ESPN is at it again

[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.

So you'd rather NOT have your (SJU) games on TV and the schools make less money then be able to watch your team (SJU) and the schools make more money but have to deal with made up bullsh-- from ESPN? You really are a shitty fan. ESPN was bashing us WHILE WE WERE UNDER CONTRACT WITH THEM! THEY WERE THE ONE WHO ORCHESTRATED THE ACC RAIDS!!!!!! THEY ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS AND HAVEN'T BEEN SINCE THE EARLY 90'S!!!

I don't know what you're talking about...when we were in the old Big East, ESPN loved our conference. They routinely raved about how we were by far the best conference in the country. When St. John's went on that huge run in 2011 slaughtering top 5 teams like Duke, we were even mentioned on the PTI show. They were talking about us as a dark horse for the Elite 8. They loved it. It was only when we went to FS1 (their competitor) that I noticed them bashing the Big East and how we are basically mid major now, and are no doubt not high on St. John's especially after failing every time we get hyped for a season. We generate a lot of hype but minimal results.

ESPN still gives you by FAR the most exposure. Like I said, people routinely click through ESPN/ESPN2 to check out what games are on even if they are just casual fans. You don't get those views with FS1 and almost nobody has FS2. I agree they orchestrated the ACC raids but they were still pretty good to us in the old Big East. I'm very disappointed to see that Nova, G'Town, St. John's, Marquette, etc. will all possibly be mid major not too long from now if the football schools have their way (which they always do). RIP old Big East.

[Professor_Bulldog]

Go join the american then. No one will care about st johns there either

[NJRedman]

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.

So you'd rather NOT have your (SJU) games on TV and the schools make less money then be able to watch your team (SJU) and the schools make more money but have to deal with made up bullsh-- from ESPN? You really are a shitty fan. ESPN was bashing us WHILE WE WERE UNDER CONTRACT WITH THEM! THEY WERE THE ONE WHO ORCHESTRATED THE ACC RAIDS!!!!!! THEY ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS AND HAVEN'T BEEN SINCE THE EARLY 90'S!!!

I don't know what you're talking about...when we were in the old Big East, ESPN loved our conference. They routinely raved about how we were by far the best conference in the country. When St. John's went on that huge run in 2011 slaughtering top 5 teams like Duke, we were even mentioned on the PTI show. They were talking about us as a dark horse for the Elite 8. They loved it. It was only when we went to FS1 (their competitor) that I noticed them bashing the Big East and how we are basically mid major now, and are no doubt not high on St. John's especially after failing every time we get hyped for a season. We generate a lot of hype but minimal results.

ESPN still gives you by FAR the most exposure. Like I said, people routinely click through ESPN/ESPN2 to check out what games are on even if they are just casual fans. You don't get those views with FS1 and almost nobody has FS2. I agree they orchestrated the ACC raids but they were still pretty good to us in the old Big East. I'm very disappointed to see that Nova, G'Town, St. John's, Marquette, etc. will all possibly be mid major not too long from now if the football schools have their way (which they always do). RIP old Big East.

I don't know what you're talking about. At the beginning of every season ESPiN would claim our run was over and we were going to drop off. They would call us overrated and that the ACC or B1G or both were better than us. During FB season they belittled us as a conference, our teams and our place in college sports. They led multiple raids of the Big East, 1st Miami and VT then BC the following year, 2nd wave was Cuse and Pitt 3rd was ND and then Louisville. This was all while we were under contract with them. We wouldn't GET that exposure since most of OUR games would be relegated to ESPN2/U/News. SJU would barely be on ESPN at all and we'd be stuck watching our games on SNY. I just moved to LA almost a year ago and if they stuck with ESPN I would have RARELY seen my Johnnies on TV.

You are by far the worst Johnnies fan I have ever met. Seriously, you are clueless and over emotional.

[stever20]

I think it's pretty amazing when you look at the AAC contract now compared to the old Big East Contract. You could make a case that outside of Big Monday, the new AAC contract for exposure is better than the old Big East deal. That's the only difference. It's remarkable how poor the old Big East TV deal was quite frankly. It was basically Big Monday, the BET, and then some games here and there.

[stever20]

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.

Top

The ONE thing that we can not allow is to permit Fox to put all or even most of our games on FS2. This is literally a death decree. We can probably find a way to live with all our games on FS1 especially with the money the contract pays but FS2 would kill us even if the money was doubled. I agree with you there is nothing like having your games on ESPN although I have grown to hate their commentators. Their game broadcast is still outstanding and far superior to Fox.

Again I believe we can stay alive on FS1, not on FS2. I must admit I don't know the answer but were we not promised a minimum number of games on FS1? That surely should have been in the contract. If so this will save us if Fox abides by the contract.

I think we're getting WAY ahead of ourselves here. Even if Fox gets the rights to the NBA and B1G they will still need a lot of our games to fill out their lineup. Fox would only be getting a package of NBA games that they will show one or two nights a week. The rest of the week will be college basketball mixed between the B1Gm Pac, Big XII and ourselves. The thing is except for us Fox only gets SOME of those games from those conferences. ESPN gets half of the Pac and Big XII games and the BTN will get some of the B1Gs games. We will probably see some of our lower OOC games moved to FS2 and maybe a few of the undesirable conference games down there like DePaul vs whoever else is at the bottom os the league. Other than that FS1 still needs a majority of our games especially the big name ones.

The thing is if they got the NBA and Big Ten- they'd have a dh night with the NBA(Mon-Thu, as ESPN gets Fri), a UFC night on Wed. Basically would leave 2 nights during the week- Monday/Tuesday and Thursday. And we would be sharing that with Big Ten, Pac 12.

Right now, the Big East got about 65-70 conference games on FS1. The rest was CBSSN(think you forgot about that).

I think the key is what the contract is with the minimum requirement is for FS1. One thing- it's for the overall number of games. So say FS1 has to have 100 games. Those 4 Big East/Big Ten challenge games... Those count. Those better OOC games. Those count. Those average OOC games. Each team gets 4-5 OOC games on FS1 and all of a sudden you're up to 40-50 games already. Would leave only 50-60 games left as a minimum.

[MUBoxer]

I don't know what you're talking about...when we were in the old Big East, ESPN loved our conference. They routinely raved about how we were by far the best conference in the country. When St. John's went on that huge run in 2011 slaughtering top 5 teams like Duke, we were even mentioned on the PTI show. They were talking about us as a dark horse for the Elite 8. They loved it. It was only when we went to FS1 (their competitor) that I noticed them bashing the Big East and how we are basically mid major now, and are no doubt not high on St. John's especially after failing every time we get hyped for a season. We generate a lot of hype but minimal results.

ESPN still gives you by FAR the most exposure. Like I said, people routinely click through ESPN/ESPN2 to check out what games are on even if they are just casual fans. You don't get those views with FS1 and almost nobody has FS2. I agree they orchestrated the ACC raids but they were still pretty good to us in the old Big East. I'm very disappointed to see that Nova, G'Town, St. John's, Marquette, etc. will all possibly be mid major not too long from now if the football schools have their way (which they always do). RIP old Big East.

Maybe you remember differently than I do but I recall ESPN giving the 2011 Big East soooo much crap in the post season because only UCONN and MU did anything (ESPN failed to note that Cuse and Cinci were eliminated by BE teams). They still hate on that year as the ultimate choke job... which it kinda was.

[Bearcat_Bounce]

TV ratings and overall coverage show the Big East's failure on FS1 (for year 1 at least). Whatever money is lost between the AAC and Big East TV contract is gained back through exposure. I believe we only had 13 of the 18 BE games televised (when UC was grouped in the top 4 pod) compared to last year where all 18 games were on ESPN or CBS.

[Bill Marsh]

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.

So you'd rather NOT have your (SJU) games on TV and the schools make less money then be able to watch your team (SJU) and the schools make more money but have to deal with made up bullsh-- from ESPN? You really are a shitty fan. ESPN was bashing us WHILE WE WERE UNDER CONTRACT WITH THEM! THEY WERE THE ONE WHO ORCHESTRATED THE ACC RAIDS!!!!!! THEY ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS AND HAVEN'T BEEN SINCE THE EARLY 90'S!!!

I don't know what you're talking about...when we were in the old Big East, ESPN loved our conference. They routinely raved about how we were by far the best conference in the country. When St. John's went on that huge run in 2011 slaughtering top 5 teams like Duke, we were even mentioned on the PTI show. They were talking about us as a dark horse for the Elite 8. They loved it. It was only when we went to FS1 (their competitor) that I noticed them bashing the Big East and how we are basically mid major now, and are no doubt not high on St. John's especially after failing every time we get hyped for a season. We generate a lot of hype but minimal results.

ESPN still gives you by FAR the most exposure. Like I said, people routinely click through ESPN/ESPN2 to check out what games are on even if they are just casual fans. You don't get those views with FS1 and almost nobody has FS2. I agree they orchestrated the ACC raids but they were still pretty good to us in the old Big East. I'm very disappointed to see that Nova, G'Town, St. John's, Marquette, etc. will all possibly be mid major not too long from now if the football schools have their way (which they always do). RIP old Big East.

How in the world do you know what other people "routinely" do?

[Bill Marsh]

TV ratings and overall coverage show the Big East's failure on FS1 (for year 1 at least). Whatever money is lost between the AAC and Big East TV contract is gained back through exposure. I believe we only had 13 of the 18 BE games televised (when UC was grouped in the top 4 pod) compared to last year where all 18 games were on ESPN or CBS.

How is money gained back "through exposure"? They're 2 different things. Apples and oranges.

How did the Big East "fail" and what was that failure? What were your expectations of a brand new TV network that a lot of people didn't even know existed? I have DirecTV and FS1 wasn't even on my basic sports package. I had to add a special package to get it. That was a Fox failure, not a Big East failure. You can't get viewers if they don't even have access to the network without paying a premium for it. As a Big East fan, I did that, but casual fans won't.

The AAC has a bigger problem regardless of whatever network they're on. Other than the premium match ups, UConn-Cincy-Memphis and SMU for the time being, no one wants to watch their games even if it involves one of their premium programs when the other half of the pairing is anyone from the rest of the pack.

[stever20]

TV ratings and overall coverage show the Big East's failure on FS1 (for year 1 at least). Whatever money is lost between the AAC and Big East TV contract is gained back through exposure. I believe we only had 13 of the 18 BE games televised (when UC was grouped in the top 4 pod) compared to last year where all 18 games were on ESPN or CBS.

How is money gained back "through exposure"? They're 2 different things. Apples and oranges.

How did the Big East "fail" and what was that failure? What were your expectations of a brand new TV network that a lot of people didn't even know existed? I have DirecTV and FS1 wasn't even on my basic sports package. I had to add a special package to get it. That was a Fox failure, not a Big East failure. You can't get viewers if they don't even have access to the network without paying a premium for it. As a Big East fan, I did that, but casual fans won't.

problem for Big East is until FS1 gets enough to make folks want to pay a premium for it, the casual fans just won't subscribe.