(05-18-2015 09:17 AM)stever20 Wrote: The problem with using 2014 recruiting classes is a lot of them were done prior to the split. And a lot of them were signed before FS1 showed how awful the ratings were going to be on there.
Using that as a barometer is a double edged sword. If the class rankings were prior to the split, it also doesn't account for the AAC teams as to how the league is now perceived, which is lower on the basketball totem poll than before, and below the Big East 3.0. So for both, it is a wait and see. I will say this though, I think recruits care less about ratings, and more about their friends and family being able to see the games. It is not that they don't want to be in big games, but being seen at home is a bigger deal. While AAC games are on ESPN networks, and draw higher ratings, neither conference has many if any showcase games, so for the "exposure" part, I don't think there is a clear difference when it comes to basketball. But when it comes to games, their fans can easily see them. I randomly am picking three teams from each league, the marquee team, the worst team, and one in the middle. (note it can be hard to find the TV schedule for, since the schedules now mostly have wins and losses, and no longer show who is carrying it).
Big East
Georgetown
1 CBS
2 Fox Network
2 ESPN
2 ESPN 2
15 Fox Sports 1
2 Fox Sports Net (national games)
3 CBS Sports Net
2 Fox sports 2 (3 November OOC games)
Only 2 games not easily seen. 5 marquee nationwide games (OTA network or ESPN)
Butler
1 Fox Network
1 ESPN
3 ESPN 2
15 Fox Sports 1
1 ESPNU
3 Fox Sports Net (national games)
3 CBS Sports Net
4 Fox sports 2 (3 November OOC games)
1 local TV
2 exhibition games have no TV listed
Only 5 of their games might be hard for a player's family to see, depending on if their cable package has Fox Sports 2 (it's in about 50 million homes). 2 marquee nationwide games (OTA network or ESPN)
DePaul
2 Fox Network
2 ESPN
2 ESPN 2
15 Fox Sports 1
1 Fox Sports Net (national games)
6 CBS Sports Net
2 Fox sports 2 (3 November OOC games)
1 Comcast Sports Net Chicago
1 Pac 12 Network
1 ESPN 3
2 no TV (Exhibition games)
5 games hard to find outside of Chicago. 4 marquee nationwide games (OTA network or ESPN)
AAC teams
UConn
2 CBS
3 ESPN
10 ESPN 2
2 ESPNU
6 CBS Sports Net
5 SNY
5 games not easily seen nationwide. 5 marquee nationwide games (OTA network or ESPN).
SMU
1 CBS
1 ESPN
7 ESPN 2
5 ESPNU
2 ESPNews
7 CBS Sports Net
5 ESPN3
5 hard to find games. 2 marquee national TV games.
ECU
9 ESPNU
4 ESPNews
3 CBS Sportsnet
7 ESPN 3
2 No TV
9 hard to find game. No marquee national TV games
Unless these six are outside of the norm, I don't see a great big discrepancy in "exposure" between the two conferences in basketball. Roughly the same amount of marquee games, and if anything the Big East games are just as available nationally as the AAC games (note games on ESPN2 are available nationally about as much as on ESPN, but generally are not marquee games and do not draw near the audience as games on ESPN). Only one is getting 4 times the money for basketball - assuming a 50/50 split of AAC football/basketball money. If it is less than that, the numbers skew even more in favor of the Big East. Since the Big East does not play football, the exposure there is not an apt comparison.