B1G TV Deal

[Xudash]

There are some dreamers out there who think that if the acc loses some football schools they would respond by grabbing georgetown, nova and St. John's to lock up the northeast corridor for hoops. The thought is that nd, gtown, nova nd St. John's have enough national pull, they would grab the three main metro areas, and with only a 4 team bb only hybrid some of the problems that existed in the old big east would be less apparent.

I think these people live in pipe dream city, and personally would not want this for nova. I prefer being the top dog on fox than just another one of espn's inventory, and I really like the idea. Competing with 8 other schools that place a high priority in basketball and have fan bases that are devoted to hoops over a mixed interest in football. We are making just as much money now as we would in an acc raid, and you can't beat the exposure, so why mess with happy?

But that is where those comments come from. Again, I think this is complete mental masturbation and not grounded in reality, but there are some dreamers out there who think it will happen if the acc gets raided.

Actually, you made another point I meant to make: football schools are solving for football only; there is no way any P5 conference will add hoops only schools. Period. End of story.

I would have been more nervous about the BE had our key contractual agreements had been of shorter durations, but we don't have that problem. I actually like how we're positioned and where we're headed.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Hypothetically speaking, if the B1G's new contract really is worth $50 million per school ( ), and they want to move up to 16, or 18, or 20, schools, then I think the order of preference for news schools is as follows:

1. Virginia
2. UNC
3. Georgia Tech
4. Duke
5. Kansas
6. Missouri

Virginia would be the key to any Eastern-expansion, as they would open up the bridge to link with North Carolina/Duke/Georgia Tech. If the conference decides to expand to 20, you could have an East and West grouping as shown below. In basketball, you could have a 19-game conference schedule, playing every school once (flipping home/away every year). In football, you would have 9 divisional games, playing everyone once, 2 games from the other division, and 1 OOC game of the school's choosing - making a 12 game conference schedule. You would play everyone in the conference within 5 years. In this super conference, it easily becomes the best basketball conference.

B1G West: Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue
B1G East: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Duke.

Obviously, I realize there are several factors that can easily change this scenario. The 1st is if Texas decides to join (meaning the Big 12 would be raided). If they do, they immediately jump to the top of the list. The 2nd is the likely scenario that Missouri doesn't leave the SEC. If they decide to stay put (which they should), then Iowa State takes their place (AAU member, but then they double up the state of Iowa).

The ACC would lose alot, but they could reload with UCONN, Cincinnati, Memphis and East Carolina. They wouldn't go for either UCF or USF, as they have Miami and Florida State already, creating zero need for a third Florida school.

[admin]

I just read the Sports Illustrated year end media report (from 2 issues ago I think).. Once cable goes ala carte, the B1G is screwed. It's not a matter of if it happens, but when. The article stated that a very small percentage of cable subscribers said they would pay for the Big Ten channel if it wasn't bundled in. It's those fees that make them their money. B1G isn't must see television and the price per subscriber they will need to charge to maintain their current revenue stream is exceedingly high.

[TheBall]

The big 10 network benefits from being under the radar in terms of fees, but nobody in the mid Atlantic would really pay a dollar or two per month for a minnesota v purdue softball game or michigan v Penn state field hockey game. And that is what the big ten network is.

That said, the big ten is a good partner for fox sports. They have inventory that compliments our product well and in the long run they are good to have around.