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.
From the UConn BOT vote to officially upgrade football to 1-A in October 1997 until Vice Admiral Miller voiced his support of the Big East conferenceand clearly outlined how and why the big east is to be the first conference affiliation of the storied tradition of Navy Football - during all fo that time I've wanted out of the Big East conference, becuase Providence leadership was upside down with their priorities, and I wasn't really sure it was fixed - until the Naval Academy came on board. I don't think I can ever be in the same room with Mike Tranghese. I'd have to be restrained from decking him I think.
I've said all along, in all of my rantings, that a Big East conference, that has it's priorities straight around the importance of football over basketball when it comes to stability in the intercollegiate landscape - is where I want to be, and if they don't have their priorities straight - I want out. THe big east leadership didn't make the big east basketball conference what it has become by accident - they know what they're doing when it comes to athletics.
As for the NFL, well you comments tell me that I"m discussing this with an amateur.
ESPN is a monster of company in sports broadcasting that has a very fundamental problem in it's business structure, well two of them. The first is the conflict of interest thing in reporting news on the same thing they are investing in. The second is that the business model is set up basically, in the shotgun approach to hitting a target.
(i.e. you want to hit a wider area, you use a bigger shotgun pellet spread.........for ESPN - that means adding more channels to broadcast sports. It started with ESPN2....and they've never changed their approach. College sports - push ESPNU. ESPN Classic. ESPN news......etc. etc.
What they repeatedly run into - and UConn was a pawn in it for awhile - was having to force television router/providers to carry more and more channels on their basic packages.
(i.e. if uconn football was to be on TV in CT........you either had to upgrade your basic television service to a higher price package to get the additional espn channels.....and so on.
Same problem all over the country for ESPN, and it's the reason they've never been able to make a play for the NFL. The NFL has worked for 40+ years in broadcasting, such that when you've got a schedule of say a dozen games happening simultaneouslyacross the country, the fans local to a region where their local team is from, watch the local team, and they're all watchign the same channel on TV - but different events.
It's an entirely different structure to reach coast to coast than what ESPN has. For ESPN to broadcast 12 football games in a single day and reach all the local audiences, they'd need 12 ESPN channels on the basic services coast to coast to handle it, or need to start moving games to different days.
If anyone in CT is not a NYG, NYJ, or NEPats fan - and don't pay to have the direct TV service package, you know exactly what I'm talking about. When the Gmen are on, and you want to watch the niners at the same time, you're getting the giants game.
The big east, coast to coast right now, with the right broadcasting structure / framework to schedule and broadcast.....has the potential to go the sniper single shot single kill into every region/market were in the country right now, and do it on the same day - college football saturday.
As noted elsewhere. THe Big east doesn't need to be the top viewership draw / presence in every market from day 1. THe big east just needs to be on TV, and easily accessible, and advertised in the markets - as many as possible - at the same time.
ESPN is going to have to change their entire structure to handle something like that - and if they ever do - they will get the NFL. I just don't see how it's possible at this time to do it.
