Big East still a major conference-ESPN love

[GoldenWarrior11]

When the BE/AAC split in 2013, there was SEVERE animosity on the other boards - to the point where they started attacking Frank, who is probably one of the most rational and unbiased posters on any of these boards regarding realignment/college athletics. A majority of the AAC board was in full tin-foil hat mode when the AAC/ESPN deal came out (which amounted to about $1.5 million per school). Almost all of them believed that it couldn't possibly be true and that the media was reporting facts wrong. The fact that they A.) lost the Big East name B.) realized they would never play in the Big East and 3.) saw the New Big East get SIGNIFICANTLY more money - despite not having football drew the jealously, hatred and resentment for a lot of their fans.

There is still animosity by a number of their posters towards the Catholic schools, believing that they "robbed" their schools (like ECU, Tulane, Houston, Memphis and SMU) the chance to ever be invited into the Big East.

Personally, their negative feelings should really be thrown to their respective athletic departments. ECU and Tulane have never spent a dime on improving their basketball programs (which prevented them from seriously being considered in the Old Big East). Houston and SMU had only recently began attempting to turn around their programs (in hopes of getting into the P5). Memphis never spent a dime on football, but that appears to changing as well (at the expense of basketball, however).

The split really was best for all of the schools involved. No sense being in a marriage where the partners resent each other.

[NJRedman]

The comments on that other board are the reason why we'll never go back. They are allowed to troll us Big East posters with no worry of punishment from the mods. If you respond with the same vitriol you get banned. Stever talks about this board over there like all we do is bash the AAC and that he is some victim over here. Like he doesn't do anything wrong we just attack him constantly and that we're all nuts and that the other board is superior.

Just admit your bias towards the AAC Stever, admit you don't even like this conference. No true fan would argue AGAINST ESPN that we are a power conference. ESPN has gotten on board yet you keep on fighting. Seriously, you're the worst.

[hoops22]

I don't think the animosity between the two boards is as bad as it used to be. There are still a few jerks on the other board, but there are also plenty of posters that are fair and reasonable.As far as Stever goes, I'm one who has taken exception to some of his posts in the past, but I have no problem with what he's been posting lately. He posts information pertaining to college basketball, which is what we're all here for. He's entitled to root for whoever he wants, as long as isn't poking people in the eye over here while doing it. Lately I've enjoyed reading his posts. And I agree with his comment about non P5 schools not being the enemy. I think the P5 is looking for any reason it can to become even more exclusionary. It doesnt hurt us when the Gonzaga, Dayton's, Wichita's, and SMU's have success, as long as enough schools in the BE are having success too.

[Westbrook#36]

stever's going to stever, just sit back and chuckle.

[marquette]

Just sort of a follow-up; This thread was originally meant as a celebration of our continuing status as a power conference in basketball, not as an us-vs-AAC/A10/MWC Thread. However, since we are in comparison mode now I'll take an in-depth look at our situations. I haven't included overall athletic expenses because that is a shell game where schools fudge numbers and 99% of the time they wind up being exactly the same as the revenues.

BIG EAST
School..........Athletic Revenues (2014).............Basketball Expenses........... # Sports Sponsored..........Attendance..........Endowment
Butler..........$17,571,216............................$4,065,931........................17............................7,373...............$190.2 Million
Creighton......$18,329,974...........................$6,244,313.........................14...........................17,048..............$439.7 Million
DePaul..........$25,040,894..........................$6,282,582.........................13............................6,238...............$447 Million
Georgetown....$34,524,048..........................$10,270,598........................25............................9,630..............$1.46 Billion
Marquette......$29,721,972............................$10,522,823......................14............................13,657.............$531.7 Million
Providence.....$26,036,316............................$7,111,538........................19............................8,614..............$213 Million
St. John's.......$37,653,652.............................$8,254,545.......................16............................7,463..............$644.6 Million
Seton Hall......$21,697,796............................$6,398,748.......................14............................7,587...............$239.7 Million
Villanova.......$34,853,296.............................$7,304,201.......................24............................9,639..............$552 Million
Xavier..........$16,552,274.............................$5,179,718........................18............................9,998..............$153.4 Million


AAC
School..........Athletic Revenues (2014)............Basketball Expenses............# Sports Sponsored.........Attendance............Endowment
UCF..............$48,505,064..........................$3,017,777........................16..........................4,087..................$135.5 Million
Cincinnati.......$43,162,180.........................$6,541,908.........................19..........................9,334..................$1.2 Billion
Connecticut.....$71,237,968.........................$8,282,680..........................20.........................10,687.................$436.9 Million
ECU..............$37,598,768.........................$2,601,088..........................19..........................4,434..................$144.7 Million
Houston..........$39,475,224.........................$3,111,083.........................17..........................2,635...................$716 Million
Memphis.........$45,956,124........................$9,475,690..........................18..........................13,915..................$218 Million
USF..............$48,383,928.........................$4,440,325..........................17..........................3,401...................$418 Million
SMU..............$49,657,376.........................$7,057,072..........................17..........................6,944...................$1.42 Billion
Temple..........$38,600,088.........................$4,767,101..........................19..........................5,769...................$517 Million
Tulane...........$32,059,604.........................$2,816,663..........................17..........................1,852...................$1.2 Billion
Tulsa.............$33,974,932.........................$4,673,616...........................18.........................4,765...................$885 Million

Mountain West
School..........Athletic Revenues (2014)............Basketball Expenses...........# Sports Sponsored..........Attendance............Endowment
Air Force Did not report DNR
Boise State......$34,905,384.........................$1,978,592.........................20...........................5,775.................$95.6 Million
Fresno...........$34,279,160.........................$2,626,883.........................18...........................6,190..................$162 Million
CSU..............$36,297,400.........................$4,289,235.........................17...........................4,854..................$399 Million
Nevada..........$25,458,260.........................$2,112,698.........................16............................5,497.................$218 Million
UNLV............$34,837,588.........................$3,548,890.........................17...........................11,757.................$188 Million
New Mexico.....$32,172,724.........................$3,686,141.........................16...........................14,571.................$504 Million
SDSU.............$44,290,076.........................$6,487,909.........................17...........................12,414..................$191 Million
SJSU..............$26,744,376........................$2,180,864..........................20...........................1,549...................$119 Million
Utah State.......$25,140,676........................$1,807,207..........................16............................9,158..................$209 Million
Wyoing...........$31,128,440.......................$2,917,105..........................17............................6,310..................$337 Million

Atlantic 10
School.........Athletic Revenues (2014)............Basketball Expenses............# Sports Sponsored.........Attendance.............Endowment
Bonaventure....$9,466,416...........................$2,572,722........................14..........................3,889...................$60 Million
Davidson........$13,269,680..........................$1,970,038........................21..........................4,676...................$649 Million
Dayton..........$23,427,928..........................$4,914,069........................16..........................12,718..................$518 Million
Duquesne.......$17,292,570..........................$3,480,230........................16...........................2,270...................$261 Million
Fordham........$28,844,544..........................$3,985,116........................20..........................1,874....................$675 Million
Mason............$19,090,792.........................$2,785,259........................22..........................4,082....................$70 Million
G. Wash.........$27,747,944.........................$2,929,433........................24..........................3,397....................$1.57 Billion
La Salle..........$13,412,741........................$3,159,614........................20...........................2,158....................$88 Million
UMass............$33,875,916........................$3,913,716........................19...........................4,553....................$307 Million
URI..............$24,254,504.........................$3,787,724........................18...........................5,404....................$130 Million
Richmond.......$26,218,516........................$4,201,009.........................19..........................5,599.....................$2.3 Billion
St. Joe's.........$18,955,430........................$4,005,528.........................20..........................3,779.....................$209 Million
SLU.............$17,035,570.........................$4,071,872.........................16..........................7,032.....................$1.027 Billion
VCU............$26,223,054.........................$5,378,609.........................16..........................7,638......................$1.509 Billion


PAC 12 (For comparison because they are the average P5)
School.........Athletic Revenues (2014)............Basketball Expenses............# Sports Sponsored..........Attendance.............Endowment
Arizona........$97,630,768...........................$9,830,943........................18...........................14,591..................$665 Million
AZ State.......$72,775,808...........................$7,170,588.........................22...........................5,985..................$628 Million
California.....$90,262,144...........................$6,287,360.........................29...........................8,099...................$3.9 Billion
UCLA..........$86,426,784...........................$8,376,981.........................22...........................7,711...................$3.23 Billion
Colorado.......$64,303,096..........................$6,049,585.........................17...........................9,135...................$1.06 Billion
Oregon........$81,546,440...........................$6,781,749.........................19...........................6,209...................$627 Million
Or. State ......$67,033,752..........................$8,435,185.........................17...........................5,612...................$511 Million
USC.............$106,528,648........................$6,916,841..........................21...........................3,552...................$5.6 Billion
Stanford........$110,240,488........................$4,993,991..........................36..........................4,439....................$21.4 Billion
Utah............$59,005,592..........................$4,227,533.........................17...........................12,101..................$844 Million
Washington.....$100,275,184.......................$6,751,828..........................21...........................6,398...................$2.83 Billion
Wash St.........$60,727,270.........................$5,651,817..........................15...........................3,190...................$778 Million


Independent (because of the history)
School...........Athletic Revenues (2014)..........Basketball Expenses..........# Sports Sponsored...........Attendance.............Endowment
Notre Dame.....$114,843,520........................$5,392,103......................26............................7,715...................$9.8 Billion

Averages
Conference.........Athletic Revenues (2014)............Basketball Expenses.............# Sports Sponsored.........Attendance...........Endowment
Big East.............$26,198,144...........................$7,163,500..........................17.1.......................9,725.................$487.2 Million
AAC.................$44,419,205...........................$5,162,273...........................17.9......................6,166.................$663 Million
MWC................$32,525,408...........................$3,163,552...........................17.4......................7,807**...............$242 Million
A10.................$21,365,400...........................$3,653,924...........................18.6......................4,933..................$669.5 Million
PAC.................$83,062,998...........................$6,789,533...........................21.2......................7,252..................Doesn't matter, way more than others
Notre Dame........$114,843,520.........................$5,392,103............................26........................7,715..................$9.8 Billion


**Didn't include Army because I forgot, don't feel like going back through all the numbers. Suffice it to say it is likely much lower than that.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

First of all, we draw like a power conference. This isn't new, but does separate us from many of the non-power conferences.

Second, we spend money at a clip that is unmatched by any non-P5 conference and is better than some of them. This likely means that our success historically is not simply a byproduct of luck.

Third, our revenues are closer to the mighty AAC football schools than the AAC is to the P5. We also don't have the expense of football.

Fourth, the AAC is clearly in a good position to be a better football conference than the MWC. They also have the horses to be a better basketball conference than the A10, if they choose to put the effort in.

Finally, the AAC has a lot of big schools with tiny endowments. Yikes.

SPECIFIC OBSERVATIONS

Butler and Xavier are doing a hell of a job with limited expenditures.

Temple's revenue stream and basketball budget do not give an optimistic impression of the future of the program.

UConn is doing solidly financially, which makes one wonder why their football program isn't better.

Only 4 AAC schools have a basketball budget in line with what the BE is paying. Only one program in the MWC is in that area.

The A10 is doing well given their resources.

We are a Power conference in basketball, none of the others are close.



EDIT: Sources, forgot to include them.

Revenue/expenses: http://www.bbstate.com/
Number of sports/endowments: Wikipedia
Attendance: http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketb ... d/2015.pdf

[Xudash]

Nice write up marquette.

One thing to clarify is that Butler and Xavior are both playing in on campus facilities they own. Neither school pays rent to utilize an NBA arena.

And Butler just put a lot of money into Hinkle, while Xavier is improving the Cintas Center to the tune of $25 million over a seven-year period.

[robinreed]

This was a solid, well written and very positive article about the Big East from ESPN. I would have ignored it had it come from Fox as it would likely be self serving and promotional however ESPN has no reason to give us credit unless we earned it. Good to hear positive and supportive things from the World Wide Leader.

[marquette]

Nice write up marquette.

One thing to clarify is that Butler and Xavior are both playing in on campus facilities they own. Neither school pays rent to utilize an NBA arena.

And Butler just put a lot of money into Hinkle, while Xavier is improving the Cintas Center to the tune of $25 million over a seven-year period.

Yes, that's a great point. Another point, the most recent released numbers are from 2014 so they likely don't include any new sponsorship deals etc they may have garnered.

[hoyahooligan]

Marquette I count Georgetown as sponsoring 25 sports not 22. Obviously not a big deal just fyi:
Basketball X2
Golf X2
Lacrosse X2
Rowing X2
Sailing X2
Soccer X2
Swimming & Diving X2
Tennis X2
Cross Country X2
Track & Field X2
Baseball
Softball
Football
Field Hockey
Volleyball

[MUBoxer]

Marquette I count Georgetown as sponsoring 25 sports not 22. Obviously not a big deal just fyi:
Basketball X2
Golf X2
Lacrosse X2
Rowing X2
Sailing X2
Soccer X2
Swimming & Diving X2
Tennis X2
Cross Country X2
Track & Field X2
Baseball
Softball
Football
Field Hockey
Volleyball

Lol @ football. Come on my high school stadium was bigger than the place you guys play at and you don't do scholarships. Id barely say you guys sponsor football anymore so than a school sponsors a club football team.