Big East - West Coast Alliance. 20 programs including the Toreros. I just don't see how it makes any sense for another conference to bring in the Zags with no football.
Gonzaga ponders its future in West Coast Conference with UP, others as realignment beckons
Gonzaga is being discussed as a potential target for bigger conferences that never would have looked toward the small school in Spokane, Washington.www.opb.org
Nothing burger piece. No new intel unfortunately.Gonzaga ponders its future in West Coast Conference with UP, others as realignment beckons
Gonzaga is being discussed as a potential target for bigger conferences that never would have looked toward the small school in Spokane, Washington.www.opb.org
They are the best option for #12. Gonzaga is two bad coaches away from a nightmare.
Now, if you’re telling me that we could get more for it big east basketball rights if we bundled them with Pac 12 basketball rights I would be all in on that. They could do a separate deal for their football.
Where have you been? The Big East as a top basketball conference has been dieing a slow death for years now. None of the original anchors like St John’s, Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown, and BC have seen regular AP top ten appearances for it seems like years. Even Villanova is on a precipitous cliff since Jay Wright left. Once UConn leaves (and their bags have been packed since AD Dave hired Mora to coach the football team) that will be the nail in the coffin. The Big East Tournament at MSG is not even near the annual sports mega tourney it once was.
I think we’ll see a rejuvenated Big East tourney this year. You could see from the Georgetown sellout that the UConn fan base is rejuvenated. A new generation of fans is sure to be hooked by this great team and the new talent coming in next year.
That may all be true but my main point was that once UConn leaves for greener pastures with all it’s highly successful athletic programs in tow, the Big East will drop to a MAC level or A10 level conference. UConn is very very marketable now that the football program has been reinvigorated by Jim Mora.
You are wrong about the Big East. The Big East was easily a top 5 men's basketball conference before UConn rejoined. Almost all of the schools in the Big East are basketball focused and they will field very competitive teams. The Big East Tournament at MSG is the crown jewell and I really don't think any other conference and certainly no mid major conference has anything comparable. As for recruiting, the Big East has averaged 5 schools in the top 50 recruiting rankers per year since 2017. That is a top conference. A current bad school like Georgetown still attracts top 100 recruits so when they get a good coach, they will be back.
The only thing that you said in your reply to my post that was correct was to use the word “was”, when referring to the Big East as a top 5 men’s conference. As for recruiting, how about looking at last year or the year before (without including UConn) instead of going back 6 years to 2017. When was the last time there was more than four Big East schools in the AP top 25 at one time? Maybe 10 years ago, but even there I’m not so sure. Look at Big East schools that made the big dance, Villanova, Providence, St John’s, Seton Hall, DePaul, and Butler. What have they done lately? Especially founding members StJohns, Seton Hall, and Providence. As for your take on the BET at MSG, ratings are no where near what they were several years back, and who broadcasts them nowadays, compared to 15 or more years ago? You’re living in a dream world if you think the BET tournament carry’s the same weight it did 15 or more years ago. Just look at the coaches now in the Big East, no more Carnasecca, Rollie, John Thompson, Jay Wright, Rick Barnes, Rick Petino, PJ Carlisemo, Dave Gavitt, Rafftery, or JC. Yes, they have Hurley for the time being and I like Kevin Willard, but even they aren’t in the same class yet as the previously mentioned, some of whom are HOF’ers. Like I said, UConn’s bags are packed and when they leave, the Big East will revert to the Big Least.
So, what you’re saying is a Conference without its best schools isn’t that good. Duly noted.
Could not agree more. The NIT is leaving the Garden because MSG won’t absorb the production costs, uplinks, officials, etc. It just a matter of time before the BE is forced to do the same thing. The revenue just isn’t there.
The NIT is leaving MSG because the tournament has become completely irrelevant. An NBA franchise plays at MSG. It is a destination arena.
No that’s not true, it’s all about money. So the Dolan family is making the NIT irrelevant for teams that don’t make it to a 15 or 16 seed? Lol. If it’s a destination arena it’s sad that St John’s, Iona, Marist, or Rutgers might never play there again.
What are you talking about? Isn't the BET virtually sold out now, almost 3 months in advance?
I wasn’t really talking about ticket revenue, it’s small potatoes. Get a clue.
Are you saying msg is supposed to pay for the officials that referee for the nit?
So how many years does the Big East have left at MSG do you think?
I said OFFCIALS, not referees, meaning timekeepers, technicians, operations, shot clocks, and all sorts of support personnel etc. Bad choice of words on my part. If what you asked were true that would be like making ESPN pay for the refs at the Super Bowl instead of the NFL, it’s an absurd thought. MSG is a special case however, because MSG owns the venue, arena, and all of the television production facilities, sat uplinks, fiber lines etc . To use MSG is an expensive thing to put on for the NIT or the BET, and revenue for these tournaments have been going down in the past few years, it has nothing to do with ticket sales and everything to do with falling ratings, especially for the NIT. MSG wants to help out with costs to put on the NIT with it’s history and tradition but only to a point. An MSG arena sellout is a drop in the bucket for MSG compared to how much they can make off of expected ratings, the higher the expected rating the more they can charge for TV ads, one 30 sec Ford Truck commercial will pay for all the seats in MSG times 1000. My contention is, once UConn leaves the Big East, the BET at MSG will begin approaching the NIT in relevance. Same thing for the Super Bowl, ad sales is everything and it all hinges on ratings. A sellout in ticket sales mean nothing.
It depends on UConn and how long they hang around, and if Villanova upgrades its football program. If Villanova upgrades football they’ll leave too eventually.
The big east tourney is at msg through 2028, they most likely won’t even begin negotiating for two more years, so this idea that msg is looking to get out is most likely just in your mind only at this point, or have you actually seen anything?
No, ticket sales are a drop in the bucket compared to the ratings and that being tied to national ad sales. Ratings are important because they determine how much broadcasters can charge. If you think the Super Bowl which is another sports venue, makes the majority of its money on ticket sales, then I can’t even begin to tell you how wrong you are. MSG is not just the arena, MSG is a nationwide sports broadcaster, production facilities, etc. It’s no different than ESPN or the Yankees YES network. Why do you think the Yankees decided several years back to broadcast their own games?
I'll ask again. What are you talking about?