Conference realignment discussion - v. 2015

[_lh]

The Big East is not doing fine. The results so far with Fox are way below expectations. The basketball no doubt is better and will continue to be, but the conference is too small and will need to expand. Another shakeup is coming and by this time next year there will be two new teams in our league. Here is the main point.... things are not Ok with the network and so far the NEW Big East Marketing wise and on a National scope is a bust. Just facts. It will get better but Fox will not have the patience to let it stay as is.

You are wrong of course. The BE is doing just fine with 10 teams and there is no reason to expand, especially with the likes of UD/SLU/Richmond/VCU. Those programs do nothing to fix any problems you think exist. Sorry.

[Omaha1]

The Big East is not doing fine. The results so far with Fox are way below expectations. The basketball no doubt is better and will continue to be, but the conference is too small and will need to expand. Another shakeup is coming and by this time next year there will be two new teams in our league. Here is the main point.... things are not Ok with the network and so far the NEW Big East Marketing wise and on a National scope is a bust. Just facts. It will get better but Fox will not have the patience to let it stay as is.

You are wrong of course. The BE is doing just fine with 10 teams and there is no reason to expand, especially with the likes of UD/SLU/Richmond/VCU. Those programs do nothing to fix any problems you think exist. Sorry.

The Big East is doing great. 60% of our teams in the NCAA tournament and the most lucrative TV contract for a non-football league by far. Why do Dayton fans keep telling us we're not any good, but then anguish over not being in our league?

[BEwannabe]

ESPN suing Verizon will be an interesting case to follow. ESPN says Verizon is violating their basic agreement (Comcast and Fox say the same thing) by Fios excluding sports channels from a bare bones cable package in New York. Possible outcomes range from ESPN prevailing to Verizon prevailing. Verizon prevailing would really make the sports channels crazy and ESPN - Disney would likely get ugly, uglier than they already are with FIOS, Time Warner and others. Verizon went so far as to even shoot a shot across the ESPN bow by including CBSsports Network in their basic package. Pay TV world is a blazing fire!

[ta111]

The Big East is not doing fine. The results so far with Fox are way below expectations. The basketball no doubt is better and will continue to be, but the conference is too small and will need to expand. Another shakeup is coming and by this time next year there will be two new teams in our league. Here is the main point.... things are not Ok with the network and so far the NEW Big East Marketing wise and on a National scope is a bust. Just facts. It will get better but Fox will not have the patience to let it stay as is.

You are wrong of course. The BE is doing just fine with 10 teams and there is no reason to expand, especially with the likes of UD/SLU/Richmond/VCU. Those programs do nothing to fix any problems you think exist. Sorry.

Depends on your definition of "doing fine". If exposure and eyeballs are your criteria then it is not doing fine. If number of teams getting in the tourney this past year is your criteria then it is doing fine. But if tourney success over the past two years is the criteria then it certainly isn't doing fine. I think any reasonable person would have to agree that overall the BE hasn't met expectations to this point.

[_lh]

The Big East is not doing fine. The results so far with Fox are way below expectations. The basketball no doubt is better and will continue to be, but the conference is too small and will need to expand. Another shakeup is coming and by this time next year there will be two new teams in our league. Here is the main point.... things are not Ok with the network and so far the NEW Big East Marketing wise and on a National scope is a bust. Just facts. It will get better but Fox will not have the patience to let it stay as is.

You are wrong of course. The BE is doing just fine with 10 teams and there is no reason to expand, especially with the likes of UD/SLU/Richmond/VCU. Those programs do nothing to fix any problems you think exist. Sorry.

Depends on your definition of "doing fine". If exposure and eyeballs are your criteria then it is not doing fine. If number of teams getting in the tourney this past year is your criteria then it is doing fine. But if tourney success over the past two years is the criteria then it certainly isn't doing fine. I think any reasonable person would have to agree that overall the BE hasn't met expectations to this point.

What are the "expectations"? Please. Did the SEC meet expectations last year? You are grasping.

Adding UD/SLU/Richmond/VCU won't improve these "expectations". Adding UCONN might but those others do nothing for the BE for whatever "expectations" you think exist.

[RomainSato10]

75 pages and a lot of bitching

If the BE is going to expand it will likely be leaked in the press before it happens and I imagine that would be a good time to discuss

Who cares what the case is for these teams, at this point it doesnt look like they are expanding anytime soon

[BEX]

Fox Sports decided to take on the behemoth. The behemoth opened to 25-30k subscribers a long, long time ago. They had to then be rescued by a beer co. in their 2nd yr. I get so sick of hearing "Fox has to do something 'cuz of low viewership" They don't. They knew EXACTLY what they were doing. ESPN has long term contracts with everybody. None of them are expiring tomorrow. No chance to bid on them until they do. Fox ain't no startup like ESPN was. It's a HUGE mega billion Corp. Check their EPS. It's fabulous. Up a huge amount from 2 yrs. ago. Fox saw a chance to get a piece of the pie. They got one. Everyone laughed at Ted Turner with his cable news program. Fox recognizes it will take a long time to get the numbers up, thus a 12 yr. deal. I don't know what the numbers will say then. I can tell you if they are good or perceived to heading in the right direction, ESPN, NBC, CBS will be all over it. Welcome to the land of highly competitive TV deals. Instead of "what will ESPN renew us at", it will be "how much will Fox pay to get us.' Like Arby's, "they have the beef". Will they do anything? Who knows. I do know they don't HAVE TO DO anything.

The BE makes more in 2 conference games then an A-10 team makes all year in TV money. I get the jealousy. Get your own deal. Complain to MLB about Josh Hamilton's deal but stop with the lunacy that the BE and Fox has to add your team to be successful. They don't.

[RxJay]

BEX that was perfect. You got it absolutely correct. Best comment through the entire 75 pages. Thank you

[stever20]

The fallacy with Fox though is that they're going to get a chance to bid on things as they expire. As we saw with the NBA- that isn't always the case. The incumbents can go to the leagues before the deal expires and re-up. And the big thing quite frankly- the NFL- has shown a willingness to re-up the deals before the contracts are up as well. (MLB is a great example of this as well with Fox quite frankly). I do think with what happened with Fox picking up ESPN's old guy- it's the first major sign that things at Fox haven't gone exactly like they planned. Why would they make this move if things weren't going as planned?

Oh and BTW, it was Wendy's who had the beef, not Arby's.

[BEX]

You've never watched the NFL on Fox? They were part of the deal:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/15 ... s-20111215

And yeah, Arby's sez "we have the meats" Same deal.