougar]

Can anyone identify a school in a BCS conference who would leave their current conference for the Big East even if the deal was a few million bigger than the ACC's? Certainly no one in the Big 10/12 are in play.

Nope.

 

[uconnfan68]

I agree. Coming from his position he has a very clear picture of how much the BE will be able to get. He probably knows how much it would've been able to get if cuse and pitt didn't leave. Like he said, he wouldn't have taken this job if the BE was going to be reduced to CUSA/MWC levels.

He's 62. Have to assume he reached the end of the line at CBS. They already have a President who is only 40 (and who possibly worked FOR him at ESPN). I have no idea what EVPs make at CBS, but I'd guess it's less what the BE commish makes. Maybe it's more about him than the BE. On the other hand, maybe that will work for us.

 

[mcs333]

Can anyone identify a school in a BCS conference who would leave their current conference for the Big East even if the deal was a few million bigger than the ACC's? Certainly no one in the Big 10/12 are in play.

He said "You make it a place" It's his goal. He knows that not the case today. We need to give him time. He just might reach this goal. Who knows.

 

[noeynox]

Can anyone identify a school in a BCS conference who would leave their current conference for the Big East even if the deal was a few million bigger than the ACC's? Certainly no one in the Big 10/12 are in play.

I don't think that is the question. Those teams are making big money in stable leagues. The only thing that will bring stability to the Big East is comparable money. Can Aresco help deliver similar money? If it requires a Grant of Rights do UConn, RU, an UL say duck it, we need that money? If the GoR is such, that it penalizes any team if they leave within the first five years, I think you'll see teams sign on. Staying together for the next five years is not a huge sacrifice for a network to request if they're going to offer league stabilizing money.

 

[whaler11]

He said "You make it a place" It's his goal. He knows that not the case today. We need to give him time. He just might reach this goal. Who knows.

I'm excited about this guy. I have just seen a few posts about potentially making the league attractive as an aggressor in realignment, so I was wondering what types of schools that may mean.

 

[whaler11]

I don't think that is the question. Those teams are making big money in stable leagues. The only thing that will bring stability to the Big East is comparable money. Can Aresco help deliver similar money? If it requires a Grant of Rights do UConn, RU, an UL say duck it, we need that money? If the GoR is such, that it penalizes any team if they leave within the first five years, I think you'll see teams sign on. Staying together for the next five years is not a huge sacrifice for a network to request if they're going to offer league stabilizing money.

I would be shocked if Louisville would sign. I'd be surprised if Boise did.

 

[noeynox]

I would be shocked if Louisville would sign. I'd be surprised if Boise did.

I agree that poaching other teams is a pipe dream, but I doubt teams are going to cling to the hope of an offer from another league, when said other teams are not going to raise the per team payouts to any league by themselves. Is UL going to bring the Big 12 more money? Doubtful. These schools better not look a gift horse in the mouth. I wouldn't be shocked if those unwilling to go all in are told to find somewhere else to play. It sounds like extortion, but this schools have been backstabbed so much, that more than anything else, I think they want stability.

 

[CL82]

I wondered (note the past tense) if a good BE deal might be enough to coax Syracuse to stay. To a certain extent, I think that negotiating an early exit might have put the kibash on that. I don't know what, if anything, that Cuse and Pitt would have to pay to get out of the ACC deal. If they stayed they wouldn't have to pay the BE the 7.5 million it is due, so if the exit fee is 10 million, Cuse would end up being out of pocket $2.5 (which is a net $5 mil to the their bottomline.

As noted in another thread*, you need a few things to happen before this becomes a possiblity.

1) the BE needs to get a better TV deal than the ACC.
2) Whomever offers that deal would need to decide that the addition of one or both the team headed to the ACC is worth enough to add to the deal so that it doesn't dilute the per school revenues.
3) the ACC has to be come destablized, (FSU, Clemson leave; UNC or Miami gets the death penalty something)
4) the returning teams must have their TV rights intact.

That's a lot of ifs, so it is pretty unlikely. Personally I wouldn't mind having Cuse back due to their status as a charter member and what they bring to the table in hoops. Pitt can go scratch. That said, neither is coming back.

*Credit to the OP who laid this out much better in his original post.

 

[UConnDan97]

I wondered (note the past tense) if a good BE deal might be enough to coax Syracuse to stay. To a certain extent, I think that negotiating an early exit might have put the kibash on that. I don't know what, if anything, that Cuse and Pitt would have to pay to get out of the ACC deal. If they stayed they wouldn't have to pay the BE the 7.5 million it is due, so if the exit fee is 10 million, Cuse would end up being out of pocket $2.5 (which is a net $5 mil to the their bottomline.

As noted in another thread*, you need a few things to happen before this becomes a possiblity.

1) the BE needs to get a better TV deal than the ACC.
2) Whomever offers that deal would need to decide that the addition of one or both the team headed to the ACC is worth enough to add to the deal so that it doesn't dilute the per school revenues.
3) the ACC has to be come destablized, (FSU, Clemson leave; UNC or Miami gets the death penalty something)
4) the returning teams must have their TV rights intact.

That's a lot of ifs, so it is pretty unlikely. Personally I wouldn't mind having Cuse back due to their status as a charter member and what they bring to the table in hoops. Pitt can go scratch. That said, neither is coming back.

*Credit to the OP who laid this out much better in his original post.

You're welcome!

 

[CL82]

You're welcome!

Thanks Dan, I couldn't remember who said it, but it was a good post.

 

[UConnDan97]

Thanks Dan, I couldn't remember who said it, but it was a good post.

Thank you for the compliment!

 

[huskymedic]

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/new_commish_set_to_fight_for_big_xOwiyuOURXsF8WvwPehASJ

Lenn Robbins from NY Post take...

"... Top-flight, live sports programming is like a classic black cocktail dress. It’s never not in demand, and the Big East is the last good one on the rack.

After the ink is dry on the new deal, the league will need a leader, a quick thinker, a man of mental toughness. It needs a fighter and Aresco gave every indication yesterday he’s up for the fight.

II want the schools that left, I want them to regret leaving, said. My job is to make this a state of the art conference in every respect.

Did you hear that, Boston College, which has become all but irrelevant on the college sports landscape since joining the ACC? Did you hear that Pittsburgh and Syracuse, which have turned their backs on their own backyards?

The late great Dave Gavitt, the league’s first commissioner, was a visionary who saw what was needed in the Northeast and created the Big East.

Mike Tranghese was a back-room deal maker who could settle squabbles and maintain confidence. John Marinatto was an intellectual.

The Big East needs someone else now, because it is something else now. l It needs someone who will get into the room with the college football heavyweights and fight for a fair shot as the new playoff model is implemented."

 

[CL82]

"John Marinatto was an intellectual."

 

[Marty Jackson]

He's 62. Have to assume he reached the end of the line at CBS. They already have a President who is only 40 (and who possibly worked FOR him at ESPN). I have no idea what EVPs make at CBS, but I'd guess it's less what the BE commish makes. Maybe it's more about him than the BE. On the other hand, maybe that will work for us.

Not sure this move was about money... as you said, he's 62.
This is more a legacy move.

 

[ZooCougar]

Marinatto was a strategist. A really bad strategist.

 

[uconnfan68]

Not sure this move was about money... as you said, he's 62.
This is more a legacy move.

Yeah, those things have never gone horribly wrong...