In N.Y., Dick Weiss notes ESPN has an exclusive 60-day negotiating window with the Big East for a new football TV contract, starting Sept. 1, but if no deal is reached by Nov. 1, the league can “make itself available to other bidders.” In May ’11, the conference “turned down a deal with ESPN that reportedly would have paid" between $11-13M per team. Weiss writes, “Sources suggest that if NBC, which is desperate for sports inventory, signs a TV contract with the conference, it would be willing to pay the Big East football teams $10 million a piece and throw in an additional $4 million for the 16 basketball schools. One of the network’s ideas may be to run a full day of Big East football, along with Notre Dame home games, from noon to midnight Saturdays on either NBC or its still-growing cable channel” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/3).
COMMERCIAL APPEAL: In San Antonio, Brent Zwerneman noted ESPN filmed a "College GameDay" commercial at Kyle Field on the campus of Texas A&M with "about 3,500 rowdy Aggies fans on hand.” The show’s talent -- Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso and Samantha Steele -- were “on hand for the shoot, along with a bevy of television personnel scurrying to shoot the commercial in the middle of the east side of Kyle's stands.” Fowler said, “They were camping out in 100-degree weather. I said they were loyal, I didn't say they were smart” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 8/1).
