Charleston Daily Mail: Big East patience on TV deal has to pay

[TopFrog]

Charleston Daily Mail: Big East patience on TV deal has to pay

by Jack Bogaczyk Daily Mail Sports Editor

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- It's not apples and oranges. It's more like grapefruits and lemons.

It's the sizable disparity in annual revenue sharing between the haves and comparatively have-nots among the six Bowl Championship Series conferences.

It's why the Big East made a smart move in delaying a decision on its next telecast contract, because that's where the revenue stream flows. And with multiple bidders possible and probable - see the recent 12-year, $3 billion Pac-12 deal shared by rivals ESPN and Fox - the Big East has a chance to play catch-up.

First, consider some numbers: ...

 

[McFroggin]

We deserve Big 12 money. I agree that SEC money is pushing it, but timing helps quite a bit. We are in the driver's seat here. Time to go big!

 

[Texas Otto]

Good find TF and for once from a writer who makes some sense. BE football was severly undervalued in the last negotiation due to the defections which had just occured, and hoops just wasn't getting the kind of tv money 5-6 years ago that it does today. ESPN was trying to re-up on the cheap and I am glad the BE didn't take the bait!

:tongue:

 

[OmniscienceFrog]

"Just for comparison, the average SEC school was getting almost exactly what WVU received last year as long ago as 2002. Now, the average SEC team gets about 2 1/2 times what the top Big East performers receive - and the latter conference is supposed to compete in that arena?"

So, just imagine what it's like for a top non-AQ conference team that only gets about 1/3 of what the top Big East teams are getting, despite finishing ahead of 80%-90% of all AQ conference football teams most years.

 

[Delmonico]

Good find TF and for once from a writer who makes some sense. BE football was severly undervalued in the last negotiation due to the defections which had just occured, and hoops just wasn't getting the kind of tv money 5-6 years ago that it does today. ESPN was trying to re-up on the cheap and I am glad the BE didn't take the bait!

:tongue:

Unfortunately, I'm not all that convinced BE football was all that undervalued at the time (and the defections didn't help). College football simply isn't the end-all-be-all sport in the Big East markets that it is in other parts of the country - with the possible exception of WV. Having said that, the conference finds itself with 2 bargaining chips - basketball and an enviroment where media companies are willing to pay or even overpay for sports inventory. Leveraging both will prove valuable. So waiting, while a gamble, is definitely one worth taking.