Bilas says ACC should be at MSG

[Bill Marsh]

2. Last year Fox bought half the rights to the Big Ten Network."

Not to nitpick but Fox has owned 51% of the Big Ten Network since 2010. What Fox bought last year were half of the games which ESPN previously owned which amounts to 50 current ESPN basketball games which will now air on Fox (FS1 or wherever).

Thanks.

[DeltaV]

I know it helps that the first game is St. Johns vs. Georgetown, but there looks to be a quite healthy crowd at the Garden tonight.

[ecasadoSBU]

I know it helps that the first game is St. Johns vs. Georgetown, but there looks to be a quite healthy crowd at the Garden tonight.

VEEEERY Healthy! I'm impressed to be honest. A good 14-15k

[Bill Marsh]

Announced attendance was 14,830.

[JohnW22]

Seeing the attendance for the St. John's Georgetown game in a bad/awful year for each team shows how important it is to get those two programs back up to where they were. Could you imagine those two fan bases in a Big East championship game.

[stever20]

I'll defer to your knowledge re how many homes FS1 is in. But it's one thing to be on the network, it's something else to know where the channel is and to be in the habit of going there for content.

Yes, we're talking about 50 B1G basketball games and football games, which seems like a lot of new eyeballs to me even with some of them being on the regular Fox channel.

You're right that we don't know how much of an impact it will have, but the press generally saw it as a positive for the Big East when it was announced last year. So, it has potential. We will have to wait and see how it works out. And that's the point. It's a new dynamic, which means the landscape is changing and we can't just assume that the first 4 years of .Fox ratings will continue as they have been.

Just saw this timely update:
https://sportstvratings.com/how-much-bi ... ates/7680/

FS1 actually lost more subscribers last month than ESPN did. 422k to 565k. Right now the gap is about 3.3 million houses.

The thing is, until FS1 gets really more properties, folks aren't going to get in the habit of going there for content.

[Bill Marsh]

I'll defer to your knowledge re how many homes FS1 is in. But it's one thing to be on the network, it's something else to know where the channel is and to be in the habit of going there for content.

Yes, we're talking about 50 B1G basketball games and football games, which seems like a lot of new eyeballs to me even with some of them being on the regular Fox channel.

You're right that we don't know how much of an impact it will have, but the press generally saw it as a positive for the Big East when it was announced last year. So, it has potential. We will have to wait and see how it works out. And that's the point. It's a new dynamic, which means the landscape is changing and we can't just assume that the first 4 years of .Fox ratings will continue as they have been.

Just saw this timely update:
https://sportstvratings.com/how-much-bi ... ates/7680/

FS1 actually lost more subscribers last month than ESPN did. 422k to 565k. Right now the gap is about 3.3 million houses.

The thing is, until FS1 gets really more properties, folks aren't going to get in the habit of going there for content.

NASCAR fans go there.

[billyjack]

According to a poster Bigsnoop on Scoutfriars...

"...flipping among the Big East, ACC, and Big 10 games. MSG is packed, Barclays is half empty, and Verizon is three-quarters empty..."

Also from Bigsnoop:

"...'Requiem for the Big East' airing on ESPNU now..."

[pki1998]

Seeing the attendance for the St. John's Georgetown game in a bad/awful year for each team shows how important it is to get those two programs back up to where they were. Could you imagine those two fan bases in a Big East championship game.

I'd rather imagine X beating on of them in the championship game . Also why do we or anyone give two shits about what Jay BIAS says

[SJHooper]

I was at the Garden for the SJ V. G'Town game directly behind the FS1 camera guy behind the hoop on the floor. It was unreal, I've never sat that close before. I actually caught the ball when it went out of bounds one play and threw it back to the ref. LoVett pointed to me after we made a fast break dunk and I was going nuts while he tried to get everyone on their feet. I have never been so close to the game. I was shocked we won after missing about 5 opportunities to put G'Town away in the final minutes. I figured with 6.5 secs left and G'Town with the chance to take the lead, they'd get an easy layup or draw a foul at least. The near brawl was awesome...the Garden was already buzzing before, but when that broke out everyone was on their feet loving it and pro-SJ chants got very loud. These are 2 huge rivals playing the opener of the BET in the world's most famous arena. That's what it's all about. This is what the conference needs. The place was totally packed and I had a blast. I stayed for a bit of the Xavier game, but had to work the next morning and catch my train, so I went to the upper deck to give some Xavier fans the tickets to the great seats we were in. Gotta pay it forward! I was even hanging out with the Xavier student section and they were teaching me the chants...cool people. Nova and G'Town fans are the same. They don't wear jerseys or basketball attire, they wear button down shirts with vests, jeans, and dress shoes that always cracked me up. You are at a college basketball game, not some swanky wine bar.

Anyway, the ACC is a southern conference. It might as well be the SEC North. The Big East was born and bred in NYC. It has a real foothold here. I don't expect that to change anytime soon.