MU88 Wrote:omnicarrier Wrote:Yep. Right now both sides need each other, but the bb schools NEED the football schools way more than football schools NEED the bb schools. It would be unfair to the bb schools to say that their market presences haven't helped the football schools but the marquee names are the football schools and its the football schools that draw the attendance at bb schools games. It's not as though Nova-G'Town is drawing the attendance at either school that playing SU, UConn, UL, etc., does.
The 3 bb schools fighting the hardest to keep this current conglomeration together are ND, Nova, and G'Town. Fortunately for the bb schools, no attractive expansion candidate exists at this time.
Cheers,
Neil
I agree that in order to be considered high major programs, it is more important for the bball schools that the BE stay together. However, I am not sure that bball schools need the football schools as much as you think. If the football schools left, the basketball schools will get a nice tv contract. Smaller, yes, but nice.
Didn't say they wouldn't get a 'nice' contract, but they lose most of the major TV and fan draws. I suspect from a Marquette fan's point of view, this may be harder to grasp since I'd imagine that ND and DePaul are the biggest draws for the Golden Eagles due to your long-standing rivalries with these teams. Although after those 2, I suspect Louisville and Cincinnati are the next two. UConn, Pitt, Nova and Syracuse will be added as biggest draws in a few years of conference play (assuming no split for a decade).
For Villanova and Georgetown, ND is their 3rd or 4th biggest draw after the likes of Syracuse, Connecticut, and West Virginia/Pittsburgh. The additions of Louisville and Cincinnati will push the likes of St. John's, Seton Hall, etc., even further down that list.
In what was Nova's best year in terms of season standings, the record for largest crowds for college basketball in Philly history was broken twice - first when Syracuse played them in the third week of January (20581), and again when UConn went in three weeks later (20859). Louisville on a Monday night drew 19448.
Quote:Given the smaller budgets and the lack of football, they would survive and could even thrive. How much do the basketball schools get from the BE? $2-$3 million per school, tops? MU has a $21 million budget. They received aound $1 million from CUSA. They could survive.
Again, this isn't about survival. America East teams 'survive'. It's about being considered 'elite' vs. being considered 'A-10 level'. Which is a big difference in terms of recruiting.
And while the contract may be good enough to generate $1 million a year per school - what really makes money for the teams are ticket revenues. Something Nova and the Hoyas would lose with a split and the additions of Marquette and DePaul are not going to offset that loss.
Quote:However, with no bball schools, the exposure of the BE in a lot of media markets is going to drop. Milwaukee, Phily, NYC, and Chicago have a lot of tv sets. The BE regional football package was on in Milwaukee last year. That would never happen after the split. Notice the comments from MT that group contract is bigger than the 2 conferences would get if a split occurred.
Agreed. The sum of the parts in this instance is greater than the whole when it comes to TV contracts for basketball. But for the Big East football schools, that football TV contract isn't very dependent upon the bb schools. It's dependent upon the BE schools playing when ESPN wants to schedule them - Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday evening games - and how good the teams themselves perform.
Quote:The football schools have very tight budgets. A school like USF has a smaller budget than MU, and they offer football. How will they cope with a smaller check?
As you pointed out, USF survived in C-USA with about $1 million conference check before. The Big East one will be between 4-6 million before the new TV contracts even take effect.
Quote:As for who is fighting to keep the BE together, I think your logic is a little faulty. ND, MU, Georgetown and Villanova all have pretty good athletic departments. They will survive any split.
First, that statement isn't just from logic. ;-)
Second, because those schools have pretty good athletic departments, they are very concerned about the impact a split will have across the board in terms of their non-revenue generating sports - not just men's bb.
Prior to this year without the former C-USA schools-
The baseball draws - ND, Rutgers, BC, VT, St. John's and Pitt
The draws in women's bb - UConn, Rutgers, ND and BC
The draws in men's soccer - UConn, St. John's, ND, and BC
The draws in women's soccer - ND, UConn, West Virginia, Nova, and BC
The draws in softball - ND, UConn, BC, VT, and Seton Hall
The draws in field hockey - UConn, BC, SU, and Nova
The draws in women's lacrosse - G'Town, ND, SU, and RU
The draws in softball - UConn, ND, BC, and Seton Hall
The draws in volleyball - ND, Pitt, UConn, SU, Providence, Nova, and G'Town
See a pattern developing? It's basically, ND and perhaps one other bb school and then all football schools.
As for this year, it seemed as though virtually all of the non-revenue sports saw championships between ND and UL. So the Cards easily replaced what BC brought in terms of the olympic sports.
The Catholic League will be a BIG STEP BACK for the non-revenue generating sports for ND, Nova, and G'Town. And since they do pride themselves on these things, they indeed are fighting hard to keep this together. What's Marquette views on the non-revenue generating sports? Since the team is new to the league, I really don't know.
Quote:Can the same be said for the bball other schools? They are the schools with the most to lose if the football school left. How will PU maintain its budget after a split? How about SH or DePaul, a school with a $200 million debt.
Not very well. Again, reasons why ND, Nova, and G'Town are fearful of a split. Providence is bleeding $$$ in terms of athletics.
Quote:As for being large draws, it all matters on who is winning and name recognition. And though someone may be good now, you have to remember many fans are old, and a school like SJU has built up a lot of goodwill. BTW, UConn didn't sell out the Bradley Center. It was a pretty good crowd, but not a sellout. I believe Georgetown outdrew UConn in Milwuakee and ND was a sellout (so was Pitt, if fact). And before you complain about MU attendance, they did finish 3rd in the conference in attendance.
Again, this is a unique perspective for a Golden Eagle's fan. Of course ND would sell more at the Bradley Center - they are a long-term rival. And keeping in mind attendance can be affected by weekend vs. weeknight, students on campus or on winter holiday break, and of course is the team have winning momentum going into late Feb and early March; here are the actual attendance for Marquette BE home games:
Pitt - 19007
Notre Dame - 18874
Providence - 18712
UConn - 15831
DePaul - 15262
G'Town-15243
Cincinnati - 15104
St. John's - 14105
So, assuming the Panthers and Friars are skewed due to the winning momentum Marquette was experiencing heading toward tourney season and that UConn's and Cincinnati's attendance was probably hurt due to students not being on campus in early January I'd revise my guess earlier in the post to now say that Marquette's main draw remains ND with DePaul and Georgetown able to draw as well as any of the BE football schools.
Again, this isn't true for G'Town and Nova where UConn and Syracuse way outdraw (nearly double) the attendance of St. John's or Seton Hall.
Even newbie Cincy outdrew the Johnnies for a Hoyas' game this past year.
Cheers,
Neil