Big East near 10-year extension with Madison Square Garden

[Bulls1181]

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2012-08-21/big-east-near-10-year-extension-with-madison-square-garden

Big East near 10-year extension with Madison Square Garden

One key element to holding the Big East’s football and basketball factions together is the championship tournament that ends each hoop season at Madison Square Garden, and the future of that event appears to be growing more secure.

The New York Post this week quoted sources as stating the conference and the Garden are close to a 10-year extension on their contract that would keep the Big East Tournament at MSG until 2026.

That represents an enormous step forward for the future of the league. With the tournament set at the Garden for nearly two decades, the league’s basketball members would have to make enormous sacrifices in terms of finances and exposure to go their own way and form a basketball-only conference. They would have to surrender the Big East name, accrued NCAA Tournament earnings and now the opportunity to finish the year in Madison Square Garden, which long has been an important selling point for recruits.

The Big East soon will enter the first phase of its television negotiations, with ESPN owning a 60-day window starting Sept. 1 to exclusively negotiate a contract extension with the conference. If they do not reach an agreement, then other networks, such as Fox or NBC, could enter the bidding.

Speculation about a possible break between the football-playing members (including UConn, Rutgers, Cincinnati and Louisville) and basketball-first members (such as St. John’s, Villanova, Georgetown and Seton Hall) has been part of the Big East dynamic since the league started sponsoring football competition in the early 1990s. But little of that conversation has taken into account the certainty that it would be difficult to afford for the basketball members, or that they might not be eager to detach themselves from their football partners given the political power the sport carries.

If the Big East indeed completes an extension with MSG that runs well into the next decade, it’ll be harder than ever to start an argument that the two Big East factions will head toward a split.

[outrunner]

This would be huge to get done.

[Triple B]

This would be huge to get done.

Agreed ... Mainly because of this, If the Big East indeed completes an extension with MSG that runs well into the next decade, it’ll be harder than ever to start an argument that the two Big East factions will head toward a split.

[South_Florida_Flip]

Hope this gets taken care of real soon.

[bulls phanatic]

Nice job

[Bull Martin]

With the new TV numbers getting tossed around, I don't think anyone will be looking until after the TV deal gets done.

That's really all that matters at this point. The basketball schools aren't getting a better TV deal on their own and it's getting speculated that the Big East will likely be ok in terms of TV deals.

[Gismo]

With the new TV numbers getting tossed around, I don't think anyone will be looking until after the TV deal gets done.

That's really all that matters at this point. The basketball schools aren't getting a better TV deal on their own and it's getting speculated that the Big East will likely be ok in terms of TV deals.

Football and basketball might actually need each other in this instance get the best deal possible.

[Triple B]

With the new TV numbers getting tossed around, I don't think anyone will be looking until after the TV deal gets done.

That's really all that matters at this point. The basketball schools aren't getting a better TV deal on their own and it's getting speculated that the Big East will likely be ok in terms of TV deals.

Football and basketball might actually need each other in this instance get the best deal possible.

I think that's pretty much a given ...

[slbpsi63]

This needs to be done before the TV contract negotiations start. It will be a sign of increaseing stability, and provide security in our marketability on the basketball side.

[DELdaBull]

This is a good thing