The Globe article may be gaining some national traction...

[Stinger92860]

I saw that USA today asked both BC and the ACC for comments. to the Globe story. We should sit back for a while and wait to see what happens. I hope it's a storm.....

 

[huskymedic]

USA Today Link

 

[Pudge]

Puts Governor Malloy in an interesting position.

You can sue for lots of reasons. And there are sets of facts that can be put in a narrative here against ESPN, a CT company & taxpayer. And Gene DeFillippo has arrogantly placed this all into play. Congrats .

 

[uconnbaseball]

UConn should not sue until we are certain an ACC invite is never going to come. We don't know that right now.

 

[gars44]

There needs to be a suit, but none of the schools should bring it. Too unseemly. It should be brought by the US Department of Justice, Anti-Trust Division. Precipitated by a lengthy investigation of ESPN and its anti-competitive practices.

 

[UConnJim]

I'll say this one last time. Blaudschun had an agenda and fit the quote to his thesis. By the way, the USA Today writer, Nicole Auerbach, was a Boston Globe sports intern this past summer.

 

[Stinger92860]

Overheard on the street in Boston today…

Hi, this is Gene…
Hey, John….
Yea, great article. We showed those sob’s in CT what we are made of. Wait until we…
Why are you yelling?
Is my head where?
You want me to the shut up? But I am the ACC heavy hitter.
I’m not?
Gee, well maybe you are right and I said a bit too much, but it’s over we won.
It’s not?
Well if I have to, I guess I could lay low. You want me to …..
True, I could try and concentrate on our teams, but c’mon, you know we can’t compete on the field.
Ok, love you too….

 

[CL82]

There needs to be a suit, but none of the schools should bring it. Too unseemly. It should be brought by the US Department of Justice, Anti-Trust Division. Precipitated by a lengthy investigation of ESPN and its anti-competitive practices.

...and here the magic that might open the door to making it happen.

"We always keep our television partners close to us,'' he said. "You don't get extra money for basketball. It's 85 percent football money. TV - ESPN - is the one who told us what to do. ''

A broadcast company manipulating the wholesome collegiate conferences? ESPN taking anti-competive action vs a competitor (NBC) to keep them out of a market? Serious stuff.

Interestingly, for all those railing about how CT should penalize ESPN, this language opens the door to that conversation. How can they expect a subsidy from the State when they have been actively working against our University, a move that will cost the State of Connecticut millions of dollars?

All that's been needed is a smoking gun (and a slow news cycle). If can't be us doing the asking but questions do need to be answered.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Just because a USA Today writer copied and pasted what another reporter wrote doesn't mean it's gaining traction. There's no new information in the USA Today article. If anything, this probably puts te ACC commissioner in a bad position because it's an admittance that one of his AD's is openly blocking another school, which opens them up to legal action (which UConn should not take). So if I'm Swofford, I'm not happy about this article.

 

[Stinger92860]

Just because a USA Today writer copied and pasted what another reporter wrote doesn't mean it's gaining traction. There's no new information in the USA Today article. If anything, this probably puts te ACC commissioner in a bad position because it's an admittance that one of his AD's is openly blocking another school, which opens them up to legal action (which UConn should not take). So if I'm Swofford, I'm not happy about this article.

MAY BE gaining traction......

USA TODAY is seeking comment from the ACC and DeFilippo

 

[HartbeatHusky]

Look, ESPN is still good for CT and Bristol as a tax paying corporate citizen. I'm not going to be too quick to try to push them out of here if I'm Malloy. It sucks what they did but we all need to wait and see how UConn fares over the next couple of years before we start trying to penalize a CT company.

 

[ctchamps]

I got the impression DeFillippo wasn't implicating ESPN directly in the action of the ACC, but stating that football is driving the bus and ESPN is paying out monies for football. It was a sloppy statement on his part which will be clarified or restated. ESPN must be unhappy with him but not afraid.

 

[Rumrunner]

Words you are most likely to hear in the coming days:


"Embattled AD Gene DeFlippo"

 

[huskymedic]

I got the impression DeFillippo wasn't implicating ESPN directly in the action of the ACC, but stating that football is driving the bus and ESPN is paying out monies for football. It was a sloppy statement on his part which will be clarified or restated. ESPN must be unhappy with him but not afraid.

Already distancing themselves... "ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys released a statement in response to DeFilippo: "The driving force on realignment lies with the conferences and universities."" -

 

[Murph]

Already distancing themselves... "ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys released a statement in response to DeFilippo: "The driving force on realignment lies with the conferences and universities."" -

Can't wait to hear the ACC's response to Flipper next.

 

[sportsart]

Already distancing themselves... "ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys released a statement in response to DeFilippo: "The driving force on realignment lies with the conferences and universities."" -

I guess ESPN is so arrogant they think that 6 billion people can fit into one gigantic turnip truck.

 

[Hoophound]

Already distancing themselves... "ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys released a statement in response to DeFilippo: "The driving force on realignment lies with the conferences and universities."" -

Good luck. Someone in Connecticut, good idea or not, will grandstand on this and make some noise. That's politics and the guy/gal that saves UConn and spearheads getting us into a major conference will be a state hero.

 

[huskymedic]

I guess ESPN is so arrogant they think that 6 billion people can fit into one gigantic turnip truck.

What I want to see is IF the story ever sees the light of day on the ESPN CFB Website. Odds are______?

 

[RS9999X]

Time to strike when the iron is hot.

The Husky Network: mandate it and put it up for bidding. The new ESPN-3 CT (AKA the Husky Network) will pay through the nose to get guaranteed placement and avoid a lawsuit and Senate Inquiry. Don't be greedy Dan Malloy. You only want $1.50 off the top for each mandated CT subscriber. And tell them we want a CT theme weekly movie night. You know, like Mystic Pizza and The Stepford Wives.

Establish the Husky Network as the Gold Standard in College Sports. This can be done! Eventually stream the legacy library of games, consider expanding out of footprint, bidding on Pawtucket games and the Maine Red Claws (Celtics/Dave Leitao), Mohegun Sun, and making it New England's Premier Tier 3 Network. Demand premium content from the Partner (The Mets if SNY, etc).

Leave the ACC without any subscribers outside of Boston.

 

[upstater]

I got the impression DeFillippo wasn't implicating ESPN directly in the action of the ACC, but stating that football is driving the bus and ESPN is paying out monies for football. It was a sloppy statement on his part which will be clarified or restated. ESPN must be unhappy with him but not afraid.

Gene Corrigan is on record as Swofford revealing to him the numbers ESPN gave him prior to expansion. Corrigan said ESPN gave Swofford new contract numbers.

 

[CL82]

Look, ESPN is still good for CT and Bristol as a tax paying corporate citizen. I'm not going to be too quick to try to push them out of here if I'm Malloy. It sucks what they did but we all need to wait and see how UConn fares over the next couple of years before we start trying to penalize a CT company.

Agree that it is not in the State's best interest to "push an employer out of the state" (and I'm not sure that they really have the power to do that) but if ESPN is behind the this most recent attack on the Big East, I would be far less likely to support subsidizing them in any way, particularly via tax breaks.

 

[RS9999X]

Everyone of these leagues has media consultants that do research and create proposals.

ESPN had a contract that said they will re-negotatiate if there are 2 teams added or subtacted. The ACC doesn't have much choice for expansion. It's either leapfrog the SEC and look at Oklahoma and Texas or solidify the North East. They chose the latter and chose Pitt. ESPN didn't tell them to take Pitt over UConn.

I think it was good strategy: the odds of the B12 leaping to the 2 NYC teams (UConn, RU) is small. the ACC can play with their food for a little while to see if there is a need to add RU and UConn.

This is why I think adding a Husky Network ( and Rutgers equivalent) are necessary to force the ACCs hand and to create value. The SNY contract now is the tail wagging the dog. Literally. Worst case: The Husky Network can sustain the Huskies as loosely aligned BE Football members.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

This is huge news. You just had someone on the ACC Expansion committee state publicly that ESPN drove the expansion and told the conference what to do.

That is simply amazing! You cannot understate that development. UConn and Herbst should stay out of the mess...but this is not going to go away. That has to be one of the dumbest things anyone in a position of power has ever done. Let the fun begin!

DeFillippo just made a lot of lawyers a whole bunch of money!

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

People are starting to put the pieces together:

Could the ESPN meddling have been a retaliatory move? Remember, the Big East turned down a $1.9 billion offer from the worldwide schemer and is said to be entertaining offers from NBC, CBS and FOX for its next media contract. ESPN is currently the first tier media partner for the league, but after helping the ACC decide which teams to kidnap from the Big East, an over-the-air network getting the deal of a lifetime is a fair bet.

http://www.businessinsider.com/scan...eams-to-take-from-big-east-conference-2011-10

 

[WestCoastHusky]

People are starting to put the pieces together:

Could the ESPN meddling have been a retaliatory move? Remember, the Big East turned down a $1.9 billion offer from the worldwide schemer and is said to be entertaining offers from NBC, CBS and FOX for its next media contract. ESPN is currently the first tier media partner for the league, but after helping the ACC decide which teams to kidnap from the Big East, an over-the-air network getting the deal of a lifetime is a fair bet.

http://www.businessinsider.com/scan...eams-to-take-from-big-east-conference-2011-10

I am glad this is getting national attention. It is time people realize how much power ESPN has in college football. No network should have this much influence over student athletes in this country that don't even get paid. ESPN is making a ton of money off them and it is getting out of hands.

For the record, I called the ESPN conspiracy theory long before the Boston Globe story. Just yesterday on Courant's football chat I was asking Jeff Jacobs to write a story on ESPN/ACC plotting BE's destruction. He said it is a interesting theory and boom we got Boston Globe story today.

Time for ESPN to go down and go down hard. BE needs to sign a deal with NBC/COMCAST next year and stay as far away from ESPN as possible.