Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said the conference was "lowballed" by ESPN during TV rights negotiations in '04, leading to the creation of the Big Ten Network, according to the CHICAGO TRIBUNE's Teddy Greenstein, who explores the origins of the BTN with the Univ. of Nebraska officially joining the conference Friday. ESPN execs, led by former Exec VP/Programming & Production Mark Shapiro, former Exec VP/College Sports Programming Chuck Gerber, Exec VP/Programming & Acquisitions John Wildhack and former ABC Sports Senior VP/Programming Loren Matthews, met with Big Ten execs at the conference's HQs in Park Ridge, Ill, on April 30, 2004. Delany said of Shapiro, "He lowballed us and said: 'Take it or leave it. If you don't take our offer, you are rolling the dice.' I said: 'Consider them rolled.'" Shapiro said of Delany, "He threw his weight around and said, 'I'm going to get my big (rights-fee) increase and start my own network.' Had ESPN stepped up and paid BCS-type dollars, I think we could have prevented the network. In retrospect, that might have been the right thing to do. Jim is making a nice penny on that." Delany said, "If Mark had presented a fair offer, we would have signed it. And there would not be a Big Ten Network." Greenstein notes Delany in '06 "went back to the negotiating table with Wildhack," ESPN/ABC Sports President George Bodenheimer and Exec VP/Content John Skipper. They "hammered out a 10-year, $1 billion deal for roughly 40 football and 60 men's basketball games." Another 35-36 football games and more than 100 men's basketball games "went to the BTN, which launched Aug. 30, 2007." Delany "sent a package to Shapiro that included champagne and a note." Shapiro said the note read: "See, I did it." Shapiro said, "My reaction was: Who does that? It was so juvenile. I sent the note to Bodenheimer and poured the champagne down the drain." Delany said that Shapiro's "recollection of the note isn't accurate." Delany: "That's not how I would express myself. What I wrote was tongue-in-cheek. I believe it was: 'Enjoy the champagne while enjoying the network.' It wasn't juvenile at all. We did toast to Mark, and I was thanking him" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 7/1).
