ESPN is at it again

[BEwannabe]

ESPN blows but what's the alternative. FS1 wants to be ESPN. ESPN was something back in the day but now they have so much crap programming and weak personalities or maybe better put personalities thinking they're part of sports and their opinion is really important rather than reporting sports.

[NJRedman]

I think the guy was talking about the TV deal in terms of exposure instead of the money.

Except that he tied the "paltry" tv deal in with Marquettes money woes.

[Bill Marsh]

I think the guy was talking about the TV deal in terms of exposure instead of the money.

No, he wasn't. He used the term "lucrative", which means money.

[BEX]

Guy is an idiot. Obviously did little to no research and the comments were all negative. The entire topic is stupid. Why even write such a piece?

[butlerguy03]

Iowa & Purdue are tough jobs. Not only in the Big Ten, but Iowa always wants to be elite and should be happy with Sweet 16s. Purdue has to recruit directly with Notre Dame, Butler, Indiana State, Ball State, Xavier, Illinois, DePaul, Valpo, Indiana and a multitude of others that either have as much name recognition or much more and are within just a few hours drive.

[SCS]

Marquette isn't in financial trouble are they?

[SJHooper]

At first it was shocking to go from a sweetheart conference with ESPN (they had us under contract for a while) to the red-headed step child once FS1 gave us a better deal. Now I'm getting used to it. As much as I hate to say it, we need to be on ESPN. I know FS1 is brand new and while it's still national TV, it's still in its infancy and will take years and years to become a name brand and have everyone know what channel it is by heart. What is our current deal with FS1 in terms of years? I wonder if ESPN will pursue us more aggressively just to have a monopoly? I'm sure ESPN would still rather the Big East than the AAC without L'Ville.

I want this conference where it belongs: on ESPN. I hate that they have all the power and continue to take swings at us, but being on ESPN really is essential if we are to be seen as major still IMO. Obviously it doesn't matter to diehard Big East fans...we will follow them on any channel. But the key is the common people who aren't partial to any team. Many people flip through ESPN and ESPN2 just to see what's on. No one does that for FS1 (at least yet). I miss the ESPN3 coverage because I could miss a game being at work and watch it whenever I wanted at home and rewind and fastforward. It was extremely convenient.

So trust me I hate ESPN for throwing us under the bus because we are sleeping with their competitor, but I do think we need to find a way to get back with ESPN.

[Professor_Bulldog]

We don't need ESPN. What we need is teams to not crap the bed once the lights turn on.

[SJHooper]

We don't need ESPN. What we need is teams to not crap the bed once the lights turn on.

Even if 5 Big East teams were ranked in the top 25 I don't think we'd come anywhere near the eyeballs ESPN would get.

[Barley]

We don't need ESPN. What we need is teams to not crap the bed once the lights turn on.

Even if 5 Big East teams were ranked in the top 25 I don't think we'd come anywhere near the eyeballs ESPN would get.

We have an unprecedented number of games on TV because of FS1 (Butler vs Manchester -really?). As they grow the number of their live football games this fall, ratings will increase plus all of the additional contracts they have signed in future years will help. It's a slow deal so enjoy the Big East action while you can. My worry is that once FS1 explodes that the number of our games that make national TV decreases significantly.