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Is The Future Big East Strong Enough To Get A Lucrative TV Deal?

Despite the loss of Pitt and Syracuse last month, if the “Big East is successful in courting enough football schools, its future may not be as dim as many think,” according to Josh Chetwynd of DAILY VARIETY. Media Consultant Chris Bevilacqua said, “They still have an opportunity because they are the last one to go into the marketplace. All the other product (from major conferences) has been bought for the next 10, 12, (and) 15 years so there is an opportunity for the Big East.” He added, “College sports are now a mature industry. And when industries mature, businesses consolidate” (VARIETY.com, 10/15). The Big East reportedly will invite Central Florida, Houston and SMU to join the conference in all sports, while inviting Boise State, Air Force and Navy to join only for football. In N.Y., Lenn Robbins wonders if that version of the Big East is "more, less or equally valuable to TV networks as the version that included Pittsburgh, Syracuse and TCU?” Working in the Big East’s favor “is that every other major college conference has struck its deal, leaving the Big East an attractive property, especially for a company such as Comcast.” Bevilacqua “did not return calls and texts," but a source said that “he met with Commissioner John Marinatto last week in New York.” Although the league has not retained Bevilacqua "as a consultant, he has been advising the league.” ESPN has “an exclusive negotiating window in September 2012 before the league becomes a TV free agent next November” (N.Y. POST, 10/17).

IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME: On Long Island, Greg Logan wrote when the history of the Big East conference is written, the "turning point undoubtedly will be identified as the league's decision to turn down the reported $1.2 billion television rights deal ESPN offered last spring.” Had the Big East “grabbed that golden egg, it might not be scrambling to the degree it is now to cobble together a football conference strong enough to maintain its BCS automatic qualifier status.” That decision “and the uncertainty it spawned at a time of shifting conference alignments ultimately left the door open for Syracuse and Pittsburgh to depart for the Atlantic Coast Conference in September.” Syracuse AD Darryl Gross said, “The Big East had an opportunity while we were there to get a terrific deal that would be very close to what the ACC deal was. It's not like we were leaving the Big East because the ACC has more dollars. We had the opportunity while we were voting members to raise the dollars in the Big East as well, and we had a great deal on the table that didn't go through for whatever reason.” The television deal the Big East turned down “reportedly would have paid its football schools an average of $11 million per season, which is slightly less than the $12.9 million ACC members currently receive” (NEWSDAY, 10/16).

GEOGRAPHY LESSON: ESPN's Mark May said should the teams accept the Big East's invite, he hopes officials "don’t call it the Big East because it’s not the Big East anymore.” Half of the conference games for Boise State and Air Force "are going to be across the country." May: "That’s a lot of travelling, that’s a lot of expense and it’s not like these teams always sell-out in their home stadiums on the East Coast in the Big East. I want to know two or three years from now, is it still going to be the value there to go and move and add those teams from the West Coast to play in East Coast time zones” ("College Football Live," ESPN, 10/14). N.Y. Daily News columnist Mike Lupica said, "“So now the Big East -- East! -- sends out football invitations to schools like Houston and Air Force and even Boise State. These desperate conferences are a joke now and the NCAA looks more irrelevant than ever” (“The Sports Reporters,” ESPN, 10/16).

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