Conference Realignment: What Next?

[Depaulof89]

Any addition to the Big East needs to make us better. Gonzaga does that. Dayton does not.

Moving on.

I bet your top three are Gonzaga, UCLA, Arizona. News flash we are the big east. We have to look east.

[kayako]

Providence soooooooooooooooooooo nasty towards Gonzaga! Boooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Maybe they really do have inside info, but that episode was full of uhh eager assumptions

-BE will stay at 18 conference games with Gonzaga. They weren't aware that we're already at 20.

-Jay Wright is great friends with Mark Few, but would attempt to block their entry out of pettiness (apparently Nova doesn't like sharing the spotlight). I am not sure if they are aware of UCONN's move back to the BE.

-FOX is harming the Big East and Val is trying to get us away.

-The move won't happen until 2024/2025 because of our existing contract with Fox. Again, it's like UCONN didn't happen. They weren't aware of the clause that allows expansion to 12 teams without taking a paycut.

-Geography doesn't matter because it's not 1983.

-They're trying to bring only basketball to the Big East. AFAIK there is no loophole for Gonzaga to be able to do this. Basketball means all sports sponsored by that conference. This is why there is no basketball independents.

-Big East teams would help Gonzaga negotiate with the WCC (letting olympic sports stay) by agreeing to some kind of conference challenge going forward. They mentioned a hypothetical top 5 WCC vs. top 5 BE. I've said this many times, but a scheduling agreement with WCC is highly unlikely, with or without Gonzaga. Jay Wright, Dan Hurley, etc., aren't signing up for road games at Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, etc.

-Big East would cover Gonzaga's exit fees.

[kayako]

Dayton made the Elite 8 in 2014, and has made 3 other NCAA tournaments, and robbed of further glory when Toppin was smashing rims, and then the NCAA tournament was cancelled. If Dayton would have done that in the Big East the last 8 seasons they would have way more than carried their weight and added NCAA credits to our pile. They’ve done more since realignment than half of our conference. I again fail to understand why anyone would say they don’t improve the conference. And again I’m not a Dayton guy. I’m a diehard Bluejay.

VCU has been and is a better program than Dayton. Better location, too. Why don't people bring that up when they talk Dayton? Better than some teams in the bottom doesn't mean much for this kind of commitment.

[Cheech]

The issue with Gonzaga of course is the travel. The coaches are against it but as you look at the big picture, the BiG East is better for Gonzaga that than they are for the Big East. Should Few leave and his replacement not be able to sustain the program you have boight a pig in a poke and would be stuck with them. It can happen as we have seen at GT…DePaul and St Johns. It’s too risky and difficult. Dayton is once again going to be a Major force next Year and remains if not sexy to you guys a solid add that would compete and bring money to the conference . Dayton is a far superior program to DePaul /GT/St Johns. Those 3 have lost there status and are irrelevant National teams. Dayton will be next in.

[Hall2012]

Dayton made the Elite 8 in 2014, and has made 3 other NCAA tournaments, and robbed of further glory when Toppin was smashing rims, and then the NCAA tournament was cancelled. If Dayton would have done that in the Big East the last 8 seasons they would have way more than carried their weight and added NCAA credits to our pile. They’ve done more since realignment than half of our conference. I again fail to understand why anyone would say they don’t improve the conference. And again I’m not a Dayton guy. I’m a diehard Bluejay.

I don’t understand the love for SLU outside of geography. It’s a bigger city but basketball is not a concern to the people there, and they have almost no history in the sport. I want teams with a good product and rabid fans.

It's a major sports down with a DMA nearly 3x the size of Dayton. Local TV viewership for both the Blues and Cards are elite for their respective leagues. They were drawing nearly 30k for the freaking XFL. Incoming MLS team sold out instantly, obviously no TV data available for them yet. With no NBA team, I see a potentially very high ceiling for high major college basketball.

Decent number of Mizzou fans in St. Louis, but that's probably partly a function of SLU not being in a high major conference.

The 2 hour drive to Columbia is one thing for football, but not realistic for midweek basketball games. Obviously they're not getting the Mizzou alums and die hards, but in general I think high major SLU basketball would get strong local support, even outside of their own alumni.

Another point I'll put out there is that they led the nation this year in attendance for men's soccer. Now that is their most successful program, but it's a demonstration that there is support for their athletic programs and upgrading basketball wouldn't go unnoticed. They'd also instantly become our soccer flagship lol

[TheZagaholic]

Providence soooooooooooooooooooo nasty towards Gonzaga! Boooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Maybe they really do have inside info, but that episode was full of uhh eager assumptions

-BE will stay at 18 conference games with Gonzaga. They weren't aware that we're already at 20.

-Jay Wright is great friends with Mark Few, but would attempt to block their entry out of pettiness (apparently Nova doesn't like sharing the spotlight). I am not sure if they are aware of UCONN's move back to the BE.

-FOX is harming the Big East and Val is trying to get us away.

-The move won't happen until 2024/2025 because of our existing contract with Fox. Again, it's like UCONN didn't happen. They weren't aware of the clause that allows expansion to 12 teams without taking a paycut.

-Geography doesn't matter because it's not 1983.

-They're trying to bring only basketball to the Big East. AFAIK there is no loophole for Gonzaga to be able to do this. Basketball means all sports sponsored by that conference. This is why there is no basketball independents.

-Big East teams would help Gonzaga negotiate with the WCC (letting olympic sports stay) by agreeing to some kind of conference challenge going forward. They mentioned a hypothetical top 5 WCC vs. top 5 BE. I've said this many times, but a scheduling agreement with WCC is highly unlikely, with or without Gonzaga. Jay Wright, Dan Hurley, etc., aren't signing up for road games at Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, etc.

-Big East would cover Gonzaga's exit fees.

I misspoke on the conference schedule. Not always easy to be perfect when recording 1.5 of material. Of course we know UConn is in the league, lol. There were definitely hypotheticals thrown because people want to talk about it and have points of interest to discuss. The WCC scheduling thing was a hypothetical and yes it’s probably unlikely. The Olympic sports can be in another conference, you just need NCAA and conference approval to make it happen. Which would be likely in this case to avoid undue hardship on non revenue sports. The fox/BE bit was actually something i was told by a big east insider, lol. There are definitely rumblings about the fox deal. The move will definitely be affected by the tv deal and also a final agreement on where the olympic sports reside. I think you misinterpreted the part where we talked Jay Wright/Mark Few, we were actually agreeing it would be unlikely Nova would block GU out or pettiness because of that fact. I spent like 2 minutes saying how geography isnt the issue some make it out to be, so again we agree.

[Novachap]

Providence soooooooooooooooooooo nasty towards Gonzaga! Boooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Maybe they really do have inside info, but that episode was full of uhh eager assumptions

-BE will stay at 18 conference games with Gonzaga. They weren't aware that we're already at 20.

-Jay Wright is great friends with Mark Few, but would attempt to block their entry out of pettiness (apparently Nova doesn't like sharing the spotlight). I am not sure if they are aware of UCONN's move back to the BE.

-FOX is harming the Big East and Val is trying to get us away.

-The move won't happen until 2024/2025 because of our existing contract with Fox. Again, it's like UCONN didn't happen. They weren't aware of the clause that allows expansion to 12 teams without taking a paycut.

-Geography doesn't matter because it's not 1983.

-They're trying to bring only basketball to the Big East. AFAIK there is no loophole for Gonzaga to be able to do this. Basketball means all sports sponsored by that conference. This is why there is no basketball independents.

-Big East teams would help Gonzaga negotiate with the WCC (letting olympic sports stay) by agreeing to some kind of conference challenge going forward. They mentioned a hypothetical top 5 WCC vs. top 5 BE. I've said this many times, but a scheduling agreement with WCC is highly unlikely, with or without Gonzaga. Jay Wright, Dan Hurley, etc., aren't signing up for road games at Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, etc.

-Big East would cover Gonzaga's exit fees.

I misspoke on the conference schedule. Not always easy to be perfect when recording 1.5 of material. Of course we know UConn is in the league, lol. There were definitely hypotheticals thrown because people want to talk about it and have points of interest to discuss. The WCC scheduling thing was a hypothetical and yes it’s probably unlikely. The Olympic sports can be in another conference, you just need NCAA and conference approval to make it happen. Which would be likely in this case to avoid undue hardship on non revenue sports. The fox/BE bit was actually something i was told by a big east insider, lol. There are definitely rumblings about the fox deal. The move will definitely be affected by the tv deal and also a final agreement on where the olympic sports reside. I think you misinterpreted the part where we talked Jay Wright/Mark Few, we were actually agreeing it would be unlikely Nova would block GU out or pettiness because of that fact. I spent like 2 minutes saying how geography isnt the issue some make it out to be, so again we agree.

I thought you made some good points-about the strength of the league, travel less of an issue these days, longterm ability for zags to hire Few's replacement in the premier ball league, etc.

But I too interpreted what was said about Wright and Few the same way. You lost me when I heard Nova would not be in favor because Wright is now the clear face of the BE and wouldn't want the share that spotlight with Few which would happen if the Zags came in. Again, may not be what you intended to be interpreted, but I think more than a Few of us heard it that way. Don't think Jay is worried about sharing the limelight. There is not a bigger proponent of the league and its success... felt pretty pompous honestly.

I would welcome the zags with open arms. I think it would be good for all involved. When I hear travel issues, I think most are referring to the other sports. That is where it gets dicey. Does gonzaga come in as a full member? That is what needs to be navigated. BTW, many of the BE men's teams fly charters, that is not unique, so there shouldn't be too much challenge scheduling Western swings.

Anyway as Dash has said, this us going to come down to the TV contract and what benefits the league from a $ perspective. So, it is truly down the road.

[Xudash]

Chap - I would think that that is the primary way to look at it. It is all about taking actions that strengthen the conference. A more lucrative media agreement will certainly help with that.

I imagine most of us believe that the media agreement was going to improve even without the addition of UConn, but it will now most certainly improve with UConn being part of the conference. That becomes the evaluative bar, right? The payout per school is going to be north of $4 million most likely. Which schools are capable of helping to increase that new higher figure, or at the very least, provide value to the conference without reducing the new per member payout? I imagine that is a very small list. I also imagine that list includes schools that are essentially perceived to be very unavailable (e.g. Notre Dame).

The only other clear potential driver of expansion appears to be about conference size. Can we remain at 11 and be well positioned with respect to 00C conference challenges and available content, etc.? I do not have a feel for that one. Nonetheless, expanding to get bigger for some reason while reversing down the payout per school probably will be a debated and tenuous decision.

Every year is interesting, but the next couple of years will be very interesting for the Big East as we close in on a new media agreement.

[gtmoBlue]

Chap - I would think that that is the primary way to look at it. It is all about taking actions that strengthen the conference. A more lucrative media agreement will certainly help with that.

I imagine most of us believe that the media agreement was going to improve even without the addition of UConn, but it will now most certainly improve with UConn being part of the conference. That becomes the evaluative bar, right? The payout per school is going to be north of $4 million most likely. Which schools are capable of helping to increase that new higher figure, or at the very least, provide value to the conference without reducing the new per member payout? I imagine that is a very small list. I also imagine that list includes schools that are essentially perceived to be very unavailable (e.g. Notre Dame).

The only other clear potential driver of expansion appears to be about conference size. Can we remain at 11 and be well positioned with respect to 00C conference challenges and available content, etc.? I do not have a feel for that one. Nonetheless, expanding to get bigger for some reason while reversing down the payout per school probably will be a debated and tenuous decision.

Every year is interesting, but the next couple of years will be very interesting for the Big East as we close in on a new media agreement.

Wow. That's quite the de-escalation in thinking. From:

1. Most believe the media agreement will improve from the current level.
2. Per school payout will 'most likely' be north of the current $4 Million.
To:
3. Who (school(s)) will provide value to the BE without reducing the member payout(s)?

Loving all the confidence in that argument.

There is no hurry nor rush from the Big East perspective. Given the current negotiating environment with the major media giants, they are in a holding
pattern, sizing up the next wave of negotiations. The Big 12 tried to push for early negotiations, but was rebuffed. Expect BE negotiations to commence
in late 2023 or Early 2024.

Having said that, there is no reason to think that the Big East will not see sizable gains in their contract negotiations. We were grossly lowballed in the
2013 Round and have seen across the board gains by several conferences since then. Our content was undervalued back then. The conference has
consistently shown that our content is top tier over the last decade.

Now we have since added more top tier content in the UConn franchise (and potentially the Zags) that further cements Big East content as genuinely top tier
as one of the top major conferences. My humble expectation is for BE per school payouts to minimally double to $8.2 /year., which will be another lowball
figure come 2024 & 25. It is reasonable to think the actual figures will be higher.

[Xudash]

git - my point is that it is going to be even more difficult for a school that is not presently a member of the Big East to become one, because the per school payout will be increasing via our next media agreement.

I only hope that you are right with respect to “times two.”