Its not the domination of the sport that ESPN is after. As the B1g network has proven college football has been undervalued in TV contracts. As long as ESPN is the only real player it real remain that way. If, however, NBC is able to establish their network with another conference that draws good ratings then the competition for college sports will begin. This means that ESPN will have to increase payouts to keep their conferences and programming. This is all about ESPN maintaining profit margins far more than dominating college football. EXPN at themoment is the only real player in the game, they gain tremendously from that. NBC could possibly kill that bird, so it is necessary for ESPN to try to kill the BE so that NBC is left with nothing.
I'll say what I've said each time someone has said this. Getting the rights to the new Big East is not making someone a major player against ESPN.
I dont think its about making them a major player from day one, its about increaseing competition. For exampe, if the BE gets a deal at $15M per school, the Bi12 and SEC will immediately feel undervalued and may hold off signing their next tv deal to test the open market. I think its more about increasing the competition.