No matter what their actual record
may be, the perception of the Big East is that it is a weak conference in
football. Most TV contracts with a
conference revolve around upon how well they do on the football field, but in
this instance, it is the national perception.
The Big East has been hand picked by the ACC over the past few seasons,
in spite of an overall winning record against the ACC. Syracuse, Miami, Pitt, Boston College,
Virginia Tech and now even Notre Dame have defected from the Big East in favor
of tougher competition in all sports, but mainly football. When negotiating a contract, you have to know
your worth and the Big East rejected a 1.4 million dollar contract with ESPN,
which led to the more recent defections of Pitt, West Virginia, Syracuse and
even TCU. TCU signed to join the Big East,
but within a few months signed as part of the Big 12. Now the conference has expanded as far west
as Boise St and San Diego State, and as far south as Houston and Central
Florida. However, adding these teams may
actually hurt chances to gain money from the previous deal with ESPN. Its strength is in basketball, but that does
not have as much TV revenue as football, and a smaller deal with more schools
means less money per school. The current
contract expires in June 2013, but the Big East is hoping that expansion into
San Diego and Houston TV markets will help them broker a better deal. The league will have teams in 13 of the top
50 TV markets, so expanding to include those teams may have been a move for TV
more than for competition. What the Big
East may need to consider is tapping into the needs of other networks. FOX and NBC are expanding their sports’ coverage
and seem willing to give the Big East a good deal. ESPN deals are contingent on the quality of
the product, but a deal with NBC or FOX may just rely on whether or not the
product exists. The Big East may need to
forget about trying to swoon ESPN, though it includes ABC, and go for a new
network.
Big
East hires firm to lead TV contract negotiations- Orlando Sentinel
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