Matt Brown: Big East may not renew with Fox

[Greedo]

Because UConn basketball is too valuable a property that they won't bury their games on something nobody watches.

Kansas has games on ESPN+ because of the Big 12's deal with ESPN, they're not seen as too valuable. This year, in addition to their cupcakes being on ESPN+, they also have West Virginia, Iowa State, and Kansas State on ESPN+. Those are good games. I think ESPN would put most Big East games on ESPN+.

2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule - University of Kansas

The official 2025-26 Men's Basketball schedule for the University of Kansas

kuathletics.com

 

[HuskyHawk]

Kansas has games on ESPN+ because of the Big 12's deal with ESPN, they're not seen as too valuable. This year, in addition to their cupcakes being on ESPN+, they also have West Virginia, Iowa State, and Kansas State on ESPN+. Those are good games. I think ESPN would put most Big East games on ESPN+.

2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule - University of Kansas

The official 2025-26 Men's Basketball schedule for the University of Kansas

kuathletics.com

Nobody is immune to this. Not UConn or any other program. There are not enough time slots for every game to be on linear TV. It would be no different if UConn was in the ACC. Basketball has too much inventory.

Not sure why anybody cares. I get the "sports bar" argument, but eventually those places will all have ESPN+. The only solution is to win a lot, to minimize how many games are streamed.

 

[Greedo]

Nobody is immune to this. Not UConn or any other program. There are not enough time slots for every game to be on linear TV. It would be no different if UConn was in the ACC. Basketball has too much inventory.

Not sure why anybody cares. I get the "sports bar" argument, but eventually those places will all have ESPN+. The only solution is to win a lot, to minimize how many games are streamed.

I agree, I just think the other power conferences will be given priority over the Big East. So almost all Big East games would be on ESPN+, lowering the perception and visibility of the conference.

 

[bigknight3]

No one watches games on ESPN+ outside of fans of those teams. I have ESPN+ to watch Islanders games. I don't watch any other teams. If I'm looking for a random college basketball game I never think to look at ESPN+. I turn on YouTube TV and see what games are on. If we make a deal with ESPN, we are definitely going to ESPN+. The Big 12 has games there.

It would be the same issue (probably worse) with any other streaming service. No thanks to Apple, Amazon, or HBO. The Big East would be forgotten. Staying with Fox where all of our games are national broadcasts is the best route. I would rather less money from Fox to stay with our current situation.

Nobody is immune to this. Not UConn or any other program. There are not enough time slots for every game to be on linear TV. It would be no different if UConn was in the ACC. Basketball has too much inventory.

Not sure why anybody cares. I get the "sports bar" argument, but eventually those places will all have ESPN+. The only solution is to win a lot, to minimize how many games are streamed.

I'm no expert and my take regarding HBO is mostly cause I like the hard knocks property so much. But if we talking 4-5 years, I don't think we can speculate regarding streaming. Amazon just forced all of NFL's Thursday games onto their platform exclusively online. I've experienced being out at the bar and being surprised football wasn't on because it was on Prime TV. In 4-5 years, bars will probably have improved their ability to stream online games due to the shift this year from the NFL.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I agree, I just think the other power conferences will be given priority over the Big East. So almost all Big East games would be on ESPN+, lowering the perception and visibility of the conference.

I think they'll pick the best games from their inventory.

I'm no expert and my take regarding Gucci l HBO is mostly cause I like the hard knocks property so much. But if we talking 4-5 years I don't think we can specifically regarding streaming. Amazon just forced all of NFL's Thursday games exclusively online. I've experienced being out at the bar and being surprised football want on because it was on prime TV. In 4-5 years, bars will probably have improved their ability to stream online games due to the shift this year from the NFL.

Warner Media isn't a player right now, except the NCAA tournament, NBA playoffs and some baseball. Given the advertising advantages of live sports, plus their ability to drive subscriptions, it wouldn't surprise me if they expanded the live sports on TN, TBS and TruTv and/or created a CNN sports channel. They have new management and are out from under the old corporate leadership. They also have the Discovery channels.

TBS, TNT and TruTV are a mess. Can anybody here tell me what kind of programming to expect on each? There's no logic to it at all. TBS made its name showing Braves games back in the day. Converting one of those to an all sports and sports news channel would make sense. They have the NCAA tournament and NBA games, so basketball is their strength. The Big East would be a natural fit.

 

[gampelcrazies]

I agree, I just think the other power conferences will be given priority over the Big East. So almost all Big East games would be on ESPN+, lowering the perception and visibility of the conference.

I’m not 100% sure about that. Assuming that Fox is getting a decent amount of B10 and B12 games that should free up some ESPN air time.

 

[Fishy]

Is Tier 3 rights still a thing? I wonder if the conference would get any added value by selling those separately, maybe to RSNs. Would love to see some of the smaller matchups on SNY for example and it would surely be better than ESPN+ or FOXsports

UConn men’s basketball never gets to a tier 3.

 

[Fishy]

Might be a good time for UConn to start their own network (similar to what Texas did). We have the brand value and eyeballs. It’s one aggressive way to force The BIG to add UConn by showing our media value as a standalone entity. Sounds crazy but just might work

It’s idiotic and will never happen.

 

[uconnfan68]

Might be a good time for UConn to start their own network (similar to what Texas did). We have the brand value and eyeballs. It’s one aggressive way to force The BIG to add UConn by showing our media value as a standalone entity. Sounds crazy but just might work

That's what ESPN was supposed to be.

 

[ctkaiser]

i am just not a fan of espn these days. I loved working there, but I don’t find them committed to college hoops like Fox is journalistically.

They like duke, Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan state and Kansas; everything else doesn’t “rate.”

Fox has so much better content surrounding the games. If you follow a big east team, you don’t want an acc feature at the half.

ESPN is getting out of the journalism business.

You can never tell if ESPN is really interested in covering the game or using it to promo something else.

 

[ctkaiser]

If the Big East ends up getting a deal with ESPN, does that mean we bring SNY back into the fold? There is zero chance ESPN would air a game vs the likes of Delaware St or LIU on their family of networks. Hopefully UConn could negotiate an SNY deal for those games instead of ESPN sending them to ESPN+

That would require SNY to give up 12 hours of infomercials and not show 30 minutes of sportsnite for 4 hours.

 

[Storrs South]

You can never tell if ESPN is really interested in covering the game or using it to promo something else.

It's always the latter. They production value is poor and analysts are not put in positions to succeed. It's degraded to such a sad state since the old Big East dissolved.

 

[uconnfan68]

It's always the latter. They production value is poor and analysts are not put in positions to succeed. It's degraded to such a sad state since the old Big East dissolved.

Oh the irony! They caused the dissolution.

 

[Stinger92860]

Why pay the Big East when you can move schools to the ACC.

 

[JohnFSilver]

That would require SNY to give up 12 hours of infomercials and not show 30 minutes of sportsnite for 4 hours.

They view college basketball outside of Duke, Kentucky, north carolina as a commodity. They plug in a game because x game gets x ratings regardless if teams.

They cut costs by not actually previewing, half timing for like 3 minutes and not postgame.

It sucks as a fan.

And, I worked on a team that serviced content for teams with huge followings. Absolutely drives coverage decisions.

News happens at Iowa State hoops, meh. Same thing happens at Kentucky. Ding!

No editorial balance

The funny thing is that there are a ton of UConn fans and alumni working there behind Scenes.

Maybe TV corp wise the hate UConn. But the rank and file are into the Huskies.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Also. College basketball is too hard to cover. Football is easy. Game day. Big money. How many productions in one week. For hoops, you got 100s of games.

the problem with college basketball is not one team rates. But, take the entire audience who watches college basketball over the course of a week and it is huge.

They sell that volume and diversity. Editorially, it requires too much effort. So they cover top 15 most popular and that’s it.