Memphis AD on the new BE TV deal

[RS9999X]

The BE brings Regional Numbers, content for flagship NBC stations, and rebranding fo rComcast SportsNet and the SNY Networks.
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NBC Sports is going local. Comcast plans to place the "NBC Sports" brand on its collection of regional sports networks that stretch from Boston to Portland.

"Something like 'NBC Sports Philadelphia,' 'NBC Sports Chicago,' etc.," said Dick Ebersol, the head of NBC Sports.

The move drops the Comcast and now "CSN" brand from the regional networks, where the main programming is local pro sports teams.
An "NBC Sports" channel will launch in Houston next year, giving the brand a presence in six of the country's top-10 markets. Chicago and Philadelphia are the country's third and fourth largest.

Ebersol said the aim is to "give viewers everywhere a much better sense of just who we are, wherever they go.'
"
Ebersol spoke about the re-branding while appearing last month on NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's radio show on Sirius XM.
The NBC Sports brand will soon get more national awareness, too, as the Versus network takes that moniker in some form later this year.

Ebersol tips his cap to ESPN's size and impact and doesn't publicly indulge the media's hunger for an ESPN-NBC bout. But, NBC will now have something ESPN lacks.

It has been suggested ESPN squandered the opportunity to go into regional sports networks when the business was building. The networks are immensely profitable and a local presence has advantages.

There is an ESPN Chicago. But it's online.

This means more of a tie-in to NBC among the Comcast SportsNet affiliates. We’re already seeing in San Francisco that Comcast SportsNet Bay Area will produce nightly sportscasts for NBC’s owned-and-operated KNTV in San Jose/San Francisco. We could see more down the line.

 

[mattp]

NBC has a brand new TV sports platform and little to show on it. if they want to be taken at all seriously they're going to want to add some college product and who better for them than a "BCS" conference that stretches across the whole friggin country? you want to talk about exposure, how about actually putting our games on national TV on Saturday instead of relegating us to Friday nights and ESPNU. it would give them a ton of content over a vast geographic area, which is exactly what they need. it could be a big partnership for both of us. hopefully they'll want to pay $15m/school for it

plus i don't like the idea of ESPN controlling all of the major conferences games. since voting is likely to be a big part of whatever postseason arrangement comes about i think it's important we get a fair shake at being broadcast on saturdays, and i don't want ESPN to control our scheduling

 

[CTHUSKY74]

It's amazing how a bad option that you wouldn't think of taking in the past starts to look really good and look like a lifeline. Unless all of this is just rumors, it appears that NBC is coming together at a time when we need them the most, to get a contract that will allow survival. It may be beneficial enough that it allows the conference to thrive in the markets and compete with the other networks, it may only allow for more competitive bidding for the ultimate "winner" of our contract, or it may just allow ESPN to offload us and move on to strengthening their package with other conference's product. Chances are that we end up with a compromise that allows survival but doesn't put us in really competitive status in relation to the big time conferences. We're not in a position to dictate but hopefully we're at least in a position to negotiate. We can't fail at this critical juncture and need to do what best promotes our survival. If that means leaving ESPN because the dollars are too good elsewhere, so be it. If that means staying with ESPN and helping to kill whatever chance NBC had of providing competition to ESPN, so be it. As long as we get the type of contract that can allow for our growth we have to do what's best for us. I hope that the conference is truly using media consultants that can negotiate the type of deal that will get us what we need!

 

[Carl Spackler]

It's not so much about the dollars at all, when it comes to survival. Big east basketball and football is wholly undervalued right now, and the league is not going to come up with less money for broadcasting in the future than we're already making. THe gap between the biggest college sports broadcasting contracts and whatever the Big East brings in may continue to be significant, but the only way the big east loses out on broadcasting dollars, is if the league completely dissolves. We will have a bigger contract than what we've had.

When it comes to survival though, for the future, it's all about scheduling, not broadcasting dollars. We sign a huge media deal that relegates us to Tuesday and Wednesday night college football broadcasts, the big east is ducked in the future. Filling prime time viewership slots in regional media markets, and getting national exposure when possible.

People crapped all over me around here, but the concept of being able to schedule college football viewing time slots, for three hour windows from noon until night, focused regionally from coast to coast on Saturdays while advertising a national broadcast involved for a marquee program with national attention......is what the big east will need to thrive. We can survive without it, but it's about frigging time that Notre Dame becomes an asset to the Big East, rather than an albatross.

The model works. Watch any NFL programming on Sundays and pay attention to how they do it. EAch network has it's own conference base, and football games are slated regionally, with a marquee national broadcast that goes out across all four time zones. It works. It works well. NBC is setting themselves up to be able to handle a traditional, NFL conference model based, coast to coast day of broadcasting football - for college football. Sure - the Big EAst teams may not be big draws in their respective markets right now - in some cases, but we've got market penetration set up for a wide range of the biggest markets in the country, and at least two programs with national appeal to schedule around (Boise and Notre Dame) and we've got plenty of inventory to be shown coast to coast focused regionally, and watch what happens to popularity in a market, when teams start showing up on the major over the air television channels on Saturdays regularly.

No other college football conference in the country can offer that ability to schedule games, such that they can be broadcast coast to coast on a single network......with regional focus and also national broadcast.....and more importantly - no network currently is set up to handle such a situation, other than the major networks that have handled NFL football. ESPN is not structured to do it. They have multiple channels and farm out broadcasting for games they don't carry on their channels, they don't have the structure where people all over the country would watch different events but on the same frequency/network channel. What ESPN does have though, is the lead in the internet, mobile, online broadcasting world, which is a big deal right now. Will be interesting to see how that fits into everything.


And also...when it comes to what the big east can offer.....no other conference can offer the vast potential for NEW viewership in the all important marketing demographic which is the target of live sports programming.

 

[Carl Spackler]

That's not a bad point either. NBC would present it as "their college football", whereas ESPN basically says, "this is what we'll show you when we are out of Big10 and ACC games." It is amazing how bad of a taste they've left in my mouth since the "DeFillippo Report"...

All hypothetical of course, but...to go with "Notre Dame football on NBC"

"Big East football Saturday on NBC" sounds good to me,

&

"Big East football Saturday on NBC Sports" sounds good to me too.

My idea is a situation where Notre Dame's primetime 3:30 slot on NBC on the flagship over the air is not disturbed, but becomes a focal point. Every Big East football team gets at least one national game per season, on the flagship 4 over the air coast to coast each season to go with the Notre Dame game on a Saturday.

All other big east games carried on NBC Sports network and go out regionally on the network to the focused markets on saturdays either at 12:00., 3:30 or 8:00.

You see it advertised all week long like the NFL does it. THe marquee matchup(s) advertised, along with the full slate of games regionally at 12:00, 3:30, and 8. On Saturdays, all day long, the following week schedule is being shown.

 

[RS9999X]

The question is whis: in the streaming a la carte world what would you pay for NBC Sports programming? Versus, Golf Channel, and SNY? $49.95 a year if they do it right?

 

[Carl Spackler]

The question is whis: in the streaming a la carte world what would you pay for NBC Sports programming? Versus, Golf Channel, and SNY? $49.95 a year if they do it right?

THat's where it gets real interesting. You can't ignore big east basketball at all in any of this either. THe ENTIRE big east sports inventory is up for sale very soon, and ESPN gets exclusive talking points starting in September for a while.

ESPN definitely has a leg up in the sports entertainment world when it comes to cyberspace broadcasting. There's a lot to be discussed.

The key to all of it for the big east conference........how can I put this as succinctly as possible. Juking.

The big east leadership needs to approach this round of television broadcasting negotiations with the follwoing understanding:

1. The strenght of the big east football conference must be top priority for the basketball conference to survive and continue to be the best college basketball league in the country &
2. The solidarity of the big east football conference is going to be directly related to the media deal, and the best media deal will be achieved by coming up with a broadcasting arrangement so that the football teams reach as many viewers in college football primetime, regionally to their markets as possible. (college football primetime is different than basketball primetime!)

That means that big east leadership needs to understand that basketball primetime is weeknights for two hour windows between 7pm and 11pm, and that football primetime is saturdays from 12noon to 11pm.

I've talked about the NFL before, and got shh8t on too, but the NFL is going to a full season for thursday games to go with sunday and monday.....the only way, I wrote months ago, that it could work, is if they lift the roster limits in place, b/c they'll be going through bodies like a roman gladiator ring with teams playing regularly on 3 days rest and the quality of play would fall through the floor. Low and behold, rosters have been expanded by the NFL for the offseason. Those extra 320 players going into camps this year in addition to the hundreds that don't make the 53 man cuts in September, can pretty much expect phone calls come November - with regular thursday night football - so stay in shape you players out there.

That means that the NFL will rule sports broadcasting on the nights of the THursdays, Sundays and Mondays though, for the foreseeable future.

Saturday is college football day, and we need a network that will provide that for the Big East and take advantage of the weaknesses in the conference by turning them into strengths through scheduling for broadcasting to live audiences regionally. Big East basketball belongs on weeknights - fill the weeks up with it. Saturday needs to be big east football day from noon to night, such that as many teams are on during primetime football hours in their individual local market time zones

I'm not sure if ESPN online services has the reach to make that happen and have the regional focus necessary to make it successful and reach the same number of people that a normal television network that is regionally based can do - the way an NBC sports network can.

 

[RS9999X]

The other take on this: NBC bought 100 NHL games plus the Playoffs. As we've seen on SNY. they are part owner of MLB network and are the METS NY home. They proudly advertise as the Home of the BE. They signed MLS (Soccer). Versus has NASCAR.

That seems to be the model. And the BE fits.

 

[whaler11]

NBC has a brand new TV sports platform and little to show on it. if they want to be taken at all seriously they're going to want to add some college product and who better for them than a "BCS" conference that stretches across the whole friggin country? you want to talk about exposure, how about actually putting our games on national TV on Saturday instead of relegating us to Friday nights and ESPNU. it would give them a ton of content over a vast geographic area, which is exactly what they need. it could be a big partnership for both of us. hopefully they'll want to pay $15m/school for it

plus i don't like the idea of ESPN controlling all of the major conferences games. since voting is likely to be a big part of whatever postseason arrangement comes about i think it's important we get a fair shake at being broadcast on saturdays, and i don't want ESPN to control our scheduling

You do realize that many more people watch shows like Pawn Stores than what NBC puts up against it. NBC is an absolute complete disaster. They don't have a new TV sports platform, they have the same station they have now rebranded twice that no one watches.

 

[whaler11]

It's not so much about the dollars at all, when it comes to survival. Big east basketball and football is wholly undervalued right now, and the league is not going to come up with less money for broadcasting in the future than we're already making. THe gap between the biggest college sports broadcasting contracts and whatever the Big East brings in may continue to be significant, but the only way the big east loses out on broadcasting dollars, is if the league completely dissolves. We will have a bigger contract than what we've had.

When it comes to survival though, for the future, it's all about scheduling, not broadcasting dollars. We sign a huge media deal that relegates us to Tuesday and Wednesday night college football broadcasts, the big east is ducked in the future. Filling prime time viewership slots in regional media markets, and getting national exposure when possible.

People crapped all over me around here, but the concept of being able to schedule college football viewing time slots, for three hour windows from noon until night, focused regionally from coast to coast on Saturdays while advertising a national broadcast involved for a marquee program with national attention......is what the big east will need to thrive. We can survive without it, but it's about frigging time that Notre Dame becomes an asset to the Big East, rather than an albatross.

The model works. Watch any NFL programming on Sundays and pay attention to how they do it. EAch network has it's own conference base, and football games are slated regionally, with a marquee national broadcast that goes out across all four time zones. It works. It works well. NBC is setting themselves up to be able to handle a traditional, NFL conference model based, coast to coast day of broadcasting football - for college football. Sure - the Big EAst teams may not be big draws in their respective markets right now - in some cases, but we've got market penetration set up for a wide range of the biggest markets in the country, and at least two programs with national appeal to schedule around (Boise and Notre Dame) and we've got plenty of inventory to be shown coast to coast focused regionally, and watch what happens to popularity in a market, when teams start showing up on the major over the air television channels on Saturdays regularly.

No other college football conference in the country can offer that ability to schedule games, such that they can be broadcast coast to coast on a single network......with regional focus and also national broadcast.....and more importantly - no network currently is set up to handle such a situation, other than the major networks that have handled NFL football. ESPN is not structured to do it. They have multiple channels and farm out broadcasting for games they don't carry on their channels, they don't have the structure where people all over the country would watch different events but on the same frequency/network channel. What ESPN does have though, is the lead in the internet, mobile, online broadcasting world, which is a big deal right now. Will be interesting to see how that fits into everything.


And also...when it comes to what the big east can offer.....no other conference can offer the vast potential for NEW viewership in the all important marketing demographic which is the target of live sports programming.

This is the stupidest argument in the history of Boneyard arguments. EVERYONE can schedule like the NFL, unless there is a league who's fans are reverse vampires and can't watch a game after sunset. 12, 3:30 and night. Yeah, the ACC and SEC don't do this every week. The Big East can play a game at 7 or 8 pacific time.... so could the WAC or Mountain West and nobody gives a damn about them. Half the time it would include San Diego State anyway, unless you are going to allow Boise State to play a 14 game home schedule.

ESPN has the lead in internet, mobile, online...and viewers. ESPN does regional broadcasts on the night games by the way - depending on where you live you get reverse mirrors of the ABC games. So people watching ESPN in different parts of the country are seeing different games.

Here is the ESPN schedule from a random week in 2011 - week 9.
12:00
Michigan State @ Nebraska - ESPN
Purdue @ Michigan - ESPN2
NC State @ Florida State - ESPNU
3:30
Oklahoma @ Kansas State - ESPN
Wake Forest @ North Carolina - ESPNU
7:00
Ole Miss @ Auburn - ESPNU
7:15
South Carolina @ Tennessee - ESPN2
8:00
Wisconsin @ Ohio State - ESPN

Please tell me what combination of Big East games is going to compete with that lineup. You could play SMU/UCF in my back yard and I'd rather watch Wisconsin/Iowa State or Michigan State/Nebraska.

 

[metsfan2323]

Please tell me what combination of Big East games is going to compete with that lineup. You could play SMU/UCF in my back yard and I'd rather watch Wisconsin/Iowa State or Michigan State/Nebraska.

Boise vs Any Big East team can compete with Wisconsin vs Iowa State especially if Boise is undefeated and in the top ten. There was a time in the 80's when SMU was a national TV draw and they are committed to making a comeback. Enjoy that Wisconsin vs Iowa State game! That has always been a can't miss game for me too.

 

[whaler11]

Boise vs Any Big East team can compete with Wisconsin vs Iowa State especially if Boise is undefeated and in the top ten. There was a time in the 80's when SMU was a national TV draw and they are committed to making a comeback. Enjoy that Wisconsin vs Iowa State game! That has always been a can't miss game for me too.

Uh, it's Ohio State not Iowa State, sorry I mistyped it the second time. Still think Boise State/Houston is a better TV draw? The best Big East matchup is Boise State and Louisville. Can anyone keep a straight face and claim that is a better game than Wisconsin and Ohio State?

Oh SMU is 'committed to making a comeback'. That's great, who is bankrolling it?

 

[UConnDan97]

This is the stupidest argument in the history of Boneyard arguments.

Do you know what it would take for that statement to be true? I have seen some arguments on my short time in the Boneyard that would make his post look like Gospel! The stupidest argument in the history of the Boneyard would sound something like this, "The Sun will not rise tomorrow because my cat has gray hair and Dominos Pizza took over a half hour to deliver." Yes, that is indeed the stupidest argument in the history of the Boneyard.....because I don't have a cat....

 

[UConnDan97]

On a serious note, I think that Carl was referring to the fact that NBC would try to leverage regional interests. In other words, they would leverage UConn in the northeast, or they would try to send UCF coverage to the people in Florida, etc. Can UCF win a head-to-head with the Florida Gators? No, in case you weren't sure. But that is hardly the point. The point is, of the people that AREN'T watching the Florida Gators in the state of Florida, can NBC (or another network) capture some regional interest by showing UCF vs. Navy, or UCF vs. USF. I bet those games could turn some tv sets on in Fla. Also, if you avoid going head-to-head with the Gators, and you are only head to head with Iowa versus Purdue (which I bet not many in the state of Florida give a $#it about), then you can get some eyeballs on your network that wouldn't have been there if you were showing Julia Child re-runs...

 

[Carl Spackler]

This is the stupidest argument in the history of Boneyard arguments. EVERYONE can schedule like the NFL, unless there is a league who's fans are reverse vampires and can't watch a game after sunset. 12, 3:30 and night. Yeah, the ACC and SEC don't do this every week. The Big East can play a game at 7 or 8 pacific time.... so could the WAC or Mountain West and nobody gives a damn about them. Half the time it would include San Diego State anyway, unless you are going to allow Boise State to play a 14 game home schedule.

ESPN has the lead in internet, mobile, online...and viewers. ESPN does regional broadcasts on the night games by the way - depending on where you live you get reverse mirrors of the ABC games. So people watching ESPN in different parts of the country are seeing different games.

Here is the ESPN schedule from a random week in 2011 - week 9.
12:00
Michigan State @ Nebraska - ESPN
Purdue @ Michigan - ESPN2
NC State @ Florida State - ESPNU
3:30
Oklahoma @ Kansas State - ESPN
Wake Forest @ North Carolina - ESPNU
7:00
Ole Miss @ Auburn - ESPNU
7:15
South Carolina @ Tennessee - ESPN2
8:00
Wisconsin @ Ohio State - ESPN

Please tell me what combination of Big East games is going to compete with that lineup. You could play SMU/UCF in my back yard and I'd rather watch Wisconsin/Iowa State or Michigan State/Nebraska.

By listing each channel, that is the only channel carrying each game coast to coast, in each time slot, you've made my point for me. But your too full of negative wind and energy and disdain for the big east to realize it. Or maybe just too thick.

To Dan97.....on the right track. What a regional programming system set up like NBC appears to be structuring, you don't have to take UCF and/or USF and put them head to head to Florida and Florida St. If Florida and FSU are playign at 12:00 and 3:30 respectively EST, you schedule USF / UCF to play at 2:00PST for example.

IF Texas is playing at 2:30 PM CST, you schedule Houston to play 3:30 PM PST @ SDSU, and you avoid going head to head regionally in the market.

BUT - the key is you need to have a single network that is regionally based. NBC sports could carry USF/Boise at 8:00PST and avoid head to head broadcasting with FL and FSU playing earlier in the day, and get that game broadcast to TExas and Pacific time zones, and Houston and SDSU can still play in primetime on the west coast, while UConn and Louisville were in primetime 3:30 time slot in the NYC, NewEngland demographic...and on and on. You'd need a big board with a big grid to lay it all out, but the flexibility to schedule across four time zones, and have regional broadcasts all under the same channel is exactly what the NFL does.

With 13-14 teams, especially once conference play starts, you have the very real potential to broadcast every single home team in a primetime college football saturday afternoon or evening slot within their own market.

It's all about the structure of the broadcasting platform. ESPN doesn't have it, and the conference is currently being set up by the Big East - to be broadcast exactly like that.

No other college conference can do it, because there is no other ocnference that can play games locally in all four time zones. You can't schedule every single game at 3:30pm and reach your local audience....unless you've got multiple channels trying to do it....that's the ESPN model - and it doesnt' work nationally for a multiple broadcasting arrangement to local regions.

What ESPN does have though, is the cyberspace broadcasting realm to work with, and the big east provides and excellent opportunity to create a platform to make that work coast to coast.

and don't forget about basketball in all of this, and multiple tiers of broadcasting.

BTW _ wouldn't surprise me at all if whaler11 worked for ESPN or something. The negative energy out of that guy is something else. In one sentence he's proclaiming that he's a diehard fan, and the next, everything about anything big east and UConn sucks.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Let's keep this simple for a sec - look at florida and texas.

FSU and Florida are playing Sat. One at home, one on the road. Miami is in the ACC and playign thurs night on ESPN.

FSU and Florida are in the 3:30 time slots and 8:00PM EST, for their respective networks. Prime time.

UCF is at home v. Temple, and USF on the road @ Houston. (for example)

UCF plays i.e. Temple at 12:00 pm EST @ home. No conflict in Florida.

USF plays @ Houston...game time is 7:00 CST. Texas and A&M have already played at 2:30 CSt and TCU played the big 12 game at noon CST. Houston is primetime saturday night in their home region with no conflict in TExas. (8:00 pm EST)

All of the big east games are being advertised on the same network backbone, just regionally.

So when the game schedules go up on the screen to be advertised. If you live in TExas - you see the game that is local to you listed at the top, and the other games that are available in other regions of the country at the same time listed underneath. Just like the NFL.

ESPN can't do it, which is why they've never made a play for NFL conference broadcasting like the major networks.

ESPN would need cable carriers to list several more channels than they already have on their basic cable lineup card......

to do a nationwide broadcast of football games all occuring on the same day starting at noon EST and ending at 12:00am EST. yet still be able to focus regionally.

But what I'm talking about makes no sense if all you know when it comes to sports broadcasting - is ESPN.

 

[Carl Spackler]

What ESPN does have though, is the cyberspace angle, they can't offer what an NBC, or CBS, or Fox could offer nationally in traditional television broadcasting. But they might be able to do it in cyberspace. I'm curious to see how it plays in, I"m nowhere near knowledgeable to being to speculate on that.

 

[whaler11]

Actually my first job out of college was at ESPN, but it was 15 years ago and I got out of TV immediately after. I wouldn't be surprised if you were a plant by the folks in Providence, your opinion of them is strikingly ridiculous.

Don't worry, I understand your regional plan - you keep saying this is what the NFL does. This is nothing like what the NFL does. The NFL uses 5 different outlets (NBC, CBS, ESPN, FOX, NFLN) and except for a few exceptions (Opening week, Thanksgiving week) none of them broadcasts more than 2 games in a week and in most weeks only 1 of the 5 broadcasts in multiple time slots.

I will agree with you on one thing - I think a lot of this sucks. NBC sucks. Being in a football league with Temple, Houston, SMU and San Diego State sucks beyond belief. Being in a league with Memphis is ridiculous to the point of being completely absurd.

It's great to sit and fantasize about a scheme like this. You continue to ignore the most important thing. There aren't any compelling matchups. Zero. The games suck. At a school like Houston, their own alumni care more about a half dozen other schools than their own. Temple students don't go to games as a badge of honor. Memphis. Where does one even begin with Memphis.

 

[whaler11]

Let's keep this simple for a sec - look at florida and texas.

FSU and Florida are playing Sat. One at home, one on the road. Miami is in the ACC and playign thurs night on ESPN.

FSU and Florida are in the 3:30 time slots and 8:00PM EST, for their respective networks. Prime time.

UCF is at home v. Temple, and USF on the road @ Houston. (for example)

UCF plays i.e. Temple at 12:00 pm EST @ home. No conflict in Florida.

USF plays @ Houston...game time is 7:00 CST. Texas and A&M have already played at 2:30 CSt and TCU played the big 12 game at noon CST. Houston is primetime saturday night in their home region with no conflict in TExas. (8:00 pm EST)

All of the big east games are being advertised on the same network backbone, just regionally.

So when the game schedules go up on the screen to be advertised. If you live in TExas - you see the game that is local to you listed at the top, and the other games that are available in other regions of the country at the same time listed underneath. Just like the NFL.

ESPN can't do it, which is why they've never made a play for NFL conference broadcasting like the major networks.

ESPN would need cable carriers to list several more channels than they already have on their basic cable lineup card......

to do a nationwide broadcast of football games all occuring on the same day starting at noon EST and ending at 12:00am EST. yet still be able to focus regionally.

But what I'm talking about makes no sense if all you know when it comes to sports broadcasting - is ESPN.

All well and good. Who else plays at noon and is on TV in Florida? The 12:00 SEC game. At least 2 Big 10 games. At least one ACC game. So you missed Florida and Florida State. Did you miss Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Clemson, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, USC and Oregon?

Yeah, no conflict in Florida. Temple/UCF versus the SEC, ACC, & Big 10. You can't TV your way around a quality problem.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

All well and good. Who else plays at noon and is on TV in Florida? The 12:00 SEC game. At least 2 Big 10 games. At least one ACC game. So you missed Florida and Florida State. Did you miss Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Clemson, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, USC and Oregon?

Yeah, no conflict in Florida. Temple/UCF versus the SEC, ACC, & Big 10. You can't TV your way around a quality problem.

If the Big East is on ESPN in that situation, it is buried on ESPN3 and only carried locally.

You can TV your way around a quality program. Look at the beginnings of the Big East in the late 70's and early 80's. How many Final Fours had Georgetown, St. Johns, Villanova, Pitt, BCU, Syracuse, UConn, Seton Hall and Providence been in during the 10 years leading up to the conference's formation? Villanova (1971), Providence (1973) and Syracuse (1975), and Providence was considered a monumental upset to get that far. In the 10 years after the conference's formation, 6 of the 9 original (within 2 years of formation) members had made 8 Final Fours, and BCU just missed, and a league team played in 5 of the next 10 national championships.

Exposure begets exposure. Getting picked up as the game of the week for NBC would be TREMENDOUS for the league in every way imaginable.

 

[metsfan2323]

At a school like Houston, their own alumni care more about a half dozen other schools than their own..

This is only true in your alternate, self loathing universe. In the real world Houston alumni love their Cougars. Your rants carry about as much weight in here as Alumni69's rants do in the "cess pool".

On the football field Houston, SMU > Cuse, Pitt.

 

[CTMike]

Carl <-------> Reality <-------> Whaler

But that's no fun. haha

 

[mattp]

Uh, it's Ohio State not Iowa State, sorry I mistyped it the second time. Still think Boise State/Houston is a better TV draw? The best Big East matchup is Boise State and Louisville. Can anyone keep a straight face and claim that is a better game than Wisconsin and Ohio State?

Oh SMU is 'committed to making a comeback'. That's great, who is bankrolling it?

you make it as though Wisconsin and Ohio State play each other every week, when in reality they don't even play each other every year. obviously the marquee BIG10, 12 and SEC games will outdraw our "marquee" match-ups but you don't have to win the ratings battle every week. i would definitely tune in to Louisville/Cinci over Iowa State/Kansas or Iowa/Minnesota and so would a lot of fans. we might not have any match-ups that challenge FL/UGA or Auburn/Bama, but most SEC, Big10 and PAC12 match-ups don't equal them either.

 

[Marty Jackson]

need to add Depaul which doesn't help...
And, if we go to an all-sport setup, you'll need one more BB only in the west. Anybody know of any Catholic BB only schools out west? Gonzaga would be great, but geographically they'd still be an outlier.

 

[Marty Jackson]

you make it as though Wisconsin and Ohio State play each other every week, when in reality they don't even play each other every year. obviously the marquee BIG10, 12 and SEC games will outdraw our "marquee" match-ups but you don't have to win the ratings battle every week. i would definitely tune in to Louisville/Cinci over Iowa State/Kansas or Iowa/Minnesota and so would a lot of fans. we might not have any match-ups that challenge FL/UGA or Auburn/Bama, but most SEC, Big10 and PAC12 match-ups don't equal them either.

a #8 Boise playing a #5 UofL would generate a lot of eyeballs. Sure, the other leagues have their key matchups, but any Top 10 or 15 matchup between conference mates is a big game and would generate national attention. Just so happens the teams mentioned above have been competing for a NC the past 5-10 years or so.

 

[Marty Jackson]

It's a cold reality that in 2012 and for the near future, ESPN controls the national discourse on sports. If they aren't talking about you - then no one is talking about you. Their idiotic afternoon talk shows have 3 times more viewers than anything on NBCS. Do you think the kids you are going to try to recruit are watching NBCS - or do they want to play on ESPN?

Are people here saying they would watch SDSU/SMU over Michigan/Iowa or South Carolina/Auburn? If even the biggest fans of Big East schools won't make that choice, why is anyone else in the country going to?

Could be wrong, but I don't think recruits really talk about who's broadcasting the games. or which network owns the conference rights.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

It is turning out that the conferences that will thrive, the SEC, Big 12, Big 10 and Pac 12, were able to diversify their exposure to a single network, while the Big East which went all in with ESPN, is in trouble, and the whispers about the ACC, also 100% ESPN, are turning into shouts. Customer concentration is a huge business risk, whether you make widgets or are a football conference.

 

[whaler11]

If the basis of anyone's argument is that SMU and Houston are better conference mates in football than Syracuse and Pittsburgh then we can stop.

SMU has been pathetically bad for decades. They won 8 games in an awful league twice in three years. How are they better than Pittsburgh?

If Houston and SMU are so attractive why was there no interest in them until the Big East was down to six members?

There is a reason why Memphis, UCF, SMU and Houston were in a league that was getting 2 million dollars a year in TV money. Nobody watches their games. Why does that change? Because they are on a different marginal television network? Because they play UConn and Rutgers?

Why are people in Florida going to watch UCF all of a sudden? They are a distant 5th in their own state much closer to FIU than FSU.

It's the hometown buffet of conferences. Lets make up in quantity what we don't have in quality. There are a total of 3 teams in the league who are the #1 draws in their own geography.

Trying to draw a parallel between sports programming in 1980 versus 2012 is absurd. There is nothing in common between ESPN as a startup and NBCS as a startup other than they both have an initial in their name that stands for sports.

 

[mavblues]

If the basis of anyone's argument is that SMU and Houston are better conference mates in football than Syracuse and Pittsburgh then we can stop.

SMU has been pathetically bad for decades. They won 8 games in an awful league twice in three years. How are they better than Pittsburgh?

If Houston and SMU are so attractive why was there no interest in them until the Big East was down to six members?

There is a reason why Memphis, UCF, SMU and Houston were in a league that was getting 2 million dollars a year in TV money. Nobody watches their games. Why does that change? Because they are on a different marginal television network? Because they play UConn and Rutgers?

Why are people in Florida going to watch UCF all of a sudden? They are a distant 5th in their own state much closer to FIU than FSU.

It's the hometown buffet of conferences. Lets make up in quantity what we don't have in quality. There are a total of 3 teams in the league who are the #1 draws in their own geography.

Trying to draw a parallel between sports programming in 1980 versus 2012 is absurd. There is nothing in common between ESPN as a startup and NBCS as a startup other than they both have an initial in their name that stands for sports.

OMFG - enough is enough.

There's nothing in common between ESPN as a startup and NBCS as a startup? Really?

How about the fact that they both needed CONTENT when they started.

I am very surprised that someone who's first job out of college was with ESPN conveniently forgets the fact that the network routinely featured Australian Rules football and slow pitch softball when it started out.

Are you arguing that the NBE doesn't provide better content than Aussie Rules football and slow pitch softball?

You seem hell bent on comparing the NBE with the other major conferences. This argument is inherently flawed, because the NBE doesn't have to outdraw these conferences. NBCS can't sign these other conferences - they're locked up already.

So, the argument becomes this: NBCS needs content, and they need a lot of it. Is NBCS better served securing the NBE as a way to secure lots of content and build up its college football and basketball presence (to be expanded later as other conferences become available), or is NBCS better served keeping costs down by marketing fishing shows and demolition derbies to niche audiences?

I don't claim to know the answer to that question, but I'm damned sure that NBCS does, and I sure as hell believe that Paul Tagliabue does.

 

[whaler11]

It is turning out that the conferences that will thrive, the SEC, Big 12, Big 10 and Pac 12, were able to diversify their exposure to a single network, while the Big East which went all in with ESPN, is in trouble, and the whispers about the ACC, also 100% ESPN, are turning into shouts. Customer concentration is a huge business risk, whether you make widgets or are a football conference.

The reason the Big East is in trouble is because VPI, Miami, Boston College, West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse and TCU all believed their interests were better served partnering with different universities. Louisville, UConn and Rutgers would all set themselves on fire for the same opportunity.

The sole reason that their interests were better served was because they were partnering with schools who have larger fan bases. So unless you believe that the reason why Big East schools over the years have smaller fanbases than other conferences is because they put all their games on ESPN then it didn't really matter.

The ACC is in a similar situation for the exact same reason. It just took longer because their fanbases were marginally better than the Big East's and therefore they got to be a predator until others decided they wanted to be predator.