Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive Two people familiar with the deal say the Big East is closing in on a six-year contract with NBC Sports Network for football and basketball rights that will pay the conference about $20 million per year. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because negotiations weren't being made public. One person said the deal would likely be announced within the next two weeks. The Big East first has to go through the process of allowing ESPN, which currently holds the conference's football TV rights, to match the offer Among the issues being discussed by the departing and remaining Big East members are how to split tens of millions of dollars in revenue and which group will play under the Big East name. Notre Dame is also in the Big East for at least one more season before moving its sports - other than football and hockey - to the Atlantic Coast Conference http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ap-source-big-east-moving-015446471--ncaaf.html
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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/sport...a870-7876-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story_1.html
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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/basketball/no_winner_in_name_game_BEN2zMtdOxZqMmA5Ph1NzN
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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/b...eal-espn-realignment/?sct=hp_t2_a10&eref=sihp
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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/_/id/8977673/big-east-conference-espn-agree-tv-rights-deal
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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/college/chi-depaul-marquette-big-east-20130227,0,2929687.story
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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/college-basketball/news/20130228/catholic-7-news/#ixzz2MFlEyJ8z
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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-bas...name-new-league-next-season-according-sources
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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/hc-big-east-0302-20130301,0,7382435.story
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive Irish AD: Catholic 7 'a viable option' for one year -- Notre Dame AD Jack Swabrick http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...ick-open-joining-catholic-7-league-one-season
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive Catholic 7 will keep Big East name MSG tournament site Agreement on the split could be announced as early as Thursda BEC football schools expect to have a new conference name BEC football schools expect to have a new site for the conference basketball tournament Cincinnati, South Florida and Connecticut expected to be paid between $15 million to $20 million each. The Catholic 7 schools are likely to get between $3 million and $5 million per school. C-7 also are expected to announce a TV deal with the new Fox Sports Channel. The Big East football schools who will join in 2014 -- are also expected to split another $10 million. Notre Dame is expected to join the ACC in the fall. 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/ncaab/bigeast/2013/03/04/catholic-seven-7-negotiations/1963671/
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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/ncaab/bigeast/2013/03/08/catholic-7-seven-split/1970647/ http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...g-east-officially-announces-decision-to-split http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2012/12/15/3770622/big-east-split-catholic-7-basketball
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive 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/s...ts-and-new-big-east-are-teaming-up.html?_r=1&
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive It's Official! New Big East adds three, seals deal with Fox The "Catholic 7" has grown to the Catholic 10. And Wednesday, they took a major step toward officially becoming the Big East. As expected, the seven non-football schools that announced a breakaway from the Big East in December officially added Xavier, Butler and Creighton, and celebrated a new media rights deal with Fox during a news conference at News Corp.'s headquarters in New York. The league, which will keep the Big East name after a negotiation with the football schools, begins play with a 10-team lineup in 2013-14. The league is expected to grow to 12, perhaps as early as 2014-15. The league also will continue to call Madison Square Garden in New York the home for its men's basketball tournament. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...r-butler-creighton-signs-tv-contract/2002227/
Re: Seven Big East BB Schools being proactive Big East Conference, FOX reach rights agreement The agreement grants FOX Sports rights to all conference-controlled men’s basketball games, select rights to women’s basketball, all Olympic sports and extensive rights for highlights and to produce ancillary programming. FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports’ newly minted national multi-sport channel which launches this summer, is slated to televise over 100 men’s regular-season basketball games next season. The network is also scheduled to carry the entire Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament each season, live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, the tournament’s home since 1983, and the longest-running conference tournament played at one venue. Also included in the agreement is a full array of “TV Everywhere” rights which adds to the robust content already available on FOXSports.com, one of the nation’s leading sports Internet sites and FOX Sports GO, a groundbreaking mobile sports experience for iPhone, iPad and Android devices launching this August in conjunction with FS1. FOX Sports Go offers more than 1,000 live games and events from across FOX Sports, FS1 and FOX Sports’ 22 regional sports networks, as well as scores, highlights, news, stats, and analysis. Live games and events are available to subscribers of participating cable, satellite, and telco providers at no additional cost. http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebas...-multi-platform-media-rights-agreement-032013
March 12 Game One Seton Hall vs USF 7pm---winner faces Syracuse Game Two Rutgers vs Depaul 9pm---winner faces Notre Dame March 13 Game Three Providence va. Cincinnati 12n Game Four Syracuse vs. Game 1 winner 3pm Game Five Villanove vs. St John's 7pm Game Six Notre Dame vs. Game 2 winner 9p March 14 Game Seven Georgetown vs. Game 3 winner 12n Game Eight Pittsburgh vs. Game 4 winner 3p Game Nine Louisville vs. Game 5 winner 7p Game Ten Marquette vs. Game 6 winner 9p March 15 Semi finals - TBA March 16 Finals -TBA http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/bracket/_/id/137/2013-big-east-tournament
The athletic directors intend to hold weekly conference calls. In addition, each athletic director has been made a liaison for an individual sport. Rasmussen is the liaison for men's and women's tennis. The A.D.s will also hold conference calls with coaches in their individual sports in an attempt to get input on issues that need to be addressed. Complicating matters is the fact that the league has not hired a commissioner, that process might not be completed for another month. There is no league office, no constitution or bylaws. One of the most pressing issues is to finalize schedules for sports that will compete in the fall. Hopefully that could be done by the start of May, but other issues, such as where to play conference tournaments, also must be decided. “This first year, to simplify things, we might hold championships at conference sites,” he said. “That's not to say down the road we might move away from campus sites, but we have so many questions that it might be simpler to say let's go to DePaul with women's basketball and let their administration handle that. “It might be easier to do that than to try to have a neutral-site conference tournament when we don't even have a conference office yet. We not only don't have a commissioner, but we don't have a staff. We don't have a location for the office.” “We're all private schools, so you find that there is some commonality. “There are differences — we have some schools that sponsor 14 sports while some sponsor 20. “For now, we've generated a to-do list and come up with an idea of who's going to do it. If nothing else, we have a lot better structure and foundation to get things done than before we met.” http://www.omaha.com/article/201304...t-athletic-directors-have-much-work-remaining
DePaul president: All-Catholic conference 'never part of the plan' While the presidents negotiated the terms of their departure, fan and media speculation pondered whether the Catholic 7 would seek other like-faith schools to join them in an all-Catholic conference. Holtschneider told NCR that was never the case. "Never," he said. "That was never part of the intentionality of the group. It was never part of the plan." Holtschneider and other presidents smiled when they first heard the Catholic 7 moniker, and he admitted his relief that no one tagged them the "CYO League." But when asked if the presidents weighed the pros and cons of an all-Catholic league, he said it never entered the discussion http://ncronline.org/news/people/depaul-president-all-catholic-conference-never-part-plan
Marquette AD Larry Williams: Big East aiming to have commissioner within six weeks Besides the search for a commissioner, Williams mentioned other aspects of the reinvention and rebranding of the new Big East: ♦ Big East Conference offices currently are located in Providence, R.I. Some of that staff will come over to the new Big East. But Williams said the long-term, permanent location of the league office will be another city, perhaps New York. Other cities – Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. – are possibilities. Chicago will get some consideration. The new commissioner will have a say in where the permanent office is located. "From a practicality standpoint, we just need it in a location that’s easily accessed by airports and trains," Williams said. "New York makes some sense relative to its ease of entry. But it’s expensive. So we are thinking do you just have kind of a beach head in New York. But the reality is so much work can get done in New York." ♦ Getting referees in place for the men’s basketball season is a high priority. ♦ The conference schedule in men’s basketball likely will be a round robin, giving each team 18 conference games. ♦ Williams said discussions between Fox Sports and the new league continue about what regular nights, if any, are the ideal ones to play games. ♦ The presidents of the new league have adopted a set of bylaws "just a few days ago, and we are comfortable with those." http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/202758081.html
