THE BIG EAST CONFERENCE

[EPJr]

The Big East is hoping to resolve its divorce with the seven departing Catholic-based basketball schools within the next few weeks -- in time for a summer 2014 departure -- according to a source who had detailed knowledge of Friday's conference call with the Big East.

The source said the remaining Big East schools expect a legal battle with the departing schools for the Big East name, which carries with it branding rights and national recognition.

The departing seven -- Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Marquette, DePaul and Villanova -- still must form a league. They also need to decide on a commissioner, bylaws, location, championships, compliance rules and how many schools they will add. The departing seven are expected initially to target Butler and Xavier out of the Atlantic 10 and possibly grow to 10 or 12 teams with candidates among Creighton, Dayton, Saint Louis, Richmond and VCU.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story ... ource-says" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[EPJr]

NBC joins bidding war for Catholic schools


NBC Sports Network verbally offered the Big East between $20 million and $23 million per year for six years to acquire the league's media rights, sources told ESPN.

NBC Sports Network's deal for the Big East would include a "bridge year" for basketball in 2013-14 and then would "sync" the football and basketball deals together for another five to six seasons so they expire at the same time.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... ghts-deals

[EPJr]

John Feinstein
Catholic 7 schools, including Georgetown, charting a new yet familiar path

Now it appears that the Catholic 7 may launch as early as next season as a two-division, 12-team league with a TV contract that will probably be comparable to what the former Big East schools would have made if they had accepted ESPN’s offer.

In the next few months, the league will formally decide what schools it will invite to join, no doubt after first learning which ones will accept their invitation. It must also resolve two issues with its former conference: who gets to keep the Big East name and who might play their conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. The smart money is on the remaining Big East teams hanging on for dear life to the conference name and MSG preferring the new league, which will have a number of glamour teams, to be its March tenant going forward.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/co ... ory_1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[EPJr]

No winner in name game
ROBBINS' NEST

St. John’s president Father Donald J. Harrington said — in a hastily arranged conference call just minutes before the Red Storm’s tipoff against St. Francis of Brooklyn — his group was ready to move forward without the Big East name.

Multiple sources told The Post that is not so. The Group of Seven want the name, which belongs to the Big East. Those sources also said teams remaining in the Big East see great value in the name recognition of the league.

A source in the Big East said though the league prefers not to litigate, it will fight to retain the name. The Post recently reported the Big East probably would win such a case, but it’s not a slam dunk.

The Catholic 7 would have a legitimate argument that when John Q. Public thinks Big East, he thinks Georgetown and St. John’s, not Cincinnati and South Florida. A lawsuit would be messy and expensive.

Is it possible the two sides reach an agreement and everyone puts on a smiley face? Sure. But even the most amicable divorces leave scars.

So now the Garden is in a great place: It can go with the ACC, which would bring its tournament to New York for the 2015-16 season. Or it can go with the Catholic 7, which has a deal in place through 2026.

Even if the ACC decided after five years to rotate its tournament site — a move that might be necessary to placate the Southern schools in the league, it would continue to return.

“The Garden is more important to the Catholic 7 than the Catholic 7 is to the Garden,’’ said one source.

If this should happen, if the Catholic 7 doesn’t get its ducks in a row and the Garden goes with the ACC, there could be, let’s call it arena realignment.

Barclays Center has the Atlantic 10 postseason tournament. But if Butler, Xavier and St. Louis, among others, leave the A-10 for the Catholic 7 conference, that league could move to Barclays. Sources said Barclays has even had a couple of “feeling out” conversations with the Big Ten

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/ ... MmA5Ph1NzN

[EPJr]

Report:
Big East could change conference name as part of new TV deal



The Big East Conference might be looking for a new name in the wake of a brand new television deal with ESPN.

CBS Sports’ Jeremy Fowler reported that the conference discussed a name change as part of television negotiations with NBC Sports Network. NBC reportedly offered around $20 million per season for the conference’s television rights, but ESPN matched the offer.

The conference could then sell the name to the “Catholic 7″ schools — DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Villanova — that are planning to break away from the conference to form their own league.

As Fowler points out, the conference’s name will likely hold little meaning to the teams set to make up the conference in the coming years. Tulane, Memphis and SMU are set to enter the conference. The “Big East” will have more of an old Conference USA look, and no football team in the conference’s 10-team 2014 roster has been a part of the league for more than nine years


http://tracking.si.com/2013/02/26/big-e ... &eref=sihp

[Franks Tanks]

No winner in name game
ROBBINS' NEST

St. John’s president Father Donald J. Harrington said — in a hastily arranged conference call just minutes before the Red Storm’s tipoff against St. Francis of Brooklyn — his group was ready to move forward without the Big East name.

Multiple sources told The Post that is not so. The Group of Seven want the name, which belongs to the Big East. Those sources also said teams remaining in the Big East see great value in the name recognition of the league.

A source in the Big East said though the league prefers not to litigate, it will fight to retain the name. The Post recently reported the Big East probably would win such a case, but it’s not a slam dunk.

The Catholic 7 would have a legitimate argument that when John Q. Public thinks Big East, he thinks Georgetown and St. John’s, not Cincinnati and South Florida. A lawsuit would be messy and expensive.

Is it possible the two sides reach an agreement and everyone puts on a smiley face? Sure. But even the most amicable divorces leave scars.

So now the Garden is in a great place: It can go with the ACC, which would bring its tournament to New York for the 2015-16 season. Or it can go with the Catholic 7, which has a deal in place through 2026.

Even if the ACC decided after five years to rotate its tournament site — a move that might be necessary to placate the Southern schools in the league, it would continue to return.

“The Garden is more important to the Catholic 7 than the Catholic 7 is to the Garden,’’ said one source.

If this should happen, if the Catholic 7 doesn’t get its ducks in a row and the Garden goes with the ACC, there could be, let’s call it arena realignment.

Barclays Center has the Atlantic 10 postseason tournament. But if Butler, Xavier and St. Louis, among others, leave the A-10 for the Catholic 7 conference, that league could move to Barclays. Sources said Barclays has even had a couple of “feeling out” conversations with the Big Ten

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/ ... MmA5Ph1NzN

The Prudential Center in Newark (Devils arena) would also be available for a conference tourney.

[EPJr]

Big East, ESPN agree to TV deal


The Big East Conference confirmed Saturday that ESPN has matched a media rights deal offer, keeping the network as the league's primary rights holder.


The deal is for seven years and worth $130 million through the 2019-20 school year, league sources said. The Big East's new deal is worth less per school than its current ESPN deal and six times less than what ESPN presented two years ago.


The conference did not reveal terms of the agreement in its announcement


http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story ... ights-deal

[EPJr]

Catholic 7 ready to breakaway–now



February 27, 2013 – 5:16 pm


The goals for both sides are similar: move towards the future. But according to multiple sources within the Big East, the break away by the Catholic 7 group of schools could start next July and would include the Big East name.

According to sources familiar with the talks, but not authorized to speak about them, the battle for the Catholic 7 schools–Seton Hall, Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul, Villanova, Providence, and St. John’s–is now down to a battle of money.

Big East officials are willing to make this move for 2013 –and sell the Big East name-if enough money is paid to the remaining conference schools.


http://ajerseyguy.com/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/co ... 9687.story

[EPJr]

Catholic Seven could begin play as early as next season

The future of the Catholic Seven basketball conference is expected to become more clear within the next week. An announcement about the television contract with Fox and the teams that the league plans to add could come as early as Tuesday at a Fox Television event in New York City.

Perhaps the most significant development is that the new league appears headed toward beginning play next season, with one source saying that there's a "better chance" that the league starts in 2013-14 than in 2014-15.


Presidents at the Big East football schools are scheduled to meet in Atlanta on Friday where they're expected to sign off on selling the Big East name to the Catholic Seven and finalize the exit fees. The Big East football schools are expected to keep nearly all of the exit fees the league earned from its spree of attrition and the leftover NCAA units from the departure of schools such as Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Syracuse

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/colleg ... z2MFlEyJ8z

[EPJr]

The Big East's seven departing Catholic schools are expected to start their own league next season and will keep the Big East Conference name, sources told ESPN's Brett McMurphy, Andy Katz and Dana O'Neil.

Joining the Catholic 7 schools -- DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova -- in the new "Big East" this fall will be Xavier and Butler, sources said


Fox Sports Network is expected to announce the addition of the Catholic 7/Big East basketball league Tuesday in New York as part of the network's news conference announcing the addition of Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 channels.

Fox Sports Network's deal with the Catholic 7 is expected to be worth at least $3 million annually per school, sources said.


If unable to join the ACC in 2013-14, the Fighting Irish would consider spending one season in the Catholic 7 league before moving to the ACC in 2014, a source said.

It's unknown if the ACC could still add Notre Dame in 2013-14. However, Louisville, which also is leaving the Big East for the ACC, must wait until 2014 because it would disrupt the ACC's football divisions and schedules, a source said. Rutgers also would not leave the Big East for the Big Ten until 2014

While Butler, Xavier are expected to join the new Big East this fall, the Catholic 7 schools are also expected to add Dayton and St. Louis in 2014.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... ng-sources" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[EPJr]

No Resolution To Big East Breakup As Friday Meeting Ends in ATL


A meeting of the Big East Conference leaders ended Friday afternoon in Atlanta without a resolution to the league's impending separation.

Current and future administrators met to discuss the breakup involving seven non-football schools that intend to form their own league. The seven Catholic institutions were expected to leave in 2014 or 2015, but ESPN and other media outlets have reported that the sides are negotiating an exit that would enable the new conference to begin play next year.

Also part of the negotiations is the conference name. Reports indicate the departing schools to take the Big East name in exchange for financial considerations. The Catholic schools are likely to leave money they are entitled to behind and pay an exit fee for the opportunity to kick off the new Big East later this year.

But according to a UConn official, there was nothing definitive decided at the meeting. Negotiations are continuing, but a deal between the sides has not been finalized.

http://www.courant.com/sports/college/h ... 2435.story

[EPJr]

Irish AD: Catholic 7 'a viable option' for one year

If the Catholic 7 is leaving and forming its own conference for next year, they could certainly call us to want to explore our options. And if they were interested in accommodating us, it would certainly be a viable option. We have a lot of respect for those schools and know them well.

-- Notre Dame AD Jack Swabrick

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story ... one-season

[EPJr]

Big pay day coming for Big East 3

Proposal by BEC- 3

C-7 gets $10-15M and the name (and a 2013 exit.)
Incoming schools get $1M each.
UConn, Cincy, USF get $18-25M

Response from C-7

Blaudschun just tweeted that the C-7 countered that they want 35 million of the 100 million......

http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=5423

[EPJr]

Big pay day coming for Big East 3

Proposal by BEC- 3

C-7 gets $10-15M and the name (and a 2013 exit.)
Incoming schools get $1M each.
UConn, Cincy, USF get $18-25M

Response from C-7

Blaudschun just tweeted that the C-7 countered that they want 35 million of the 100 million......

http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=5423

1. Catholic 7 will keep Big East name
2. MSG tournament site
3. Agreement on the split could be announced as early as Thursda
4. BEC football schools expect to have a new conference name
5. BEC football schools expect to have a new site for the conference basketball tournament
6. Cincinnati, South Florida and Connecticut expected to be paid between $15 million to $20 million each.
7. The Catholic 7 schools are likely to get between $3 million and $5 million per school.
8. C-7 also are expected to announce a TV deal with the new Fox Sports Channel.
9. The Big East football schools who will join in 2014 -- are also expected to split another $10 million.
10. Notre Dame is expected to join the ACC in the fall.
11. BEC Football school basketball tournamnet is looking for a place to play, with Hartford the likely first stop in what will be rotating series of sites for a conference which will have UConn, Temple, Cincinnati and Memphis as its basketball anchors.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... s/1963671/

[bluehenbillk]

The MSG Tournament deal is being re-worked. Before it stretched I think till like 2025, now MSG wants to open it up, look for the ACC to play one or two years of their tourney at MSG before the end of the decade. You have all the Cuse fans & if UConn ends up there too they were far & away the 2 biggest fanbases at BET's at MSG for years.

[Ivytalk]

What about a "Jewish 4" consisting of Brandeis, Gratz, Touro and Yeshiva?

[GannonFan]

A lot of ifs and maybes for the basketball schools in this. They're giving up the NCAA credits from post season play, and that's where most of their money has been to date. They need to be successful and have a lot of teams in the tourney in the first few years or the revenue is going to tumble. The TV deal isn't coming out to be a lot, either, and they're putting a lot of stake into a fledgling Fox Sports channel at a time when there's a move to de-couple sports programming from basic cable, meaning that the revenues that entities like ESPN have been raking in from non-sports viewers who didn't have a choice could start to slow down a bit as well. But the biggest issue is is this league going to be any good on the court? nova's shown that they can have some pretty down years, as has G-town. You have to think that Butler is a good program going forward, but Xavier is more like nova and G-town. The rest of the conference is just kinda blah. One thing the bigger Big East had going for them is size - you were almost guaranteed to have some teams on the upswing while others weren't That won't be the case now.

[Seahawks08]

The rest of the conference is just kinda blah.

If they get Creighton, that'll be another top notch bball school. Along with Marquette, Gtown, Nova, Xavier, and Butler, that's 6 possible perennial NCAA tourney teams. And then you have the potential candidates within St. Johns and Providence. The issue, of course, will be if Depaul and Seton Hall can improve. And if they can grab two more schools such as VCU and Saint Louis, it will be one of the best bball conferences in the country.

[EPJr]

Big East, Catholic 7 confirm split is official


The Big East is dead. Long live the Big East.

Thirty-four years after its establishment as a premier basketball conference anchored around major East coast cities, the Big East name will live on in what officials expect to be another premier basketball conference anchored in major East coast cities.

Big East commissioner Michael Aresco announced Friday a split of the Big East effective July 1 with seven of the league's Catholic schools leaving to form their own basketball-dominated league that will take the Big East name and stage its postseason tournament at Madison Square Garden.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... t/1970647/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... n-to-split" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketb ... basketball" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[GannonFan]

The rest of the conference is just kinda blah.

If they get Creighton, that'll be another top notch bball school. Along with Marquette, Gtown, Nova, Xavier, and Butler, that's 6 possible perennial NCAA tourney teams. And then you have the potential candidates within St. Johns and Providence. The issue, of course, will be if Depaul and Seton Hall can improve. And if they can grab two more schools such as VCU and Saint Louis, it will be one of the best bball conferences in the country.

The question is whether those schools can remain good after the money starts to dry up. Heck, even Creighton has had trouble making the tournament through the MVC as of late. The only schools in that group who have consistently been good (really, national good) for the past several years are Butler and Georgetown. Everyone else has been very susceptible to extended down years. And for this league to thrive, it will need to place many teams (4-5 at least) in the NCAA's every year and have most of them make deep runs, with at least one always getting to the Elite Eight, just so they can get that revenue stream that comes along with it. Can they do it? Certainly possible. Will they? Time will tell.

[Seahawks08]

The question is whether those schools can remain good after the money starts to dry up. Heck, even Creighton has had trouble making the tournament through the MVC as of late. The only schools in that group who have consistently been good (really, national good) for the past several years are Butler and Georgetown. Everyone else has been very susceptible to extended down years. And for this league to thrive, it will need to place many teams (4-5 at least) in the NCAA's every year and have most of them make deep runs, with at least one always getting to the Elite Eight, just so they can get that revenue stream that comes along with it. Can they do it? Certainly possible. Will they? Time will tell.

Actually, Gtown and Butler aren't the only schools that have been consistently good for the past several years. I would add Marquette, Nova, Xavier, and argue VCU as part of that group. I don't see any changes happening to the success of those programs unless the head coaches leave.

[GannonFan]

The question is whether those schools can remain good after the money starts to dry up. Heck, even Creighton has had trouble making the tournament through the MVC as of late. The only schools in that group who have consistently been good (really, national good) for the past several years are Butler and Georgetown. Everyone else has been very susceptible to extended down years. And for this league to thrive, it will need to place many teams (4-5 at least) in the NCAA's every year and have most of them make deep runs, with at least one always getting to the Elite Eight, just so they can get that revenue stream that comes along with it. Can they do it? Certainly possible. Will they? Time will tell.

Actually, Gtown and Butler aren't the only schools that have been consistently good for the past several years. I would add Marquette, Nova, Xavier, and argue VCU as part of that group. I don't see any changes happening to the success of those programs unless the head coaches leave.

Well, it still remains to be seen if VCU will even be part of this group - they don't necessarily fit the profile of the other schools so that's a question. And even then, VCU's sudden success is only two years old right now (three with this year) so longevity is still to be seen. Marquette's been a nice team, but in 7 years they still only have 6 NCAA wins. And nova missed the NCAA's last year and only has 1 NCAA win in the past 4 years. That's what needs to change if these schools will continue to thrive - they've lived off the money that has come into the league from football and from the multitude of NCAA credits the league has earned through NCAA appearances and several deep runs, helped by being a huge league that got 9-10 teams in every year. They gave up those credits in this aggreement so it's imperative that they re-establish that pipeline of revenue as soon as possible.

[clenz]

The reason Creighton has struggled to make the NCAA's isn't because of them...it's because the rest of the MVC is really damn good, it just gets no play nationally because it's "mid-major"



Also, Fuck Creighton

[EPJr]

New Big East and Fox Team Up


The new Big East will join a Fox Sports 1 college roster that features the Big 12, the Pacific-12 and Conference USA. Fox also owns 49 percent of the Big Ten Network, carries the Big Ten football championship game and alternates the Pac-12 football title game with ESPN

Fox won them over with a 12-year deal worth about $500 million, according to reports. But the contract could spike to $600 million if the conference grows to a dozen teams, according to two people briefed on the contract but not authorized to speak publicly about its terms. A number of universities are said to be candidates to join the new Big East, including Xavier, an Atlantic 10 member, and Creighton, of the Missouri Valley Conference.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/sport ... .html?_r=1&" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ivytalk]

The reason Creighton has struggled to make the NCAA's isn't because of them...it's because the rest of the MVC is really damn good, it just gets no play nationally because it's "mid-major"



Also, **** Creighton

Nebraska >Iowa