I got the idea from the Louisville scout board.

The idea is that a potential lockout of the NFL season could potentailly become a big deal for the Big East.

No other BCS conference is as well situated to take advantage of this situation as the Big East. Other than WVU, all of the Big East schools fanbases are very local. Big East schools can comparatively change dates easier the statewide fanbases in other conferences.

I could very realistically see a scenario where the Big East moves it's conference games to Sundays on ESPN if there is an NFL lockout this season.

Without the Steelers, Giants, Jets, Bucs or Bengals playing I could see a ticket boost for Pitt, UConn, Rutgers, USF, and Cincy. Also a great deal more coverage nationally on the conference with viewers needing a Sunday football fix.

So how would it effect you if the Big East did this? Would you favor such a move in that scenario?

Currently game times may not be decided until 7-10 days in advance, but game dates are known way in advance. A problem would be how far out do you move games to Sunday, or back to Saturday if a resolution was made in season. Creative thinking though I don't know how feasible it would be.

(02-14-2011 10:53 PM)ULdave Wrote:  I got the idea from the Louisville scout board.

The idea is that a potential lockout of the NFL season could potentailly become a big deal for the Big East.

No other BCS conference is as well situated to take advantage of this situation as the Big East. Other than WVU, all of the Big East schools fanbases are very local. Big East schools can comparatively change dates easier the statewide fanbases in other conferences.

I could very realistically see a scenario where the Big East moves it's conference games to Sundays on ESPN if there is an NFL lockout this season.

Without the Steelers, Giants, Jets, Bucs or Bengals playing I could see a ticket boost for Pitt, UConn, Rutgers, USF, and Cincy. Also a great deal more coverage nationally on the conference with viewers needing a Sunday football fix.

So how would it effect you if the Big East did this? Would you favor such a move in that scenario?

Current contract reads 2 games can be scheduled for Sunday.

2008 was the 1st year of a new six year deal with ABC & ESPN for the football rights to the conference. 17 games are guaranteed to be televised on ABC/ESPN and at least three games are supposed to air on ABC. In addition, up to four games can appear on Thursdays on ESPN and two games could appear on Sunday nights if needed.

I don't recall any Sunday night NCAA games last season. ESPN was putting them up against NBC's NFL game of the week.

I remember them a season or 2 back.....I recall being at the UConn @ USF game on a Sunday night in the 2008 season.

I've been saying the lockout could be huge for The BEast this year for weeks, and you guys are just now figuring this out...

(02-14-2011 11:14 PM)CollegeCard Wrote:  Currently game times may not be decided until 7-10 days in advance, but game dates are known way in advance. A problem would be how far out do you move games to Sunday, or back to Saturday if a resolution was made in season. Creative thinking though I don't know how feasible it would be.

Yeah, switching dates for college football is much easier said than done. Also, ESPN typically shows a lot of filler programming on Sundays anyway, so it's not as if though an NFL lockout will really remove actual events from ESPN on that day of the week (and remember that they have Sunday Night Baseball until the end of September). They'll need replacements for NFL Primetime and other NFL-based studio shows, but you'll likely see more SportsCenter. The NBA (assuming that they don't have a lockout themselves) also has a relationship with ESPN where they already move games to Sunday night after the NFL season ends, so they are also a more likely replacement if it comes to that.

I honestly think that an NBA lockout would have more impact on the BE, as ESPN would need to fill a lot more hours in that situation and college basketball is a logical replacement.

I don't think switching games to more lucrative Sunday slots for prime TV viewing, instead of having NFL broadcasts, would be a problem. Many schools will be willing to short themselves a day's practice time before their next game, if the payout is right. The football factories won't move. But other games that might be in competition with those games for TV viewers could be moved, eliminating the competition for viewers between the games, while elevating both game's TV profile...

(02-15-2011 10:14 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  I don't think switching games to more lucrative Sunday slots for prime TV viewing, instead of having NFL broadcasts, would be a problem. Many schools will be willing to short themselves a day's practice time before their next game, if the payout is right. The football factories won't move. But other games that might be in competition with those games for TV viewers could be moved, eliminating the competition for viewers between the games, while elevating both game's TV profile...

I understand that the schools in the BE might be willing to do it, but I don't think that's ESPN's M.O. The networks that would be directly affected by the NFL lockout on Sundays are Fox, CBS and NBC. The Sunday ESPN lineup really wouldn't change during an NFL lockout outside of not having a couple of hours of NFL-related studio shows. Monday night is really where ESPN has to find replacement programming in the event of an NFL lockout.

Regardless, I think it will end up being a moot point. The NFL labor negotiations may very well last up until August where much of training camp is missed or a couple of preseason games are cancelled, but I will wager heavy money that we will not miss a down of regular season football at all. There are too many billions (with a "b") of dollars at stake to see the regular season tainted with.

What all college conferences actually have to worry about is the opposite where the NFL and its players ultimately agree to extend the regular season to 18 games (and my understanding is that all of the talk about injuries from the NFLPA is a complete red herring - this is all about how the revenue from the extra 2 regular season games is split). If and when that happens, the NFL regular season is going to extend through January and the postseason will go through February. (I've explained elsewhere that there's NFW that the NFL season starts earlier - you have to think like a TV executive and ratings are higher after Labor Day for the start and exponentially higher in the sweeps month of February for the postseason.) That could have a negative effect on the value of regular season college basketball. With respect to ESPN specifically, you would see a month's worth of Big Monday games get removed for Monday Night Football.

(02-15-2011 10:14 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  I don't think switching games to more lucrative Sunday slots for prime TV viewing, instead of having NFL broadcasts, would be a problem. Many schools will be willing to short themselves a day's practice time before their next game, if the payout is right. The football factories won't move. But other games that might be in competition with those games for TV viewers could be moved, eliminating the competition for viewers between the games, while elevating both game's TV profile...

Two things to consider:

1) Fans who would have to switch hotel plans on short notice.

2) Fans who travel distances on a game day and could lose out on a day or half day of work on Monday.

I'm kind of the same opinion as Frank. I think it will be a moot point, because too much money is at stake. But if it does come to pass, I could see it happening, if the enough money is forthcoming...

Plus there's the possibility that only 2-4 NFL games get cancelled. There could be no way of knowing when the new CBA is reached. If a Big East game is rescheduled for a Sunday in October, and then the NFL deal suddenly gets done, the BE now has a huge problem, as it would be too late to reschedule the game back again.

(02-15-2011 10:27 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(02-15-2011 10:14 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  I don't think switching games to more lucrative Sunday slots for prime TV viewing, instead of having NFL broadcasts, would be a problem. Many schools will be willing to short themselves a day's practice time before their next game, if the payout is right. The football factories won't move. But other games that might be in competition with those games for TV viewers could be moved, eliminating the competition for viewers between the games, while elevating both game's TV profile...

I understand that the schools in the BE might be willing to do it, but I don't think that's ESPN's M.O. The networks that would be directly affected by the NFL lockout on Sundays are Fox, CBS and NBC. The Sunday ESPN lineup really wouldn't change during an NFL lockout outside of not having a couple of hours of NFL-related studio shows. Monday night is really where ESPN has to find replacement programming in the event of an NFL lockout.

I agree that I think the NFL will settle with the union. Most likely with the owners getting the majority of what they want including an 18 game season. This will definately hurt basketball as the NFL has gone on record saying they will not start the season before Labor Day so the season/playoffs will last until the end of February.

Regardless, I think it will end up being a moot point. The NFL labor negotiations may very well last up until August where much of training camp is missed or a couple of preseason games are cancelled, but I will wager heavy money that we will not miss a down of regular season football at all. There are too many billions (with a "b") of dollars at stake to see the regular season tainted with.

What all college conferences actually have to worry about is the opposite where the NFL and its players ultimately agree to extend the regular season to 18 games (and my understanding is that all of the talk about injuries from the NFLPA is a complete red herring - this is all about how the revenue from the extra 2 regular season games is split). If and when that happens, the NFL regular season is going to extend through January and the postseason will go through February. (I've explained elsewhere that there's NFW that the NFL season starts earlier - you have to think like a TV executive and ratings are higher after Labor Day for the start and exponentially higher in the sweeps month of February for the postseason.) That could have a negative effect on the value of regular season college basketball. With respect to ESPN specifically, you would see a month's worth of Big Monday games get removed for Monday Night Football.

hmmmm....cool idea

Big Monday games usually mean a short turnaround between 2 games. So I don't see that as a big negative. Those favored few teams who always seem to end up playing in Big Monday games may see it as a negative. But most of the college basketball world wouldn't even notice...