Quo Vadis

Yeah, just like that school in Orlando that started out in the late 1970s and yet fell behind 1997-born USF in the college football totem poll. (That means you are wrong.) orlando school caught usf now that we are in the same conference They didn't catch up to USF, USF was relegated down to their level. Orlando U has caught USF the way you might catch up to someone if you sit idly in your car while they drive in reverse straight toward you. Yeah. As far as I can tell, the only schools in all of FBS that will be getting less bowl money and media money from 2014 onwards than they got previously are Cincy, Uconn, and us.

Isn't this pretty much a moot point considering the 16 teams leaving the conference since it was offered? The contract would have been torn up, wouldn't it? That's a good point but it doesn't fit the ESPN narrative. It is a point but i wouldn't stretch it too far. First, had we been making $14 million per school per year, who would have left? All the schools that went to Power 5 conferences, sure. But would Boise and SDSU have left for the MWC? Nope, so the conference would have been more valuable than it is now. Heck, at that money, we probably snare BYU as well. Second, even if the exact same schools left, these "look in" clauses allow some degree of renegotiation but they don't allow a conference or ESPN to just tear up the whole contract. Even with the radical change in membership, it seems highly unlikely ESPN could alter that contract down to anywhere near $2 million per school. Maybe $5 million?

Last time i was in Tampa was around Thanksgiving 2009 for the USF - Miami game. But didn't get to spend much time around campus.

Sounds excellent! The one i remember did not have much of a USF theme, at least not in the early-mid 1990s, even though it was just off-campus. And to further date me, the other guy referred to the Marshall center being re-done a few years back. The only Marshall center renovation i recall was the massive 1989-1990 renovation that turned the old University center into the Marshall center. I need to get back to Tampa more often, LOL.

Wow, am i out of touch, LOL ... the Beef's i was refering to was just off-campus in a small strip mall on the side of Fowler opposite the Sun Dome but a little ways towards 56th street. It opened circa 1990.

Lets hope your quoted sources about them over matching exposure are true....otherwise we are screwed Let's face it: We are already screwed royally as no amount of "exposure" can compensate for such a miserably small amount of money. It's just a question of whether it's a Prince or King -level royal screwing.

Used to hang out there regularly while a grad student but haven't been in the place since around 1995. Since it's still in business it must be doing something right, LOL. Don't care much for unbreaded wings but they had a good tuesday night special my limited budget appreciated back then. Lively atmosphere too.

Since the first year of the contract affects the C7 (it covers basketball payments for 2013-2014 and the C7 are currently scheduled to be in the Big East for that year) they get to vote on the contract.

Contact does not allow counter offer. What kind of contract only allows 1 offer per bidder? The old contract gave ESPN the right to review and match an offer from another network. If that network were allowed to make a counter-offer after ESPN did its review and match, then the whole concept behind that review-and-match clause would be null, it would amount to a regular bidding situation, so obviously there could be no counter-offer. Yeah, that just sucks. What if NBC would go higher, even if its not much? Now the Big East is locked in for 7 long years. The entire process stinks. And I can't believe Fox didn't even have an offer. Or CBS. Or Telemundo. They would be better off going with sealed bids like governments do with contractors. If NBC was willing to go higher, they would have. NBC knew the situation. They weren't willing to pay more. Yes, when you know another firm has the right to match, you make the very best offer you can because it's your only shot. NBC almost surely bid the max they thought we were worth, which obviously wasn't much.

Congratulations Ladies! Always nice to beat Syracuse in anything.

Contact does not allow counter offer. What kind of contract only allows 1 offer per bidder? The old contract gave ESPN the right to review and match an offer from another network. If that network were allowed to make a counter-offer after ESPN did its review and match, then the whole concept behind that review-and-match clause would be null, it would amount to a regular bidding situation, so obviously there could be no counter-offer. Yeah, that just sucks. What if NBC would go higher, even if its not much? Now the Big East is locked in for 7 long years. The entire process stinks. And I can't believe Fox didn't even have an offer. Or CBS. Or Telemundo. They would be better off going with sealed bids like governments do with contractors. No doubt, if the Big East history of the last 2 years could be analogized to a battle with ESPN, then the battle ended in a 100-0 ESPN victory.

Fat lady ain't sung yet... "The conference’s presidents are expected to vote, and approve, the deal as soon as Monday." Well, since their only other choice is to get paid nothing at all and have none of our football or basketball games broadcast for the next 7 years, it's pretty clear how the vote is going to go.

Contact does not allow counter offer. What kind of contract only allows 1 offer per bidder? The old contract gave ESPN the right to review and match an offer from another network. If that network were allowed to make a counter-offer after ESPN did its review and match, then the whole concept behind that review-and-match clause would be null, it would amount to a regular bidding situation, so obviously there could be no counter-offer.

Here's what is likely to happen: There will be layoffs in the AD, salaries will be cut, student fees will rise, and ticket prices for football will go up.

Isn't this pretty much a moot point considering the 16 teams leaving the conference since it was offered? The contract would have been torn up, wouldn't it? Yes and No. Surely, that $1.17 billion deal would have included clauses allowing ESPN to reduce its payment if teams left, just as it would have included clauses for increased payments if new teams were added. But, there is only a limited amount of leeway involved. These modification clauses would not have allowed radical changes, so the reduction in payments that ESPN could have gotten with all those teams bailing out would still mean they would be paying us FAR more than they will under the terms of the contract ratified today.

It's official: ESPN and BIG EAST agree on TV deal: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8977673/big-east-conference-espn-agree-tv-rights-deal

Being important to them and being fiscally prudent are two different issues. As I said, if the money is equal between the two offers, we are better off at NBC. Unless ESPN dumps everything to ESPN3, I disagree, because the choice is not between ESPN and "NBC", it is between ESPN and "NBCSN", which is a whole nother ball game. Notre Dame is with "NBC", we will not be, and when it comes to cable sports broadcasting, ESPN is THE brand name while NBCSN is basically unknown. Any ESPN station, including ESPNU, is superior to NBCSN because we will get far more exposure on the ESPN channels thanks to sports fan actually knowing what those channels are. Even if ESPN dumps much of our content down to regional FOX Sports Networks, we will be better off, because those regional FOX networks have built up a viewership over the years. Seriously, next to internet, NBCSN is the worst place we could be. Face it, 90% of the nBE games are going to be internet-only. The question is now do we want to watch them on nbc.com or espn3.com In that case, i vote for ESPN3.

I have to disagree. Size and location have little to do with how powerful a school is in the athletic hierarchy. E.g., Notre Dame is about 1/7th the size of USF and is located in the armpit of Indiana, but wields 100x more influence. What matters is stuff like historical pedigree and fan base. USF, as we all know, is a relatively new school with a 15 year old football program (hence no history) and is a late-comer to a football market saturated with established brands like Florida, FSU, and MIami (hence a small fan base). Considering those factors, we really were lucky to be a member of the "big boy club" for the eight years that we were.

Being important to them and being fiscally prudent are two different issues. As I said, if the money is equal between the two offers, we are better off at NBC. Unless ESPN dumps everything to ESPN3, I disagree, because the choice is not between ESPN and "NBC", it is between ESPN and "NBCSN", which is a whole nother ball game. Notre Dame is with "NBC", we will not be, and when it comes to cable sports broadcasting, ESPN is THE brand name while NBCSN is basically unknown. Any ESPN station, including ESPNU, is superior to NBCSN because we will get far more exposure on the ESPN channels thanks to sports fan actually knowing what those channels are. Even if ESPN dumps much of our content down to regional FOX Sports Networks, we will be better off, because those regional FOX networks have built up a viewership over the years. Seriously, next to internet, NBCSN is the worst place we could be.

it stands to reason that NBC could not up the bid, otherwise the clause would be meanigles, of no value to ESPN. While this is true, Aresco and the presidents must agree that the deal matches BOTH monetarily and exposure-wise. If ESPN refuses to do so, then we can say no to them. As of right now, if you scroll up and read my quoted paragraph from ESPN, they have only matched monetarily. What I'm unsure of is what happens if we say no? Do we then have to accept NBC's deal? Or can we say F Off to both and go back to the drawing board? 2013 will still be the Big East that we know for the most part. Get big money for a 1 year contract if you can. We can choose the NBC offer, the ESPN offer, or neither offer. We are free to be without a media contract for our sports content if we want, though that would be rather silly.

KEY QUOTE FROM THAT PIECE: "ESPN matched the financial aspect, sources said. However, Big East commissioner Mike Aresco must be satisfied ESPN's deal matches NBC Sports Network's offer in all facets. Once that is concluded, the Big East presidents must approve the new deal. They could vote on accepting the deal as early as this weekend, sources said." ESPN is NOT required to match any aspect of the offer from NBC, financial or otherwise. The contract clause gives them the right to make a counter-offer once the Big East has received a final offer from another network. We use the term "match" to describe this because we assume nobody would take a lesser offer, but ESPN could make a lesser offer. The Big East is then free to sign the ESPN offer or the NBC offer. That is what is happening now: the Big East presidents are voting whether to take the ESPN or NBC offers. There will be no other bidding.

it stands to reason that NBC could not up the bid, otherwise the clause would be meanigles, of no value to ESPN.

Will pay about $22 million each year, or $1.8 million per school, per year for 12 teams, $2.2 million for 10 teams. It includes $2 million from a new basketball deal with CBS: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8972975/big-east-conference-espn-finalizing-7-year-130-million-media-deal

Youve got to remember here at USF & the Carolinas you are talking about the South and college football is a world of difference between here and up there. You wouldnt have to like Duke or UNC football when NCST is winning. Football does not generate basketball interest in New England. UCONN's football move to FBS doesnt predate USF by much but somehow they have a top 50 football fanbase? Their alumni alone wont do that. They have had significant major college sport success in BB. There is also no professional sports team in CT anymore and UCONN football is the top football program in the six state new England area and arguably New York as well. Who were all the people up their rooting for before UCONN? UMASS? Rutgers? (BC and Cuse to some degree) Cmon when they went to the Fiesta Bowl a couple years ago people paid attention. To have a top 50 fanbase they are pulling non-alumni fans in, Id argue in part based on recognition from basketball success. IIRC, the main publicity UConn got for going to the Fiesta bowl was a consensus that they didn't belong because they had 4-5 losses. And then they got routed. Not much good publicity from that. And i am very sceptical about the notion that they have a top 50 fan base.

..... Big East to vote on which to accept.