(03-17-2017 02:13 PM)Attackcoog Wrote: (03-17-2017 01:56 PM)malenko2 Wrote: (03-17-2017 01:48 PM)Attackcoog Wrote: (03-17-2017 01:32 PM)Hood-rich Wrote: (03-17-2017 12:29 PM)BigHouston Wrote: Football is king
Right, that's why the Big East is making double what we are in TV money. Brands are king and the Big East is still a really good basketball brand.
Which is why I was against selling the name. There was long term value there,
There wasn't with the teams left in the AAC. The Big East name would have continued to be ridiculed in football and can you imagine on ESPN whatever tonight, Big East basketball with some of the teams in this conference?
While the lions share of selling the name and exit fees go to Cincy, UCONN and USF, the other teams are receiving an additional payout from that sale until the next TV contract kicks in (hopefully). We need any additional money we can get.
The Big East name was ridiculed in football because many felt it was undeserving of an AQ bid. As a G5, it would have been no more ridiculed than the American. The difference is people would have recognized the name and would know the "brand". It also would have been very helpful for developing basketball.
Frankly, if the brand had no value, the C7 wouldn't have paid $100 million for it The money from that sale will be gone next year and we have nothing to show for it. On the other hand Big East brand name will continue to pay dividends for the C7 for years into the future.
It was a foolishly short term move by administrators who gambled they would only be here a 3 or 4 years. Now we are stuck with that decision and a CUSA sounding clone name for the foreseeable future. I might would have felt differently if we had poured that money into something that would have changed the conference perception (like investing enough in the Miami Beach Bowl pay out to get it included in the same pool as the Liberty/Gator/Belk/Texas bowls). But, we didn't do that. The conference blew that decision, just like they blew the western expansion.
Disagree. The Big East name had value, particularly in basketball, but only to the C7 schools, UConn excepted.
Nobody ever identified Temple, Memphis, ECU, Tulane, Houston, or UCF with the "Big East". Even later additions that had success like Cincy, Louisville, and West Virginia were not really identified with the brand name. I know USF wasn't.
To fans around the nation, the Big East was Syracuse, Georgetown, Villanova, St Johns, UConn, Seton Hall, Providence, Pitt, basically, the original schools that came together in the early 1980s to found the conference.
Of those schools, only UConn was remaining in the AAC so the name wouldn't have benefited the AAC much. However, it was of significant value to the C7, most of whom were strongly identified with the Big East.
So it made sense for the C7 to pay, and the AAC schools to accept, the name sale.
Now maybe you can argue the C7 got a steal, that the name was worth more than the $100m paid. But given how uncertain the prospects for *both* leagues looked going forward, it's hard to justify that. It's not like the C7 was the SEC and could afford to pay much more, nor was it the case that the AAC schools were so positively set up that they could afford to hold out for more. The price was reasonable.
