The Holy Land of Hoops

It's almost that time of year again, many of you have probably seen these commercials while watching the game.

When the big east left espn for fox, there was some uncertainty. And while espn has such a large viewer base it is going to continue to take time for the ratings to get up to espn2 levels. But you have to give fox a ton of credit for the marketing of the conference's brand this season, along with the fox national broadcasts.

TheBall wrote:When the big east left espn for fox, there was some uncertainty. And while espn has such a large viewer base it is going to continue to take time for the ratings to get up to espn2 levels. But you have to give fox a ton of credit for the marketing of the conference's brand this season, along with the fox national broadcasts.

I agree. The one thing I'd like to see would be for them to put the championship game on the regular Fox network channels instead of on cable, thereby increasing visibility. It would only be to their benefit. Having a regular network option is an advantage they has over ESPN, and they should use it.

Bill Marsh wrote:

TheBall wrote:When the big east left espn for fox, there was some uncertainty. And while espn has such a large viewer base it is going to continue to take time for the ratings to get up to espn2 levels. But you have to give fox a ton of credit for the marketing of the conference's brand this season, along with the fox national broadcasts.

I agree. The one thing I'd like to see would be for them to put the championship game on the regular Fox network channels instead of on cable, thereby increasing visibility. It would only be to their benefit. Having a regular network option is an advantage they has over ESPN, and they should use it.

It means a whole hell of a lot less though than in football. basketball is mostly a cable sport. You look at top 10 last year- 7 of the top 10 games were on ESPN.

Bill Marsh wrote:

TheBall wrote:When the big east left espn for fox, there was some uncertainty. And while espn has such a large viewer base it is going to continue to take time for the ratings to get up to espn2 levels. But you have to give fox a ton of credit for the marketing of the conference's brand this season, along with the fox national broadcasts.

I agree. The one thing I'd like to see would be for them to put the championship game on the regular Fox network channels instead of on cable, thereby increasing visibility. It would only be to their benefit. Having a regular network option is an advantage they has over ESPN, and they should use it.

It means a whole hell of a lot less though than in football. basketball is mostly a cable sport. You look at top 10 last year- 7 of the top 10 games were on ESPN.

But a national broadcast on one of the main networks on a saturday afternoon is huge. My 70+ year old father in law isn't going to turn on espn to try to catch a game, but if there is a sporting event on one of the low channels he will probably have it on while he does his bills or whatever the heck he is doing on a saturday afternoon. You just catch more casual viewers. Not even concerned about the ratings, more about the easy access for all.

FS1 still isn't on basic cable packages yet, so the fox network coverage is huge.