Yormark confirms that the big 12 was in expansion talks with Connecticut and Gonzaga but indicates neither program is being pursued any longer.

[MilliniumPrince]

And by ACC dregs you mean some mix of Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt, Duke, Wake, BC, Miami, and VT?

So like the cream of the crop of the former Big East?

L'ville will not be left behind. Neither will Sara Cuse, nor Pitt.

 

[GG]

L'ville will not be left behind. Neither will Sara Cuse, nor Pitt.

Cuse football stinks and the bball is a shell of what it used to be. Why would a league want them?

 

[JohnFSilver]

For many many many many many people golf is on in the background all weekend long for half the year

This is the weirdest thing. Go to any bar, club, etx and golf is on.

It is like the fox News of sports. People just run it on and background noise and don’t know why. Usually have to ask to have it changed.

 

[pepband99]

This is a network problem, not a content problem.

Fox paid the Big East to help ramp up FS1/FS2 as a sports destination, and a legitimate ESPN competitor. It hasn't really happened.

BTN has a clear audience and focus. FS* is somewhere between a streaming service and ESPN, and probably closer to the former.

The UConn women's game on ABC (on a football sunday!) is clear evidence of this. OTA>ESPN>FS*>Streaming.

To further illustrate, look at the drops in national network coverage:

Nielsen's December Cable Coverage Estimates (how many homes the networks are available in)

ESPN & FS1 down another 5% in the past year.

www.sportstvratings.com

In short: A game moving from FS1 to FS2 loses almost 20M possible households.

 

[djct1999]

Cuse football stinks and the bball is a shell of what it used to be. Why would a league want them?

And the icing on the cake is they are a geographical outlier. They offer nothing.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

This is the weirdest thing. Go to any bar, club, etx and golf is on.

It is like the fox News of sports. People just run it on and background noise and don’t know why. Usually have to ask to have it changed.

And the same population of people.

 

[JohnFSilver]

And the same population of people.

Lol. Yep. Even my elks club. Hi there during day…golf on tv. Bizarre. Luckily no politics in the lodge.

 

[Waquoit]

This is the weirdest thing. Go to any bar, club, etx and golf is on.

It is like the fox News of sports. People just run it on and background noise and don’t know why.

It's all the green. Pleasing to the eye. That and golf fans tend to speak up, I've found.

 

[Waquoit]

Luckily no politics in the lodge.

Cheap booze has a big tent

 

[Rufus]

I'm surprised FOX and ABC don't use their leverage in bundling the Big Ten Network and SEC Network nationwide into the standard cable/streaming packages. If a cable/streaming company wants FOX, Fox News, etc., it has to carry BTN in their standard cable/streaming package. If they want ABC, Disney, etc., they have to carry ESPN and the SEC Network. Force them to take it all. I'm really surprised this has never happened.

 

[CL82]

I'm surprised FOX and ABC don't use their leverage in bundling the Big Ten Network and SEC Network nationwide into the standard cable/streaming packages. If a cable/streaming company wants FOX, Fox News, etc., it has to carry BTN in their standard cable/streaming package. If they want ABC, Disney, etc., they have to carry ESPN and the SEC Network. Force them to take it all. I'm really surprised this has never happened.

A better question is will the Big Ten and the SEC at some point bypass ESPN and Fox and exclusively offer their product directly to cable companies.

 

[KryHavok]

A better question is will the Big Ten and the SEC at some point bypass ESPN and Fox and exclusively offer their product directly to cable companies.

Can you imagine them negotiating and playing hardball (charging higher fees) with the cable companies that service their home areas? They'd run ads to their rabid fanbase that Comcast or Time Warner won't give the BIGSEC a fair deal...the noose around the customer base slowly tightens making BIG$€¢ even richer.