Big East begins TV negotiations

[Jihme]

The biggest key for the Big East's future isn't whether Villanova joins. It's how much more money the league can wrangle from its next TV contract.

As I've written here often before, the Big East has fallen far behind other BCS leagues in television revenue, a situation that threatens to make it difficult for the conference to compete on equal footing going forward. That's one reason the league has investigated starting its own Big East Network with Paul Tagliabue as an adviser.

SportsBusinessDaily.com reports that the league and ESPN are already in talks to extend their media deal, which expires after the 2013 football season. The fact that talks have begun aren't that newsworthy, and this is probably not going to be wrapped up anytime soon. But the numbers are interesting to look at.

According to the report, the Big East could be looking at somewhere between $110 and $130 million annually for all sports. Right now, the league gets an average of $36 million per year for all sports.

A new deal in that range would make the league more competitive but also would still be far short of other leagues. The ACC signed a deal last year with ESPN for about $155 million per year. Fox Sports recently agreed to televise Big 12 football games for $90 million per season (that's football only, mind you, while the ACC and Big East deals we're talking about include basketball, too). The Pac-12 is hoping for upwards of $200 million per season for its inclusive rights, and the Big Ten and SEC are in another financial stratosphere altogether.

The other interesting aspect of the story concerns whether all Big East members are on board with the future TV strategy.

ESPN’s offer has created a division among the conference’s schools. Some want to rebuff ESPN’s offer and take the conference’s media rights to the open market. The reason: The amount of potential bidders in the market has helped other leagues increase their media rights more than they initially expected.

Add this to the current disagreement among league members about Villanova football and there is real potential for some discord within the conference. The twin issues of expansion and media-rights negotiations are the first major challenges of commissioner John Marinatto's reign, and how he handles these tricky waters will shape the future of the Big East.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast

[Jihme]

With the value of college media rights continuing to swell, ESPN and the Big East Conference are negotiating to extend their media deal, which ends after the 2013 college football season, according to several sources privy to the talks.

A deal is not imminent and could take months to complete, if at all, partly because the Big East schools aren’t on the same page in terms of strategy, sources said. But initial indications show the current trend of escalating rights fees will continue, as the extension being discussed would more than triple the conference’s current media rights fee.

ESPN and the Big East are taking an aggressive posture in extending their nearly 32-year relationship by initiating these talks much earlier than normal. Typically, with a deal expiring at the end of 2013, talks wouldn’t have started until next year.

ESPN currently pays the Big East an average of $36 million annually as part of a six-year contract for all of its sports. While initial numbers being floated may not be as rich as the ESPN/ACC deal that was struck last spring, it would still mark a major boost for the 16-team conference.

Sources indicate the early numbers range from $110 million to $130 million annually, but conference sources describe those figures as a starting point for any negotiation. The initial offer would fall short of the $155 million annual payout the ACC will receive from ESPN in a deal that kicks in this summer. But the bold push by ESPN shows the network wants to lock down college rights in the face of increasing competition.

Despite the long history between the conference and the network — they’ve been partners since 1979 — several obstacles have to be cleared before any extension can be finalized.

ESPN’s offer has created a division among the conference’s schools. Some want to rebuff ESPN’s offer and take the conference’s media rights to the open market. The reason: The amount of potential bidders in the market has helped other leagues increase their media rights more than they initially expected.

During ESPN’s negotiations for the ACC rights last year, the network’s bid leaped from about $120 million to more than $155 million per year once Fox emerged as a legitimate contender.

Just last week, the Big 12 verified that Fox intends to be a significant player in the college rights space with its 13-year, $90 million per year deal that more than quadrupled the $20 million the conference was getting in its previous cable arrangement.

Earlier this year, Fox Sports agreed to pay Conference USA a total of $42 million for its rights over five years.

And the Pac-10, which is deep into negotiations on the open market with Fox, ESPN, Turner and Comcast/NBC, has talked about signing an all-in media rights deal worth north of $200 million per year.

Still, ESPN’s initial offer has support among several other Big East schools, who are looking for ways to increase revenue and secure their futures in a league that seems annually to be the target of poachers from other conferences.

The 16 Big East schools — soon to be 17 when TCU joins — have to share the $36 million the conference gets annually from ESPN. A new ESPN deal would reset that market, making the Big East more competitive with other conferences and potentially convincing schools with bigger football programs — like Syracuse and Pittsburgh — to stay with the conference.

As the talks unfold, sources say, all eyes will be on Big East Commissioner John Marinatto, who succeeded Mike Tranghese in 2009 and embarks on his first major media negotiation.

The draw for the Big East traditionally has been its strength in basketball. The league sent 11 teams to the NCAA tournament this past season and its ninth-place squad, UConn, wound up winning the national championship. Football, on the other hand, has been a drag on the conference.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/04/18/Media/ESPN-Big-East.aspx

[Jihme]

what do we make now per year?  if they're possibly talking about tripling it, then I wonder where we'll be at?

[DELdaBull]

Looks like they really want more than the ACC.

[smazza]

the big east football league is terrible so i dont think football can make many demands

they should add another texas team instead of nova or orlando school

[nobull.Bulls]

I think part of Villanova's decision being postponed is because tv negotiations hadn't started, and the Big East will see who the tv people say to add for more $$$ in the deal.

I expect UCF to be added if ESPN says to add them and Villanova left out

[DELdaBull]

I think part of Villanova's decision being postponed is because tv negotiations hadn't started, and the Big East will see who the tv people say to add for more $$$ in the deal.

I expect UCF to be added if ESPN says to add them and Villanova left out

Um,

neither of those school bring anything extra to the football table.

they did all the could do to help football wise with tcu

[bulldozier1]

If TV people want the BE to bring someone in to give them more money. Why not talk one of the ACC teams to move.

Maryland

Miami

[Cow Pie]

Right now the BEast is right where they want to be... and I know this because of what occurred with Nova. It finally dawned on the Big East leadership that a larger football membership base = mo money, and they need to take a harder look at the other non-Big East schools again.

From what I read Nova, while not a sure thing, was highly likely and they put the brakes on them. Why after all of these months, of the BEast begging Nova to upgrade did they suddenly tell them to cool it down, give us sometime to think this over.

By the sound of it the Big East is allowing ESPN / TV Networks to pick our 10th member... IF ESPN / TV Networks picks the 10th member or even has the power to suggest a school, then I can guarantee that Nova will not be in ESPN's top 3, let alone their top 5.

After, what... 2 years of watching ESPN pontificate over who the Big East SHOULD add and who they SHOULD'NT, not once did they ever say that adding Nova would be a good move. ESPN heavily lobbied for the addition of the below schools.... the only time the Big East even mentioned Nova was in passing.

- UCF

- ECU

- Houston

- Navy

- Army

- Memphis

Basically my point is this... lets say ESPN or another TV Network says... ah you want a tv network deal well let me tell ya something, that Nova does not excite us, how about Houston or UCF... then the Big East will most certainly vote to add one of those instead.

Money talks and **** walks...

[Apis Bull]

If TV people want the BE to bring someone in to give them more money. Why not talk one of the ACC teams to move.

Maryland

Miami

Good luck with that.