The Official Conference Realignment Rumors Thread

[SJA]

I have a buddy that works for espn. They were more than pissed about the big east turning down their offer and wanting to open the biding to other networks.

espn would have never gotten the same deal they offered with open bidding. So by destroying the big east they ruined any tv contact they might have gotten. They also made the acc more attractive and lucrative with syracuse and pitt and the new contract, which never would have been negotiated if not for expansion. They killed two birds with one stone.

Of coarse they will vehemently deny because that would be a hundred million dollar lawsuit. Espn will rue the day they manipulated this to happen.

LOL It's so much easier to blame everyone else rather than looking in the mirror.

[CT203]

LOL It's so much easier to blame everyone else rather than looking in the mirror.

What blame? Even care to explain or elaborate this comment you made with no substance....

Guess facts just don't bode well for you. There is a lot more to this than just what the surface says

[SJA]

What blame? Even care to explain or elaborate this comment you made with no substance....

Guess facts just don't bode well for you. There is a lot more to this than just what the surface says

"What blame?" Well your are blaming ESPN for the Big Easts demise and BC for UConn not getting into the ACC. All that ESPN, BC and the ACC have done are the same things that every other conference/network/university have done. They have made this about football and the money that come with it. So they took schools that fit the bill...and UConn didn't make the cut.

Regarding looking in the mirror...The Big East has been mismanaged for decades and they are crumbling due to that mismanagment. A conference cannot build themselves around two different sets of schools. If you do, you better damn be sure that you are a football conference first. But the moment that plan starts to fail and other conferences raid them, they whine and/or sue as they turn around and raid someone else. ESPN did not ruin the Big East...the Big East ruined the Big East.

[PrivateO]

"What blame?" Well your are blaming ESPN for the Big Easts demise and BC for UConn not getting into the ACC. All that ESPN, BC and the ACC have done are the same things that every other conference/network/university have done. They have made this about football and the money that come with it. So they took schools that fit the bill...and UConn didn't make the cut.

Regarding looking in the mirror...The Big East has been mismanaged for decades and they are crumbling due to that mismanagment. A conference cannot build themselves around two different sets of schools. If you do, you better damn be sure that you are a football conference first. But the moment that plan starts to fail and other conferences raid them, they whine and/or sue as they turn around and raid someone else. ESPN did not ruin the Big East...the Big East ruined the Big East.

While I do agree with you that in the end, the Big East's demise was the differing opinions between the football schools and the basketball schools and the lack of leadership up top, I think it's a fine theory to believe that ESPN did have a hand in this. Numerous reports/articles are out there that claim this, if you haven't seen them.

[CT203]

"What blame?" Well your are blaming ESPN for the Big Easts demise and BC for UConn not getting into the ACC. All that ESPN, BC and the ACC have done are the same things that every other conference/network/university have done. They have made this about football and the money that come with it. So they took schools that fit the bill...and UConn didn't make the cut.

Regarding looking in the mirror...The Big East has been mismanaged for decades and they are crumbling due to that mismanagment. A conference cannot build themselves around two different sets of schools. If you do, you better damn be sure that you are a football conference first. But the moment that plan starts to fail and other conferences raid them, they whine and/or sue as they turn around and raid someone else. ESPN did not ruin the Big East...the Big East ruined the Big East.

Most of what you said here is flat out wrong and shows how misinformed you are.

1. ESPN told the ACC to target Syracuse and UConn. Those were the 2 schools they told them to target. BC cried not fair and moaned and refused to vote for UConn to enter the BE. ESPN then told the ACC Pitt would be the next best option.

2. UConn has 2 BE titles in the past 3 years in football and a BCS appearance. Pitt and Cuse have how many? UConn has been D-1 for just about 10 years now and what they have accomplished in those 10 years is extremely impressive. They have a football facility as good as any school in the country, except Oregon. Bill Belichick even said it was an NFL level facility and better than theirs.

3. ESPN led the destruction of the BE because their monopoly on sports and controlling the BE was about ot come to an end after this year since there would be an open bid to broadcast all BE football and bball games. Fox, NBC, and CBS were going to get in on the bidding and since they do not have a contract with a college conference exclusively they would have outbid any big ESPN would have made. ESPN saw this as a threat to their sports monopoly and had to do whatever it took to protect their business venture and that was to devalue the Big East while making the ACC more attractive, business wise.

4. ESPN offered the Big East the same deal the ACC signed. Big East would have gotten a more lucrative deal because they have better markets controlled than any conference in the entire country. NYC, Philly, DC, Chicago, Cinci, Tampa, Pennsylvania and if TCU stayed they had the Dallas market. That is a recipe for a very lucrative deal because the conference would be shown in millions more homes than any other conference.

5. You have no idea about the past history between BC and UConn. They hate each other and BC believes they are the premier sports institution in New England but UConn has surpassed them in every sport except hockey. UConn is a top 5 soccer program, best combined bball program (mens and womens) or a top 6 mens program, and they have faired better than PItt and Syracuse in football over the past 5 years when both those schools have been D-1 for ages. IF UConn joined the ACC it would mean BC would become the red headed step sister and fall further behind. They would no longer steal the better football recruits like they ahve been for the past quarter century. BC will do anything it takes to make sure they are the only New England school in the ACC

6. They have been mismanaged as a conference but that is due in fact to Notre Dame holding the conference hostage because they did not want to become full fledged members. The other Bball members were upset about the football schools getting more in revenue and that caused them to not allow for further expansion this past year and instead led to a half assed proposal to have Nova move up to D-1, which wont happen anytime soon.

7. The NCAA tourney brought in over $1 billion dollar tv deal. If you think for one moment ESPN was not thinking about money and how to prevent another network from stealing one of their golden childs... you are mistaken. This was all orchestrated by ESPN and it all has to due with football and money. College sports are no longer just about student athletes but rather about exploiting the student athletes in a multi million dollar for profit business to broadcast their games and pad the pockets of top execs and conference heads.


ESPN better hope more stuff like what the BC athletic director does not come out because it will definitely turn into an anti trust lawsuit in the hundreds of millions and congress might even step in.

[Birds of B'more]

4. ESPN offered the Big East the same deal the ACC signed. Big East would have gotten a more lucrative deal because they have better markets controlled than any conference in the entire country. NYC, Philly, DC, Chicago, Cinci, Tampa, Pennsylvania and if TCU stayed they had the Dallas market. That is a recipe for a very lucrative deal because the conference would be shown in millions more homes than any other conference.

Define "markets controlled." Just because you exist in a certain market doesn't mean you control it. Everyone knows that football is by far the most valuable property in college sports (85-15 vs basketball according to DeFilippo). Where is the Big East's "control" in Philly, DC, Chicago and even Dallas if TCU stayed? Even in Tampa, I bet Florida Gators fans outnumber USF fans 2 to 1.

Now, if the Big East was going to launch its own cable network and rake in monthly subscription fees, then that's an entirely different matter and simply having enough of a presence to get on cable and satellite carriers is good enough. But if you're on someone else's network, they want/need TV viewers to pay the freight. And during football season the Big East isn't getting those viewers out of Philly (Penn St), DC (MD, UVA, VT), Chicago (ND, Illinois, NW) or Dallas (Texas, Texas A&M).

[CT203]

You are right not controlled but have a footprint in those markets. NYC alone is a larger market than just about the entire south. But their footprint and reach, before the fallout, was the widest of any conference and would have reached more tvs than any conference even without their own network.

[PrivateO]

Some things from the article:

The basketball schools want to raise the exit penalty to $10 million while also asking for a 15-year commitment. The football schools have rejected this.
Villanova doesn't want Temple for all sports, only football. The football schools want them for all sports
Louisville, Cincinnati, and South Florida don't want Boise. It sounds like Boise wants a commitment the 6 remaining schools before they jump.

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index....cloud.html

As we could have guessed, the basketball schools want a commitment from those football schools still in the Big East (UL, UC, UConn, Rutgers, etc.). They don't want to accept in any members and then have the rest bolt to other conferences.

I don't know how this will end up (because things change by the hour), but an ugly split could happen. Yesterday, I was certain the Big East could survive, now I'm not.

[SJA]

While I do agree with you that in the end, the Big East's demise was the differing opinions between the football schools and the basketball schools and the lack of leadership up top, I think it's a fine theory to believe that ESPN did have a hand in this. Numerous reports/articles are out there that claim this, if you haven't seen them.

I am by no means exhonerating ESPN. But they just helped the snowball down the hill a little faster. They didn't start the snowball rolling. I am just tired of hearing everyone but the BE get blamed (not just on the OH). They created the problem...ESPN and the ACC took advantage of it.

When something goes wrong, find someone else to blame...sue and profit off of it if you can...even though at the beginning of the day, it was your own fault.

Most of what you said here is flat out wrong and shows how misinformed you are.

The fact that you completely missed my point tells me that you have no idea if I am right, wrong or somewhere in-between.

1. ESPN told the ACC to target Syracuse and UConn. Those were the 2 schools they told them to target. BC cried not fair and moaned and refused to vote for UConn to enter the BE. ESPN then told the ACC Pitt would be the next best option.

First, that rumor was started by Mark Blaudschun and that was pure speculation on his part...he didn't even use an "unnamed source". Every other article that mentions that is referencing Marks article. Considering his lack of reliability, I doubt everything that he says. Or is this something that your "buddy" at ESPN told you because I know a guy that lives in Bristol and works at a Dippin Dots cart at Lake Compounce where Sean Bratches once bought a cup of cookies 'n cream and he says otherwise.

Second, if ESPN really wanted UConn over Pitt, they would have told the ACC to take a flying leap when the ACC told them that they wanted Pitt. At which point, the other ACC members would have changed their vote back to UConn. Unless your saying that Gene DeFilippo has more pull than ESPN...please tell me that's not what your are saying.

2. UConn has 2 BE titles in the past 3 years in football and a BCS appearance. Pitt and Cuse have how many? UConn has been D-1 for just about 10 years now and what they have accomplished in those 10 years is extremely impressive. They have a football facility as good as any school in the country, except Oregon. Bill Belichick even said it was an NFL level facility and better than theirs.

As for UConn's shared BE titles, no one outside of Connecticut really cares that much. The Big East received little respect as a football conference before VT/Miami/BC left and it has received even less since. And most college football fans/media see UConn's BCS bid as a joke/punchline.

Regardless, all of that "success" came with Edsall at the helm. How is UConn's FB program doing now that he is gone? Sure it's early...but it hasn't started well. Maybe the program will resurrect, maybe it won't. But a FB program that has had success under only one head coach (who is now gone) over a small time frame is not considered by the powers that be to be a viable risk.

To your point regarding Pitt and Cuse, you are correct that they have been down in recent years (Well Pitt actually had a share of last years title). But they have history on their side. Syracuse and Pitt each have 5 guys in the NFL HoF. They each have a Heisman winner. They have 6 conference titles between them. They have 3 national titles between them. Sure thats mostly old history, but that gives them football clout and fanbases that extend well beyond their respective states. Something UConn doesn't have (but they may get there at some point).

3. ESPN led the destruction of the BE because their monopoly on sports and controlling the BE was about ot come to an end after this year since there would be an open bid to broadcast all BE football and bball games. Fox, NBC, and CBS were going to get in on the bidding and since they do not have a contract with a college conference exclusively they would have outbid any big ESPN would have made. ESPN saw this as a threat to their sports monopoly and had to do whatever it took to protect their business venture and that was to devalue the Big East while making the ACC more attractive, business wise.

I don't know what you mean by "led", but the Big East was crumbling well before this TV negotiation started. Yes ESPN helped it along. I have not and will not deny that. But I will never agree that this is ESPN's fault.

4. ESPN offered the Big East the same deal the ACC signed. Big East would have gotten a more lucrative deal because they have better markets controlled than any conference in the entire country. NYC, Philly, DC, Chicago, Cinci, Tampa, Pennsylvania and if TCU stayed they had the Dallas market. That is a recipe for a very lucrative deal because the conference would be shown in millions more homes than any other conference.

I see that you stepped back from this comment by saying "footprint" rather than "market control". That greatly diminishes this point as having a "footprint" means very little. Just having a presence in a market means nothing if that market isn't tuning in. So please tell me how many TV's are tuning in to watch Big East football in NYC, Philly, DC, Chicago, etc... Well, look at the numbers

An important line from that article is:

Even before losing Pittsburgh and Syracuse, the eight Big East teams had only about 5.3 million fans between them — well below that of the other major conferences.

Sure they had fewer schools. But if you look at the rankings they show, the Big East's largest fanbase (WVU) is only the 29th largest...easily the weakest of every BCS conferences top school. So how is it possible with such a weak fanbase that the Big East was going to get some massively lucrative deal?

5. You have no idea about the past history between BC and UConn. They hate each other and BC believes they are the premier sports institution in New England but UConn has surpassed them in every sport except hockey. UConn is a top 5 soccer program, best combined bball program (mens and womens) or a top 6 mens program, and they have faired better than PItt and Syracuse in football over the past 5 years when both those schools have been D-1 for ages. IF UConn joined the ACC it would mean BC would become the red headed step sister and fall further behind. They would no longer steal the better football recruits like they ahve been for the past quarter century. BC will do anything it takes to make sure they are the only New England school in the ACC

Why would you assume to know what I do/don't know about a BC/UConn rivalry? The mere fact that you would assume that ruins any credibility that you may have had.

6. They have been mismanaged as a conference but that is due in fact to Notre Dame holding the conference hostage because they did not want to become full fledged members. The other Bball members were upset about the football schools getting more in revenue and that caused them to not allow for further expansion this past year and instead led to a half assed proposal to have Nova move up to D-1, which wont happen anytime soon.

We agree that they have been mismanaged, but it's more than just ND. Even if you want to put blame on them, who voted to bring them in??? Must have been ESPN, right?

7. The NCAA tourney brought in over $1 billion dollar tv deal. If you think for one moment ESPN was not thinking about money and how to prevent another network from stealing one of their golden childs... you are mistaken. This was all orchestrated by ESPN and it all has to due with football and money. College sports are no longer just about student athletes but rather about exploiting the student athletes in a multi million dollar for profit business to broadcast their games and pad the pockets of top execs and conference heads.

The amount of money in the NCAA tourney deal has nothing to do with this conversation. As for the Big East being a golden child, that's just hilarious. Outside of that, I pretty much agreed with everything you said in this point in my previous statement, so I don't get how this is a rebuttal point.

ESPN better hope more stuff like what the BC athletic director does not come out because it will definitely turn into an anti trust lawsuit in the hundreds of millions and congress might even step in.

Good...maybe then we can get a real college football playoff.

[PrivateO]

I am by no means exhonerating ESPN. But they just helped the snowball down the hill a little faster. They didn't start the snowball rolling. I am just tired of hearing everyone but the BE get blamed (not just on the OH). They created the problem...ESPN and the ACC took advantage of it.

I can wholeheartedly agree with this.

[PrivateO]

Kansas City Star's Mike DeArmond (on Twitter):
"Some in the Missouri media - myself included - are hearing the next public step on the MU/SEC scene could come late next week at earliest."
"MU curators to meet in KC next Thursday-Friday bu that meeting was set up a long time ago."

From the Columbia Tribune: Dave_MatterDave Matter
"Was told MU officials may not know more on Big 12/SEC until "late next week." Curators have regularly scheduled mtng next Thurs-Fri @ UMKC"

[PrivateO]

GSwaim
#Mizzou definately has #SEC offer, but Slive just going through the necessary steps to avoid lawsuits, etc. "It will happen soon", I'm told.

GSwaim BigTime TV/Radio
WOW... @CBSSports reporting that the NCAA is looking into cutting scholarships for football and basketball: bit.ly/NCAACuts

Tweets from Swaim. Take with a grain of salt.

[square634]

Major news coming not only from a tweet, but a tweet with the word "definitely" spelled wrong. Kids these days...

/22 year old

[PrivateO]

Major news coming not only from a tweet, but a tweet with the word "definitely" spelled wrong. Kids these days...

/22 year old

Haha wow! I didn't even notice that. Swaim....

[Birds of B'more]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...ools-expansion

The Big East plans to invite Boise State, Air Force and Navy as football-only members, and Central Florida to compete in all sports, after it doubles the exit fee for current members to $10 million, a conference official told The Associated Press.

Big East officials were meeting with UCF representatives on Friday, as the conference closed in on extending formal invitations for expansion, a source told ESPN's Joe Schad. A conference call of Big East presidents and chancellors was scheduled for later Friday, the source said.

Meanwhile...

@CFTalk
CollegeFootballTalk
The commissioners of the MWC and Conference USA will hold a joint teleconference tonight at 6:30 pm ET.

So, we've heard in the past that the MWC and CUSA were in cahoots to stage a championship game between the winner of each conference, and the winner of that game would then receive an automatic BCS invite. Of course there's a couple things that have to be ironed out there first....namely NCAA approval, and the not-so-little matter of getting the BCS to agree to the invite. But it's clear that both the MWC and CUSA are on notice now that the Big East has made it clear they will make moves to expand quickly. I'm not sure the two will be able to act fast and decisively enough to prevent any defections. Like the cliche goes, we're seeing the s*** roll down the hill right now.