Post by elp525 on Jun 23, 2010 5:01:10 GMT -5
Wednesday June 23, 2010
by Jack Bogaczyk
Daily Mail Sports Editor
Despite what you read and hear these days, the Big East Conference -- and West Virginia's membership in it -- remains in far, far better shape for the immediate future than the oily, tar-balled Gulf of Mexico.
Of course, it eventually will be partially about who stays, and who goes (if anyone, and how many), but a big-time conference with a 30-year-plus history of great basketball isn't likely to be blown to smithereens just because its football takes a back seat.
While most agree the recent shift in the major conference landscape is likely only a start in the movement, the assumption that the Big East is about to disintegrate is flawed.
Might there be a fissure along the football/basketball fault line one year soon? Sure.
Might some combination of UCF, Navy, East Carolina, Temple, Memphis, Army (or even a geographically wise return by Boston College) be needed to expand if there's a subtraction? Yes.
(As an aside, I still think if BC's administrative leadership changes in the next few years, there's a chance the Eagles may return to the Big East - but the men in power on Chestnut Hill who made the decision to join the ACC just aren't going to reverse their field.)
OK, the Big East is never going to be the same league as the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten in television exposure and revenue - even if the Big East starts its own network.
And all that means is the conference is subtracting inventory from ESPN (or taking some games from the individual school's markets and longtime stations), which doesn't seem a good idea to me.
Consider a few possibilities, then consider the potential future and the dollars attached to the growth in sports telecast players.
Let's say Rutgers and Syracuse leave the Big East for the Big Ten a year from now (the Big Ten really doesn't need Pitt; Penn State locks up Pennsylvania for the Big Ten Network).
The Orange is a major loss to Big East hoops, but the league still has Connecticut, Louisville, WVU, Pitt, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, Madison Square Garden, etc. Who says the Big East suffers really that much if the Boeheim Bunch bolts?
In football, Syracuse hasn't been a big-time success in almost a decade, and Rutgers, while very competitive finally, has only one season (11-2 in 2006) with fewer than five losses since 1993.
What the Big East needs to do is remain as proactive as possible as the sands shift, and sell its membership (especially in football) on its future potential as Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe did by playing poker - Texas Hold 'em - recently.
Here's what the wise guys in the Big East offices in Providence, R.I., know - and knew long before sage consultant Paul Tagliabue came on board.
As much as ESPN wants to think it owns the world, the globe of telecast sports is expanding in a big way.
There's more competition for inventory to fill airtime, and even more is coming, with Comcast's entry into the field after it purchased NBC-Universal.
That's only going to drive up rights fees - and if Big East basketball is better than the football, the conference can continue make more money for roundball (as it does now).
Consider the recent financial developments with the Atlantic Coast Conference's announced TV deal. It was predicted by most that the ACC - something of a football disappointment after its expansion with three former Big East members - would not improve significantly on its TV dollars.
That crystal ball effort couldn't have been more wrong.
The ACC went from getting about $74 million a year in its current contract (ESPN, Raycom) to a $1.86 billion, 12-year deal with ESPN - or $155 million annually, more than double the pact that ends this coming season.
Fox Sports drove up the ante, reportedly from $120 million annually to $155 million. Add Comcast (with Versus and regional networks, like Fox) to the bidding mix. ESPN needs more programming to continue enhancing ESPNU and ESPN3.
Time Warner has become a bigger sports player (TBS, TNT, truTV) in dividing future NCAA Tournament rights with CBS. Don't look now, but Verizon and AT&T are new cable players, too.
The Pac-10, in adding Colorado and Utah and negotiating a new TV deal, is expecting at least $14 million annually per school - or about $9 million more than the UCLAs and Oregons average now.
The SEC had $223 million to divide among its 12 members this spring. That's $18.6 million per school. The Big Ten was about $1 million per school ahead of that.
The Big East stands way behind those, but when its TV contracts expire (after the 2012-13 basketball and 2013 football seasons), the riches will grow. The league just has to chart its course along its rocky New England coast until then.
A lot of numbers have been put out there recently for Big East TV revenue, and many of them have been wrong. Here's the Big East TV picture right now:
The conference has a six-year, $80 million football deal with ESPN ($13.33 million per year, divided by eight football members - and a deal that was done in August 2006, as the conference was still trying to find its legs after losing Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College).
The Big East has a six-year, $138 million hoops deal with ESPN and a six-season, $54 million deal with CBS (those are divided by 16 schools). Each Big East football school gets, on average, $3.67 million a year. The other eight (hoops) schools receive $2 million apiece.
So, the Big East is only getting about $45.3 million annually in TV revenue now - or about $1 million more than the current Pac-10, deal, which is about to soar.
If the recent conference agreements can be used as a guide, there's no reason the Big East shouldn't get into the $95 million-$100 million range annually in 2014 and beyond.
How that's split among football/basketball lines won't matter to the WVUs and UConns - because they play both sports.
The big question is who will be getting that dough. Who will still be at the Big East table?
There will be a Big East with bigger TV money, but whether it's dribbling or punting or both, it will be there - and it still will be a big player in some fashion.
by Jack Bogaczyk
Daily Mail Sports Editor
Despite what you read and hear these days, the Big East Conference -- and West Virginia's membership in it -- remains in far, far better shape for the immediate future than the oily, tar-balled Gulf of Mexico.
Of course, it eventually will be partially about who stays, and who goes (if anyone, and how many), but a big-time conference with a 30-year-plus history of great basketball isn't likely to be blown to smithereens just because its football takes a back seat.
While most agree the recent shift in the major conference landscape is likely only a start in the movement, the assumption that the Big East is about to disintegrate is flawed.
Might there be a fissure along the football/basketball fault line one year soon? Sure.
Might some combination of UCF, Navy, East Carolina, Temple, Memphis, Army (or even a geographically wise return by Boston College) be needed to expand if there's a subtraction? Yes.
(As an aside, I still think if BC's administrative leadership changes in the next few years, there's a chance the Eagles may return to the Big East - but the men in power on Chestnut Hill who made the decision to join the ACC just aren't going to reverse their field.)
OK, the Big East is never going to be the same league as the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten in television exposure and revenue - even if the Big East starts its own network.
And all that means is the conference is subtracting inventory from ESPN (or taking some games from the individual school's markets and longtime stations), which doesn't seem a good idea to me.
Consider a few possibilities, then consider the potential future and the dollars attached to the growth in sports telecast players.
Let's say Rutgers and Syracuse leave the Big East for the Big Ten a year from now (the Big Ten really doesn't need Pitt; Penn State locks up Pennsylvania for the Big Ten Network).
The Orange is a major loss to Big East hoops, but the league still has Connecticut, Louisville, WVU, Pitt, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, Madison Square Garden, etc. Who says the Big East suffers really that much if the Boeheim Bunch bolts?
In football, Syracuse hasn't been a big-time success in almost a decade, and Rutgers, while very competitive finally, has only one season (11-2 in 2006) with fewer than five losses since 1993.
What the Big East needs to do is remain as proactive as possible as the sands shift, and sell its membership (especially in football) on its future potential as Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe did by playing poker - Texas Hold 'em - recently.
Here's what the wise guys in the Big East offices in Providence, R.I., know - and knew long before sage consultant Paul Tagliabue came on board.
As much as ESPN wants to think it owns the world, the globe of telecast sports is expanding in a big way.
There's more competition for inventory to fill airtime, and even more is coming, with Comcast's entry into the field after it purchased NBC-Universal.
That's only going to drive up rights fees - and if Big East basketball is better than the football, the conference can continue make more money for roundball (as it does now).
Consider the recent financial developments with the Atlantic Coast Conference's announced TV deal. It was predicted by most that the ACC - something of a football disappointment after its expansion with three former Big East members - would not improve significantly on its TV dollars.
That crystal ball effort couldn't have been more wrong.
The ACC went from getting about $74 million a year in its current contract (ESPN, Raycom) to a $1.86 billion, 12-year deal with ESPN - or $155 million annually, more than double the pact that ends this coming season.
Fox Sports drove up the ante, reportedly from $120 million annually to $155 million. Add Comcast (with Versus and regional networks, like Fox) to the bidding mix. ESPN needs more programming to continue enhancing ESPNU and ESPN3.
Time Warner has become a bigger sports player (TBS, TNT, truTV) in dividing future NCAA Tournament rights with CBS. Don't look now, but Verizon and AT&T are new cable players, too.
The Pac-10, in adding Colorado and Utah and negotiating a new TV deal, is expecting at least $14 million annually per school - or about $9 million more than the UCLAs and Oregons average now.
The SEC had $223 million to divide among its 12 members this spring. That's $18.6 million per school. The Big Ten was about $1 million per school ahead of that.
The Big East stands way behind those, but when its TV contracts expire (after the 2012-13 basketball and 2013 football seasons), the riches will grow. The league just has to chart its course along its rocky New England coast until then.
A lot of numbers have been put out there recently for Big East TV revenue, and many of them have been wrong. Here's the Big East TV picture right now:
The conference has a six-year, $80 million football deal with ESPN ($13.33 million per year, divided by eight football members - and a deal that was done in August 2006, as the conference was still trying to find its legs after losing Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College).
The Big East has a six-year, $138 million hoops deal with ESPN and a six-season, $54 million deal with CBS (those are divided by 16 schools). Each Big East football school gets, on average, $3.67 million a year. The other eight (hoops) schools receive $2 million apiece.
So, the Big East is only getting about $45.3 million annually in TV revenue now - or about $1 million more than the current Pac-10, deal, which is about to soar.
If the recent conference agreements can be used as a guide, there's no reason the Big East shouldn't get into the $95 million-$100 million range annually in 2014 and beyond.
How that's split among football/basketball lines won't matter to the WVUs and UConns - because they play both sports.
The big question is who will be getting that dough. Who will still be at the Big East table?
There will be a Big East with bigger TV money, but whether it's dribbling or punting or both, it will be there - and it still will be a big player in some fashion.
