Post by elp525 on May 24, 2011 7:17:50 GMT -5
May 23, 2011
Other conferences have established lucrative market
By Greg Auman
For the Gazette
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - With little news on the expansion front, Big East commissioner John Marinatto looks ahead to next year and is pleased with the lucrative market set by other conferences as his league is set to negotiate a new TV contract when its ESPN deal expires after the 2012 season.
"There's a distinct advantage in going last," Marinatto said Monday afternoon from the league's annual meetings for athletic directors and football and basketball coaches. "Obviously, with the marketplace continually resetting, we sat here 12 months ago and were envious of what the ACC was able to do, because we thought that reset the marketplace. We sit here and in less than a year the Pac-12 has reset the marketplace once again. So it's setting the stage for us, providing that we're obviously deliberate and aggressive, in order to monetize our rights in a fashion similar to what they've done."
The Big East won't command as much as the Pac-12 did in its recent 12-year, $3-billion deal with ESPN and Fox, but the league is in position to improve considerably on the six-year, $200-million deal it's finishing now. The arrival of TCU in football next fall will help the league, whose 17 basketball members cover markets that reach 30 percent of the nation's households, according to Marinatto.
A year ago, the Big East's future was being questioned, with lingering concerns as to whether the league's football powers could be raided by other BCS conferences. Now the only question is how much the league would like to expand - with TCU, its membership will have nine football teams in 2012, and coaches are starting to make their case to expand to 12 teams, not just 10.
TCU football coach Gary Patterson and athletic director Chris del Conte are attending meetings this spring, though they won't have voting privileges until their arrival in summer 2012. For Patterson, Monday's meetings were a chance to get to know his future conference rivals, and he's already seeing the recruiting benefits of a future in a league with an automatic berth in the BCS bowl system.
"The two things always held against us were we weren't in a qualifying conference, and getting a chance to get into a BCS game without going undefeated," he said.
The Big East will also discuss this week how to best handle a 17-team basketball tournament in spring 2013. The most likely model has 10 teams playing five games on the opening day, with the league's fifth, sixth and seventh seeds joining on the second day and then following the league's current format for the final three days.
The league's athletic directors will also consider having only the conference's top 12 teams play in the tournament, though that measure was voted down three years ago so all 16 teams could have the benefit for fans and recruits alike of knowing they'd play in Madison Square Garden every year. Another option would have the league's 16th and 17th teams meeting on campuss asa play-in game before the tournament began with its current 16-team format in Manhattan.
The meetings conclude today.
Other conferences have established lucrative market
By Greg Auman
For the Gazette
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - With little news on the expansion front, Big East commissioner John Marinatto looks ahead to next year and is pleased with the lucrative market set by other conferences as his league is set to negotiate a new TV contract when its ESPN deal expires after the 2012 season.
"There's a distinct advantage in going last," Marinatto said Monday afternoon from the league's annual meetings for athletic directors and football and basketball coaches. "Obviously, with the marketplace continually resetting, we sat here 12 months ago and were envious of what the ACC was able to do, because we thought that reset the marketplace. We sit here and in less than a year the Pac-12 has reset the marketplace once again. So it's setting the stage for us, providing that we're obviously deliberate and aggressive, in order to monetize our rights in a fashion similar to what they've done."
The Big East won't command as much as the Pac-12 did in its recent 12-year, $3-billion deal with ESPN and Fox, but the league is in position to improve considerably on the six-year, $200-million deal it's finishing now. The arrival of TCU in football next fall will help the league, whose 17 basketball members cover markets that reach 30 percent of the nation's households, according to Marinatto.
A year ago, the Big East's future was being questioned, with lingering concerns as to whether the league's football powers could be raided by other BCS conferences. Now the only question is how much the league would like to expand - with TCU, its membership will have nine football teams in 2012, and coaches are starting to make their case to expand to 12 teams, not just 10.
TCU football coach Gary Patterson and athletic director Chris del Conte are attending meetings this spring, though they won't have voting privileges until their arrival in summer 2012. For Patterson, Monday's meetings were a chance to get to know his future conference rivals, and he's already seeing the recruiting benefits of a future in a league with an automatic berth in the BCS bowl system.
"The two things always held against us were we weren't in a qualifying conference, and getting a chance to get into a BCS game without going undefeated," he said.
The Big East will also discuss this week how to best handle a 17-team basketball tournament in spring 2013. The most likely model has 10 teams playing five games on the opening day, with the league's fifth, sixth and seventh seeds joining on the second day and then following the league's current format for the final three days.
The league's athletic directors will also consider having only the conference's top 12 teams play in the tournament, though that measure was voted down three years ago so all 16 teams could have the benefit for fans and recruits alike of knowing they'd play in Madison Square Garden every year. Another option would have the league's 16th and 17th teams meeting on campuss asa play-in game before the tournament began with its current 16-team format in Manhattan.
The meetings conclude today.
