Interesting take on Big East TV deal

Harry · August 20, 2012

Reaction III: I tweeted this early last week, but it’s worth repeating here: The Big East’s decision to retain Bevilacqua is important not only for that conference but for all of major college sports. He gives the conference as good a chance as any consultant to land a TV rights deal that will satisfy its members (both continuing and new partners) and provide desperately-needed stability. The last thing we need is a Big East implosion and a new round of realignment that could adversely affect student athletes across all sports.

Reaction IV: So what kind of deal are we talking about for the BE? It turned down an offer from ESPN last year that was reportedly worth $11 million per school, which looked like a monumentally bad decision in the wake of the subsequent Pitt/Syracuse/WVU departures. But my realignment sources believe the conference will, in fact, sign a comparable deal in the next few months, for three reasons: 1) The additions of Boise State and San Diego State are appealing to the networks because the conference now has access to all four times zones 2) Comcast, which owns NBC and was outbid for the Pac-12 rights, is eager to add to its college football inventory, and 3) The Big East is the only conference with its rights currently up for bid. I expect an ESPN/Comcast partnership, with ESPN handling Big East basketball — those two entities have grown up together — and NBC taking the lead on Big East football.

Read more: http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2012/08/20/actionreaction-big-east-tv-deal-my-ap-ballot-stanfords-qb-situation-gotta-love-kiffin-and-mora/