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smalley said:
BE should add Gonzaga immediately upon UConn leaving. Travel drawbacks aside, the optics matter
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What optics? Big East will be fine with or without UConn no matter if they add Gonzaga or not. The Big East is in no danger of falling apart as there are no threats at this time of losing anyone else besides UConn who does not fit. No one will see UConn leaving as anything but the fact they are an FBS school who needs a home for their football program and their move will bring them that along with more money being in a Big Five Conference.

Gonzaga would be an attractive get however the logistics is a real impediment for the Conference and Gonzaga one of which either party could decide will not work.

There is no need for the Big East to rush into anything at this time. They are in relatively good shape. I think Gonzaga feels the same. If it winds up happening, great if not, we will be just fine.
 


I wonder if ESPN swooped in with Apple to help the PAC stay alive and ultimately do something like this.
 
SJU85 said:
What optics? Big East will be fine with or without UConn no matter if they add Gonzaga or not. The Big East is in no danger of falling apart as there are no threats at this time of losing anyone else besides UConn who does not fit. No one will see UConn leaving as anything but the fact they are an FBS school who needs a home for their football program and their move will bring them that along with more money being in a Big Five Conference.

Gonzaga would be an attractive get however the logistics is a real impediment for the Conference and Gonzaga one of which either party could decide will not work.

There is no need for the Big East to rush into anything at this time. They are in relatively good shape. I think Gonzaga feels the same. If it winds up happening, great if not, we will be just fine.
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I don't think we're in danger of falling apart -- for now. But we can be in danger of falling behind, depending on what our TV deal is.
 
dk423 said:
I don't think we're in danger of falling apart -- for now. But we can be in danger of falling behind, depending on what our TV deal is.
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Yeah losing your biggest brand right before signing a TV deal would be rough, especially with our next 3 biggest brands (Nova, Georgetown, us) all coming off of mediocre seasons

If Gonzaga would increase payouts and the money works for all parties then they need to be added, period.
 
SJU85 said:
What optics? Big East will be fine with or without UConn no matter if they add Gonzaga or not. The Big East is in no danger of falling apart as there are no threats at this time of losing anyone else besides UConn who does not fit. No one will see UConn leaving as anything but the fact they are an FBS school who needs a home for their football program and their move will bring them that along with more money being in a Big Five Conference.

Gonzaga would be an attractive get however the logistics is a real impediment for the Conference and Gonzaga one of which either party could decide will not work.

There is no need for the Big East to rush into anything at this time. They are in relatively good shape. I think Gonzaga feels the same. If it winds up happening, great if not, we will be just fine.
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BE needs to be playing chess here not checkers. We all know more or less what the next 3-4 moves will be from the big conferences. It’s time to be proactive instead of being reactive in a few years.

I don’t think the logistics are that bad if we go to two divisions. There is no other conference that can accommodate Gonzaga like the Big East.
 
SJU85 said:
What optics? Big East will be fine with or without UConn no matter if they add Gonzaga or not. The Big East is in no danger of falling apart as there are no threats at this time of losing anyone else besides UConn who does not fit. No one will see UConn leaving as anything but the fact they are an FBS school who needs a home for their football program and their move will bring them that along with more money being in a Big Five Conference.

Gonzaga would be an attractive get however the logistics is a real impediment for the Conference and Gonzaga one of which either party could decide will not work.

There is no need for the Big East to rush into anything at this time. They are in relatively good shape. I think Gonzaga feels the same. If it winds up happening, great if not, we will be just fine.
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The optics matter for maximizing our next media deal, which I believe is on the docket next year.

Agree that the BE is stable and does not need UConn to thrive on the court, at least in the medium term. Solidifying the conference as the best possible expression of “basketball only” by making the lone expansion move that enhances the quality of play is a power move optically and opens a new dimension to the TV contract (west coast / late night programming). The Big 12 is hunting market share right in our backyard …
 
ADORAZ said:
Yeah losing your biggest brand right before signing a TV deal would be rough, especially with our next 3 biggest brands (Nova, Georgetown, us) all coming off of mediocre seasons

If Gonzaga would increase payouts and the money works for all parties then they need to be added, period.
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No TV executive with a working brain is going to put any material extra value on a Big East contract based on a school (UCONN) which is swiping right on every other conference in the country who has a dating profile. That damage (done by UCONN) is done and why it would be best if they go away sooner rather than later. The benefit we gave them way outweighs anything they did for us.

The Gonzaga thing is something else, it does nothing for me at all, but sure TV might like it. If all of this kills off the Big East someday, so be it. Considering the 90-minute special declaring them dead aired about ten years ago and they have had about half the conference make the tournament annually since then I will only lament the passing when I see the body. Reality is with decent savvy the conference can outlive me and I don't care after that.

In the meantime, I see a conference that should be awesome in the here and now, and that would still be true in 2023-2024 without any teams from Storrs.
 
IDRAFT said:
No TV executive with a working brain is going to put any material extra value on a Big East contract based on a school (UCONN) which is swiping right on every other conference in the country who has a dating profile. That damage (done by UCONN) is done and why it would be best if they go away sooner rather than later. The benefit we gave them way outweighs anything they did for us.

The Gonzaga thing is something else, it does nothing for me at all, but sure TV might like it. If all of this kills off the Big East someday, so be it. Considering the 90-minute special declaring them dead aired about ten years ago and they have had about half the conference make the tournament annually since then I will only lament the passing when I see the body. Reality is with decent savvy the conference can outlive me and I don't care after that.

In the meantime, I see a conference that should be awesome in the here and now, and that would still be true in 2023-2024 without any teams from Storrs.
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Wait, are you saying UConn wouldn't add to our TV value? That makes no sense, of course they would. There might be a clause which states if UConn leaves within X years then the TV contract would change, but they're our most valuable member. If they weren't we wouldn't have added them in the first place given the risks of them leaving.

Again, I don't like defending UConn but some Big East teams like DePaul would probably only get a million individually on the open market. UConn would get at least 10X that, and thus would increase overall payouts per school.
 
Since football is driving this conference movement, I think in a strange way, it helps the Big East.

The realignments and TV deals are going towards upgrading football. If we end up with three mega conferences, then each will need a large amount of that money to reinvest in football, which is very costly anyway. Many of the hoops programs may be put to the side. Just look at UConn, who is begging to get a Big 12 invitation.

The BE does not have that concern. While obviously making much less overall dollars, the percentage of money goes further for basketball. Also, basketball recruits will know they are the kings of campus, not the football players.
 
kranmars said:
Since football is driving this conference movement, I think in a strange way, it helps the Big East.

The realignments and TV deals are going towards upgrading football. If we end up with three mega conferences, then each will need a large amount of that money to reinvest in football, which is very costly anyway. Many of the hoops programs may be put to the side. Just look at UConn, who is begging to get a Big 12 invitation.

The BE does not have that concern. While obviously making much less overall dollars, the percentage of money goes further for basketball. Also, basketball recruits will know they are the kings of campus, not the football players.
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I don't think so. By 2029, the Big Ten schools will make $94.5 million per year from the media deal; SEC $105.3 million; Big 12 $51.9 million; ACC $55.3 million

The Big East media deal pay out won't be close to this number. Maybe -- at most -- it's $10 mill per year?

That means for these other schools to match that, they only have to dedicate 8-15% of the media rights deal towards solely basketball to match that. That's not even thinking that there will be huge renovations to facilities that help all sports.

USC, for example, released this in June: renovations facilities for football, women's lacrosse, baseball, etc.. No coincidence this is happening after signing the Big Ten deal.

I'm following this stuff closely because I do think the Big East schools will eventually be way too behind to compete from a $ perspective. The money is going to become only more unfathomable. We need UCONN because we need to show Fox that the Big East brand is strong and the ratings are good.
 
ADORAZ said:
Wait, are you saying UConn wouldn't add to our TV value? That makes no sense, of course they would. There might be a clause which states if UConn leaves within X years then the TV contract would change, but they're our most valuable member. If they weren't we wouldn't have added them in the first place given the risks of them leaving.

Again, I don't like defending UConn but some Big East teams like DePaul would probably only get a million individually on the open market. UConn would get at least 10X that, and thus would increase overall payouts per school.
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Exactly. Networks could easily protect themselves with conditional language.

UConn wants to be in the Big East for basketball, but they know their football existence is dependent on admission to a major conference.

I don’t think it hurts us if they stay just like it wouldn’t hurt us if Duke or Memphis dropped football and joined us down the line.
 
Marillac2 said:
Exactly. Networks could easily protect themselves with conditional language.

UConn wants to be in the Big East for basketball, but they know their football existence is dependent on admission to a major conference.

I don’t think it hurts us if they stay just like it wouldn’t hurt us if Duke or Memphis dropped football and joined us down the line.
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I don’t see Duke dropping or de-emphasizing football but this is going to be a real interesting couple of weeks.
 
SJU85 said:
I don’t see Duke dropping or de-emphasizing football but this is going to be a real interesting couple of weeks.
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I would love to see a couple teams slightly de-emphasize by going to the MAC for football and parking in the Big East for all other sports if realignment madness leaves them behind.

I used to think that was possible but not anymore since I think the Big 12 would be perfectly willing to be the Big 30 if the payout were good.
 
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