Awful Announcing: Will Big East Low Ratings Scare B1G Away?

[Bearcat_Bounce]

The Big East's highest rated game this season was still lower than UConn this season! By UConn I'm referring to the woman's team! Out of sight and out of mind for the Big East. It sucks because I think there are some good teams in this league!!!

[DudeAnon]

We aren't degree factories like public schools so we will never have the alumni/fanbase that those schools do. So we can just give that up right now. What we do have is 10 like-minded universities with good basketball tradition.

There are 2 things NBE has to do.

1) Win NCAA games and get ranked. This will bring the national prestige

2) Own their market's fanbase. We have a lot of HUGE markets with very little competition. In order of importance.

- St. Johns: Need to up their game and ensure that NYC is filled with St. Johns fans and not Syracuse fans
- DePaul: Chicago is second only to NYC in basketball royalty. They really need to fill the CBB gap there.
- Georgetown: Already best team in D.C., but need to make a deep run to reinvigorate the D.C. fanbase (no more half-full arenas).
- Nova: They are probably the best basketball team in Philly (mission accomplished)
- Marquette: Need to beat Wisconsin. Tall task.
- Butler: Need to beat IU. Tall task.
- Xavier: Need to beat UC. Need to make a deep run to finally convert the casuals from the constant disappointment that is UC.
- Creighton: (Mission Accomplished)

- Providence & Seton Hall: I don't know much about their area. Whats their competition?

I can only speak to DC and Chicago. The Big Ten has 1 million alums between NYC and VA (500k from MD/Rutgers, 500k from original members). DC is a transient town, growing up there our neighbors were from everywhere. My dad is a a Wisconsin alum, my mom Minnesota. DC is not owned by Georgetown, they're competing against Maryland, Michigan St., Duke etc.... That's why the Verizon Center is rarely full, the locals have different allegiances - and even if living there 20 years (my folks/neighbors) they'll follow their schools and won't switch.

Chicago is Illini territory, followed by IU, Michigan, MSU, Wisconsin, heck even Minnesota. DePaul hasn't performed well in years, so maybe the new arena and better performance can change this. When it comes to college athletics, Chicago is definitely B1G turf and not likely to change, even in CBB.

1) My first sentence details that we don't have the alumni numbers of the public schools.
2) Georgetown is the only show in D.C. If they make a final 4 run, I bet you will see a lot of bandwagon fans jump aboard.
3) True, Illinois runs Chicago right now. But their games are still played more than 2 hours away. DePaul can turn it around.
4) Most people only are fans of winners. We have all the big markets, now we just need to give the casuals a reason to be a fan.
- Compare the fan interest at VCU before and after the Final Four run.

[DudeAnon]

The Big East's highest rated game this season was still lower than UConn this season! By UConn I'm referring to the woman's team! Out of sight and out of mind for the Big East. It sucks because I think there are some good teams in this league!!!

Source? Big East has played on FS1, ESPN, Fox and CBSSN. Maybe the FS1 ratings couldn't beat the #1 woman's team in the country on ESPN primetime. Enjoy the game next week. #zipemup

[David HD]

I thought I saw on Awful Announcing that the UConn v South Carolina women's game got a 0.8. That's pretty high. The Big East may not have a game rated higher than that, but a lot of other leagues don't either.

[Gopher+RamFan]

We aren't degree factories like public schools so we will never have the alumni/fanbase that those schools do. So we can just give that up right now. What we do have is 10 like-minded universities with good basketball tradition.

There are 2 things NBE has to do.

1) Win NCAA games and get ranked. This will bring the national prestige

2) Own their market's fanbase. We have a lot of HUGE markets with very little competition. In order of importance.

- St. Johns: Need to up their game and ensure that NYC is filled with St. Johns fans and not Syracuse fans
- DePaul: Chicago is second only to NYC in basketball royalty. They really need to fill the CBB gap there.
- Georgetown: Already best team in D.C., but need to make a deep run to reinvigorate the D.C. fanbase (no more half-full arenas).
- Nova: They are probably the best basketball team in Philly (mission accomplished)
- Marquette: Need to beat Wisconsin. Tall task.
- Butler: Need to beat IU. Tall task.
- Xavier: Need to beat UC. Need to make a deep run to finally convert the casuals from the constant disappointment that is UC.
- Creighton: (Mission Accomplished)

- Providence & Seton Hall: I don't know much about their area. Whats their competition?

I can only speak to DC and Chicago. The Big Ten has 1 million alums between NYC and VA (500k from MD/Rutgers, 500k from original members). DC is a transient town, growing up there our neighbors were from everywhere. My dad is a a Wisconsin alum, my mom Minnesota. DC is not owned by Georgetown, they're competing against Maryland, Michigan St., Duke etc.... That's why the Verizon Center is rarely full, the locals have different allegiances - and even if living there 20 years (my folks/neighbors) they'll follow their schools and won't switch.

Chicago is Illini territory, followed by IU, Michigan, MSU, Wisconsin, heck even Minnesota. DePaul hasn't performed well in years, so maybe the new arena and better performance can change this. When it comes to college athletics, Chicago is definitely B1G turf and not likely to change, even in CBB.

1) My first sentence details that we don't have the alumni numbers of the public schools.
2) Georgetown is the only show in D.C. If they make a final 4 run, I bet you will see a lot of bandwagon fans jump aboard.
3) True, Illinois runs Chicago right now. But their games are still played more than 2 hours away. DePaul can turn it around.
4) Most people only are fans of winners. We have all the big markets, now we just need to give the casuals a reason to be a fan.
- Compare the fan interest at VCU before and after the Final Four run.

Obviously winning makes a difference, and VCU post Final Four reaps the rewards.

The last time Georgetown went to the Final Four (2007) I was a high school senior and impressionable as they come. Coming from a big sports family, the locals weren't galvanized into following them afterwards at all. DC is a very, very different market than many in the US. People don't plan to stay forever, most plan on returning to their "true homes" once working for the Feds/military/contractors is over.

VCU, being the largest college in VA and located in its Capitol city, could galvanize local fans during the final four and after. There were no strong Va CBB teams in the state at the time (UVA was still rebuilding), so the run took place during a power vacuum of sorts. Couldn't have happened at a better time for the program, as it has allowed it to grow to where it is now.

[Bearcat_Bounce]

The Big East's highest rated game this season was still lower than UConn this season! By UConn I'm referring to the woman's team! Out of sight and out of mind for the Big East. It sucks because I think there are some good teams in this league!!!

Source? Big East has played on FS1, ESPN, Fox and CBSSN. Maybe the FS1 ratings couldn't beat the #1 woman's team in the country on ESPN primetime. Enjoy the game next week. #zipemup

Georgetown-Villanova on the main Fox channel was outdrawn by UConn-South Carolina on ESPN2. Also, I never enjoy the game with Xavier win or lose. The only reason why we should keep scheduling it is because Xavier will almost always be a top 50 RPI team and we'll need the game now that we are in this mediocre league.

[DudeAnon]

The Big East's highest rated game this season was still lower than UConn this season! By UConn I'm referring to the woman's team! Out of sight and out of mind for the Big East. It sucks because I think there are some good teams in this league!!!

Any debate on ratings I think has more to do with the channel than than the game itself. Bowling on ESPN poll gets amazing ratings.

Don't know why u don't like the rivalry. It's one of the best in the country try. And the game could be a signature win for both teams come March

Source? Big East has played on FS1, ESPN, Fox and CBSSN. Maybe the FS1 ratings couldn't beat the #1 woman's team in the country on ESPN primetime. Enjoy the game next week. #zipemup

Georgetown-Villanova on the main Fox channel was outdrawn by UConn-South Carolina on ESPN2. Also, I never enjoy the game with Xavier win or lose. The only reason why we should keep scheduling it is because Xavier will almost always be a top 50 RPI team and we'll need the game now that we are in this mediocre league.

[NJRedman]

It doesn't matter what they pick. Minny/Nebraska isn't going to push Nova/Gtown off FS1. Fox gets the final say guys, they are the ones who write the checks (if they win the B1G rights).

Really going out on a limb there.....comparing two of the lower Big Ten brand names to the top two Big East Brands. Let's hope Villanova and Georgetown can hold the viewers over a Nebraska/ Minnesota game. But try Wisconsin / Indiana up against a Butler / Marquette game. You know what happens there.

We both agree. Fox writes the checks and Fox will put the product on the main channel in the good time slots that will bring them to most revenue. IU of 10X bigger than Butler, they have 10X the alumni, they have 10X the viewers. What do you think Fox will do? Will they pick my Bulldogs over the Hoosiers simply because, well simply because they are in the Big East.

Fox would be out of their minds crazy to put Butler v Marquette up against Indiana v Wisky. Basically, they'd be forcing the viewers to choose between one or the other when in reality a lot of people in both markets would be interested in both games, and would probably watch both games. That's the perfect double header opportunity. Get both markets to watch two games instead of half of the markets watching one game.

Then again, that is the kind of thing Fox would probably. The Big East is the #2 conference overall in the RPI. They’ve had seven different teams ranked in the top 25 at some point in the year. The teams are in big city markets. Yet, the ratings are pitiful. They don’t use the flagship Fox network like they should. When there is a game on the flagship Fox network, it is rarely a showcase game. As far as I can tell, they don’t use the local Fox affiliates in the Big East cities to market FS1. You didn’t see much mention of it during the NFL season.

I realize FS1 is a new network, but Fox is not a new company. When ESPN has launched networks, they didn’t exactly take several years to take off. Fox has ranked college basketball teams in big cities, yet the ratings are pitiful. There are a lot of things they should be doing that they’re not doing to sell the product.

Just my opinion.

ESPN didn't take years to take off? Is this guy for real? Were you around and watching early ESPN? Forget early, how about 10-15 years after they started did you watch them then? Darts, second rate pro wrestling, strong man competitions, battle of the athletes re-runs from the 70's. It was horrible for YEARS.

[NJRedman]

The Big East's highest rated game this season was still lower than UConn this season! By UConn I'm referring to the woman's team! Out of sight and out of mind for the Big East. It sucks because I think there are some good teams in this league!!!

Source? Big East has played on FS1, ESPN, Fox and CBSSN. Maybe the FS1 ratings couldn't beat the #1 woman's team in the country on ESPN primetime. Enjoy the game next week. #zipemup

Georgetown-Villanova on the main Fox channel was outdrawn by UConn-South Carolina on ESPN2. Also, I never enjoy the game with Xavier win or lose. The only reason why we should keep scheduling it is because Xavier will almost always be a top 50 RPI team and we'll need the game now that we are in this mediocre league.

Whats a matter BB, is it getting boring over at CSN? haha

[hoyahooligan]

Back when we were on ESPN it was fairly often that BE/B12 would have Monday Nights and B10 would play on Tuesday, ACC would play Wednesday Thursday was SEC, No one plays Friday, and then everyone played Saturday and Sunday. Lots of weeks including today there are no games on certain days of the week. There's plenty of room on the schedule for both conferences on FS1. Many more of their teams are on the Central Time Zone allowing us to Have BE/B10 double headers. This isn't an issue. And the B10 won't be worried by our numbers because 1) our numbers are trending the right way 2) They have a much bigger fan base.