With process of solidifying a 10 team league in football for next season, Big East commissioner Mike Aresco is now spending the bulk of his time on nailing down a long-term television football contract for his league.
But one of the salient points in any discussion in terms of money is whether the conference can get an extra payout with a championship game format.
Right now, neither the Big East nor the Big 12, which is also currently committed to 10 teams for 2013, has enough schools (12 is the minimum number) to hold a championship game. The Big 12 has already broached the idea of sponsoring legislation which could lower the minimum number of schools from 12 to 10.
The Big East would be wise to join the fight to get the rule changed. Maybe not for next season–although technically it could go through all the legislative steps in the next few months.
And that wouldn’t be a bad idea. It would put the Big East in the same theater as the 4 other Big Boy Conferences–Big Ten, Pac 12, SEC and ACC. It would keep the Big East on par with the Mountain West which will be at 12 next season as well.
Scheduling will be a challenge, creating two five team divisions, But it could be done, if the prizes at the end were more money and higher television exposure, with the championship game played at the sight of the highest ranked team.
The more reasonable approach probably would be to get the legislation changed and then be prepared to conduct a championship game for the 2014 season.
***
Rumblings of more changes in conference reconfiguration have quieted down, although there may be some chatter about the Mountain West making a run at the new Big East Texas schools, Houston and SMU. But both schools are saying publicly and privately that they are committed to making their deal with the Big East work….Aresco is HOPING to have a television contract in football settled in the next few weeks. Look for a multi-network package rather than a single entity…Big East plans for football still include more teams and Tulsa appears to be the main target. If everyone holds together, Tulane and East Carolina will be part of the league in 2014 to replace Louisville and Rutgers. Tulsa and Navy (2015) would then complete the alignment. All of that could speed up or change, of course, but right now that’s the plan…Once the television deals–basketball is also being worked on–are done, Aresco will then work with the Catholic 7 who are leaving and finalize the process of when, and how the break up occurs. Best guess remains a June 30, 2014 departure for not only the Catholic 7, but Rutgers, Louisville and Notre Dame as well…Cincinnati and UConn are still hopeful they get calls from other BCS conferences, but the odds of joining the Catholic 7 are fading as long as the current Big East football remains solvent…Former BC offensive coordinator Dave Brock is again on a the move. After taking over as the Rutgers OC this season for new Rutgers coach Kyle Flood, Brock has been hired as the new Delaware football coach. New Delaware AD Eric Ziady, knows Brock from his days as an Associate AD at BC…..Rutgers will be looking for its fourth OC in four years, which is in the same class as BC since Ryan Day,Steve Addazio’s new OC, will be the Eagles 5th OC in 4 years. Flood should consider former UMass coach Mark Whipple if he wants to jump start the Rutgers offense, which sputtered down the stretch this season. Whipple has been the QB coach for the Cleveland Browns the past few years. Another possibility could be John DeFilippo, who is the QB coach of the Oakland Raiders and the son of former BC AD Gene DeFilippo.
© Copyright 2013 Mark, All rights Reserved. Written For: A Jersey Guy
By my count, Big East only has 10 in 2014 once Louisville and Rutgers depart as everyone expects (even if it isnt official yet): UConn, Cincy, Houston, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Memphis, UCF, USF and East Carolina. Navy in 2015 makes 11.
Math not my strong point. thanks
Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something – i’ve done my best to keep my conference re-alignment spreadsheet up to date and for a minute there thought that one had “slipped past the goalie” so to speak. Keep up the great work – I love reading your stuff!
Mr Blaudschun, it actually hurts your credibility on the internet when you correct a post. Ankle-biters on the internet will remember you made a mistake, and by just changing the post, it looks like you’re trying to hide the mistake. In the age of the internet, loudmouth armchair critics matter.
Have you considered getting an intern to run and format the blog for you? Sort of a hybrid of an editor and a secretary? Email him the post, let him clean it up and post it? I’m sure you could find a Boston-area college student to work for free.
thanks
Mark,
Enjoy the column. Are you hearing any numbers from Aresco as far as how big the new TV contract will be?
Mark any speculation on the possible $$$$ for the Big East tv contract – I keep reading how the Catholic 7 are going to get a good TV deal, which is fine but yet about a month ago you heard through the sports media runors that the Big East contract was going to be low – any thoughts to share ? doent seem to square Catholic 7 good TV contract – Big east -not so good contract
The reason the C7 can get a decent TV contract is they have a focused product that people understand,in large TV markets, and have some tradition.
The Big East could probably get a similar contract for Basketball alone. The issue with the Big East is their football contract. They simple had no stability nor a focused product, Networks are not going to pay big dollars and commit promotional resources to a moving hodge podge. Now that they have lost Boise State and San Diego State, the remaining conference has a modest degree of focus and some budding rivalries and will likely be able to execute a series of TV contracts. Most likely will be over several networks.
Interesting note about MWC going after Houston and SMU. Would not be shocked to see this move and actually would probably be more shocked if it DIDN’T happen. As for the Big East going after Tulsa….Tulsa? Are they purposely trying to drive UConn and Cincy away? This Southern/Western strategy is a bust, why do they keep going in that direction? Every other league is making moves to maximize TV ratings and the Big East is trying to pair up with rodeo roundups. We all understand why they went that route initially with Boise and SD State, but now that the qualifications for the BCS have changed they seem stuck with their horse and buggy thinking. Where’s the foresight!!
Where would Cinci and UConn go? They’ve been actively pursuing other ventures for the last two years. There’s no other conference picking them up at this point. Regardless of whether Tulsa joins the league or not, UConn and Cincinnati are already taking the first better offer they get.
We all know they are looking around, which is why the BE needs to try and strengthen the league to make it attractive for them to stay, not dilute it but adding southwestern schools. Re-build the Big East, get one of two of the catholic schools to stay and commit to big time football and then tell the other catholic schools to go pound sand and while they’re at it come up with a new name because we are keeping the Big East name and brand.
A new Big East, focused up and down the East coast from Boston to Miami, making sure all the major TV markets are covered. Build it and the TV networks will come with checkbooks open.
From North to South:
UMass
UConn
Temple
Villanova
Cincy
Memphis
East Carolina
Central Florida
South Florida
Army and Navy for football only? Old Dominion and/or Richmond? Delaware? I have to admit I need to do more thinking about the configuration on this but this is what I’m thinking roughly.
UConn and Cinci will leave if they get an offer from a contract conference or if the MWC offers them football only and the catholic 7 offer olympic sports. That’s really it. There is no one the BE can add to change those schools’ positions.
If you can add a market/school in the NE or Rustbelt that makes financial sense I am sure they will (UMass?), but it won’t be about keeping those two schools.
San Diego State leaving the conference was the first positive development in a while for the Big East. It really gives the momentum toward a TV contract. Yes the current configuration is not optimal, but it is much closer to being workable than the failed Western Attempt. Bringing in Tulsa is not a bad potential move. Gives you SMU Houston Tulsa and Tulane in that region. I actually believe Tulane getting a undeserved bad name. They are putting big money into their athletics, and will have a very nice new smaller stadium on campus. I actually think that will become a very fun road trip for a lot of teams over the years as their program develops. The South East piece with UCF USF and ECU should have some spirited games as well. The remainder of the conference is sort of a catch all holding tank for teams hoping to move up. Cincinnati should have some visibility on the national rankings they are pouring money into facilities and coaches. I can even make a case for Memphis. They are in a town where Fedex will back things so who knows what lurks there. They have no where to go but up.
The residual basketball will be ok with U Conn Cincy Temple and Memphis leading.
Mr. Aresco needs to push to get the TV deal done. Then he can go in marketing mode. He actually had some momentum this fall when he went promoting the conference prior to the Big Ten Move for Rutgers Maryland etc.
If I’m the MWC, then I’m going after BYU, Houston, Memphis and Cincinnati. If they can’t hold Cincinnati, then they would have hurt the nBE sufficiently, then they can probably backfill with SMU, Tulane or Tulsa. That would be a heck of a basketball conference…
.
Alternatively, they could try to create the national conference that the nBE hinted at but never pulled the trigger on by creating a full eastern division. Something like this:
.
Western Division
Boise State & Utah State
Colorado State & Wyoming
Fresno State & San Diego State
Hawai’i (football only) & San Jose State
Nevada & UNLV
.
Eastern Division
Air Force & New Mexico
Army (or ECU) & Navy
Central Florida & South Florida
Cincinnati & Connecticut
Houston & SMU (or Memphis or Tulane)
.
They would have to pick off one or two at a time until they reached that tipping point where panic set in among the nBE and all were calling them. And again, they might lose schools but there would be a lot of replacements available. And of course, with 20 members, they may not have to replace anybody at all.
Bob I think the idea of a national conference has seen its time and is not possible. One of the big issues is travel. Mountain West has a nice configuration on their own. However, they did make a bad deal with Boise State to keep them in the conference. So my sense is they won’t be able to many schools because of the disproportionate revenue sharing. Big East was smart not to cave on that.
New Big East Configuration, is more of a super regional Eastern conference. The TV dollars and regional rivalries that they are building will be able to generate a modest TV contract. Throw in some prestige in basketball and the total TV package will make sense.
My sense is that Big East and MWC and the networks should try to develop a bowl tradition where the winner of each conference plays each other. That would bring some value to both conferences. I think that is more attractive than the random nature of the new 6th bowl that each is fighting to get in.
I agree with Chris. A recent tulsa paper article guessed the value of a nBE membership would be $3.5-5M per in TV payouts. A MWC base share might be less than $1.3M. It is hard to see key players to this strategy like Memphis and SMU —who don’t want to be in the MWC — buying in when they can sit and make more.
There is a reason the MWC pursued a merger with CUSA — they do not have enough markets.
If the nBE can make it until summer with no more losses, I suspect they will be in pretty good shape to weather future shifts.
Not sure who “Chris Columbo” is, but try on brevity or get your own freaking blog.
chris columbo has some good thoughts