Big East schedule release?

[stever20]

There was plenty of cross-promotion last season on Fox. They had two commercials for a St. John's game during the Super Bowl. So when FS1 debuted with 85 million households, people complained because ESPN was in 97 million. Now we will have games with exposure in 123 million households, If 16 million more than ESPN, but that's no big deal. It's a big deal.

I don't know- I just didn't see it all that much. No where near as much as one would have really thought. Also, fox was really stupid in one of the top games of the year- the St John's/Syracuse game- they bury against the NFL.

And, network is not 123 million households. Last number posted was 115 million. As of 2 years ago there were only 119 million households period- and about 4 million have no tv at all.

And, bottom line, in college basketball, there is much less of a difference between broadcast and cable than there is in college football. Last year of the top 10 rated college basketball games, 7 were on ESPN. What you are saying rings a whole lot truer in college football where last year of the top 12 rated college football games, only 1 (Michigan/Notre Dame) was on ESPN(even that was only #7)- rest all network games. What you are saying you would think makes a lot of sense- that folks would see the network games as being really special- but doesn't seem to be the case at all...

[Frank the Tank]

There was plenty of cross-promotion last season on Fox. They had two commercials for a St. John's game during the Super Bowl. So when FS1 debuted with 85 million households, people complained because ESPN was in 97 million. Now we will have games with exposure in 123 million households, If 16 million more than ESPN, but that's no big deal. It's a big deal.

I don't know- I just didn't see it all that much. No where near as much as one would have really thought. Also, fox was really stupid in one of the top games of the year- the St John's/Syracuse game- they bury against the NFL.

And, network is not 123 million households. Last number posted was 115 million. As of 2 years ago there were only 119 million households period- and about 4 million have no tv at all.

And, bottom line, in college basketball, there is much less of a difference between broadcast and cable than there is in college football. Last year of the top 10 rated college basketball games, 7 were on ESPN. What you are saying rings a whole lot truer in college football where last year of the top 12 rated college football games, only 1 (Michigan/Notre Dame) was on ESPN(even that was only #7)- rest all network games. What you are saying you would think makes a lot of sense- that folks would see the network games as being really special- but doesn't seem to be the case at all...

I agree with you partially. There isn't a huge difference between over-the-air broadcast and the ESPN mothership specifically at this point. However, I wouldn't apply that reasoning across all cable channels. There's definitely a huge difference between Fox and CBS OTA compared to FS1 in terms of potential audience, which is what the Big East is working with right now. At best, a game on FS1 is about the equivalent of being on ESPN2 or NBCSN (if that), which all draw significantly lower numbers than their broadcast counterparts no matter what the quality of the game might be. The ESPN mothership is an entirely different animal when it comes to cable channels.

[stever20]

There was plenty of cross-promotion last season on Fox. They had two commercials for a St. John's game during the Super Bowl. So when FS1 debuted with 85 million households, people complained because ESPN was in 97 million. Now we will have games with exposure in 123 million households, If 16 million more than ESPN, but that's no big deal. It's a big deal.

I don't know- I just didn't see it all that much. No where near as much as one would have really thought. Also, fox was really stupid in one of the top games of the year- the St John's/Syracuse game- they bury against the NFL.

And, network is not 123 million households. Last number posted was 115 million. As of 2 years ago there were only 119 million households period- and about 4 million have no tv at all.

And, bottom line, in college basketball, there is much less of a difference between broadcast and cable than there is in college football. Last year of the top 10 rated college basketball games, 7 were on ESPN. What you are saying rings a whole lot truer in college football where last year of the top 12 rated college football games, only 1 (Michigan/Notre Dame) was on ESPN(even that was only #7)- rest all network games. What you are saying you would think makes a lot of sense- that folks would see the network games as being really special- but doesn't seem to be the case at all...

I agree with you partially. There isn't a huge difference between over-the-air broadcast and the ESPN mothership specifically at this point. However, I wouldn't apply that reasoning across all cable channels. There's definitely a huge difference between Fox and CBS OTA compared to FS1 in terms of potential audience, which is what the Big East is working with right now. At best, a game on FS1 is about the equivalent of being on ESPN2 or NBCSN (if that), which all draw significantly lower numbers than their broadcast counterparts no matter what the quality of the game might be. The ESPN mothership is an entirely different animal when it comes to cable channels.

Yeah, I can agree with that big time. My point on all of this though you can't say that St John's has better TV than Duke because it's on broadcast maybe 5 times to 3 for Duke- because Duke has all those ESPN appearances that change the equation quite a bit. Give me Duke with 2 CBS, 1 Fox, and 11 ESPN over St John's coverage any day. That's 16/31 games for Duke that are national games- and that doesn't even take into account the 4 ESPN2 games that will get a lot of coverage as well.

[Vill]

When is media day? It will be interesting to see who they select for the honors teams.

[stever20]

When is media day? It will be interesting to see who they select for the honors teams.

Isn't it typically 1st week or so of October?

[hoyahooligan]

When is media day? It will be interesting to see who they select for the honors teams.

I guess no one actually read the BE's release that accompanied the PDF of the schedule.

"The BIG EAST will conduct its Men’s and Women’s Basketball Media Day on Oct. 22 at Madison Square Garden."

[Bluejay]

When is media day? It will be interesting to see who they select for the honors teams.

I guess no one actually read the BE's release that accompanied the PDF of the schedule.

"The BIG EAST will conduct its Men’s and Women’s Basketball Media Day on Oct. 22 at Madison Square Garden."

Thanks- completely missed that.

I'm glad they are doing it at MSG. Hosting it last year at the Chelsea Piers was pretty stupid IMO. Holding it at MSG also kind of twists a knife in the wound of all of the conferences coveting MSG for their conference tourneys (I'm looking at you Big Ten and ACC).

[stever20]

When is media day? It will be interesting to see who they select for the honors teams.

I guess no one actually read the BE's release that accompanied the PDF of the schedule.

"The BIG EAST will conduct its Men’s and Women’s Basketball Media Day on Oct. 22 at Madison Square Garden."

Thanks- completely missed that.

I'm glad they are doing it at MSG. Hosting it last year at the Chelsea Piers was pretty stupid IMO. Holding it at MSG also kind of twists a knife in the wound of all of the conferences coveting MSG for their conference tourneys (I'm looking at you Big Ten and ACC).

I don't think they could do it last year at MSG with it being finished. If you remember, the Rangers opened last year with 9 straight road games before coming to MSG the 1st time on 10/28. This year a lot more normal for MSG.

[stever20]

Kind of interesting- Andy Katz from ESPN has a daily blog that he does and he was talking today about the Big East schedule...

brought up Nova's end of season schedule with Xavier, Creighton, and St John's- and how those games may not matter too much for Nova- but could be the type of feather that gets the other programs either in the tourney or in the post-season even. Probably very correct.

other point was he didn't like how early the Georgetown/Nova games are this year- both done by Feb 7. Have to say probably agree with him.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Kind of interesting- Andy Katz from ESPN has a daily blog that he does and he was talking today about the Big East schedule...

brought up Nova's end of season schedule with Xavier, Creighton, and St John's- and how those games may not matter too much for Nova- but could be the type of feather that gets the other programs either in the tourney or in the post-season even. Probably very correct.

other point was he didn't like how early the Georgetown/Nova games are this year- both done by Feb 7. Have to say probably agree with him.

I personally think Katz is a tool. He's not Doug Gotleib level tool, but still I think he is no fan of the BE. It's way too early to think of conspiracies--especially ones that allude to March Madness bubbles, etc. and late season scheduling Last yr everyone thought Marq was a tourney lock in November. This year, who knows, maybe SJU is in the drivers seat and Nova needs the win at the end of the year. For him to suggest that there may be some agenda behind the scheduling reveals his bias against the BE. It's frankly just stupid to forcibly connect those dots. At this point you can substitute SHU, PC, DePaul, Butler, etc for those other schools and make the same argument. Nova seems solid so its an opportunity for a feather for any school in conf this year. So any team, in the throws of their own battle for a tourney bid, playing Nova near the end of the year in this conference may be catching an uninspired team, and so have an advantage other schools may not have earlier in the season? Thats quite a crystal ball--thanks for your brilliant hoops insight Andy.

I do agree that I'd like to see Nova and G'twn end the conference season against each other. As conf seasons build excitement towards the tourney, having the 2 most consistent programs with arguably the best conf rivalry square off would be a great tradition.