Big Priest Conference TV deal and expansion

[Dawg06]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...ioners-sources

The Catholic 7 are currently set to leave the Big East over summer 2015 without paying exit fees, but they are hoping to leave much sooner.

FOX TV deal: $500 million 12-year TV deal ($41.7 million per year for the conference, $3.47 million per year per school)

In the Big East, the Catholic 7 were only receiving $1.5 million per year in TV revenues.

The Catholic 7 plan to invite 5 additional schools to form a 12-team conference.

Big Priest
DePaul (Chicago)
Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)
Marquette (Milwaukee)
Providence (Rhode Island)
Seton Hall (New Jersey)
St. John's (New York City)
Villanova (Philadelphia)
Addition 1
Addition 2
Addition 3
Addition 4
Addition 5

[GrassyNoleHitman]

I bet Cincinnati could make more $ parking their football in the MAC and putting everything else in the big priest than they can in the nBE

[domangue]

I bet Cincinnati could make more $ parking their football in the MAC and putting everything else in the big priest than they can in the nBE

You might be on to something (I actually pointed out this in another thread)... for one ESPN will have to have the rights to that group's BIG TIME tournament at MSG pried from their cold dead fingers IMO.

Soooo.... how about an off-the-wall scenario?

The Catholic 7 are in a position to cherry pick schools who care deeply about MBB:

Let's say:

UConn
Cincinnati
Temple
UMass (currently A-10)

All four join the Catholic 7 for MBB etc.

UMass remains MAC for FB-only, and UConn, Cincy, and Temple join the MAC for FB-only, rounding out the MAC into a nice 16 team league for football. The MAC is a dyed-in-the-wool ESPN property. Temple already has history in the MAC as well.

Then throw in, say Xavier out of the A-10 to round out the league. (I assume Cincinnati would be attracted to a cross-town rival, if not, then maybe St. Joseph's or Butler or VCU)

At that point ESPN has shored up all the northeastern media markets that they covet, and tells the remnants of nBE to take a hike.

Then the remaining nBE schools are boxed into a much more regional southern presence.

[StrayDawg]

You might be right, but after what these 7 have just gone through, they might be leery of Cincy and/or UConn jumping to the ACC as soon as they are offered. They will probably want a long term guarantee from any school joining the league.

[domangue]

You are probably right, but after what these 7 have just gone through, they might be leery of Cincy and/or UConn jumping to the ACC as soon as they are offered. They will probably want a long term guarantee from any school joining the league.

Well, I guess they'd be in such a position of strength, that they could just keep going down the line of picking off any program in the A-10 they want.

[tenacious_dog]

Right after the seven split there was news about Butler and Creighton being in discussions to join them. I wouldn't be surprised to see the new conference build a midwest focused division of basketball schools in that part of the country. Basketball is big in the midwest, there are a lot of good TV markets and there are a good number of quality schools where football won't be a factor.

There are so many advantages to a basketball "first" conference, why mess with any school that has football?

[Dawg06]

I bet Cincinnati could make more $ parking their football in the MAC and putting everything else in the big priest than they can in the nBE

You might be on to something (I actually pointed out this in another thread)... for one ESPN will have to have the rights to that group's BIG TIME tournament at MSG pried from their cold dead fingers IMO.

Soooo.... how about an off-the-wall scenario?

The Catholic 7 are in a position to cherry pick schools who care deeply about MBB:

Let's say:

UConn
Cincinnati
Temple
UMass (currently A-10)

All four join the Catholic 7 for MBB etc.

UMass remains MAC for FB-only, and UConn, Cincy, and Temple join the MAC for FB-only, rounding out the MAC into a nice 16 team league for football. The MAC is a dyed-in-the-wool ESPN property. Temple already has history in the MAC as well.

Then throw in, say Xavier out of the A-10 to round out the league. (I assume Cincinnati would be attracted to a cross-town rival, if not, then maybe St. Joseph's or Butler or VCU)

At that point ESPN has shored up all the northeastern media markets that they covet, and tells the remnants of nBE to take a hike.

Then the remaining nBE schools are boxed into a much more regional southern presence.

UConn, Cincy, Temple, UMass, etc.... Not gonna happen. The Catholic 7 want nothing to do with FBS football schools. I also don't see them inviting any public schools.

The Big Priest TV contract is with FOX, not ESPN.

Reports are that the MBB Tourney will rotate to different sites and won't be hosted at MSG every year.

Reports are that Xavier and Butler have already committed to joining the Big Priest Conference.

That would leave three open spots that most likely will go to Dayton, Saint Louis, and Creighton.

The only problem that that lineup is that the natural geographical division of the conference would put 7 members in the west and 5 in the east.

Less likely possible additions include Gonzaga, St. Mary's, St. Joseph's, VCU, Richmond, and/or George Mason.

[domangue]

UConn, Cincy, Temple, UMass, etc.... Not gonna happen. The Catholic 7 want nothing to do with FBS football schools. I also don't see them inviting any public schools.

The Big Priest TV contract is with FOX, not ESPN.

Reports are that the MBB Tourney will rotate to different sites and won't be hosted at MSG every year.

Reports are that Xavier and Butler have already committed to joining the Big Priest Conference.

That would leave three open spots that most likely will go to Dayton, Saint Louis, and Creighton.

The only problem that that lineup is that the natural geographical division of the conference would put 7 members in the west and 5 in the east.

Less likely possible additions include Gonzaga, St. Mary's, St. Joseph's, VCU, and/or George Mason.

The FOX deal was an offer on the table, not a final contract. It remains to be seen if ESPN puts an offer package together as well.

[Dawg06]

The FOX deal was an offer on the table, not a final contract. It remains to be seen if ESPN puts an offer package together as well.

FOX is still the heavy favorite and expected to land the contract. FOX needs the Big Priest Conference to anchor their new FOX Sports 1 channel that launches this summer.

ESPN is not interested in the Big Priest. ESPN has the ACC contract and is negotiating a new contract with the Big East.

CBS Sports has expressed interest in the league, but I don't think CBS will be able to match FOX with CBS's inflated tv deals with the SEC and MW.

NBC Sports is expected to make a bid to the Big Priest, but I think NBC with ESPN are the leaders to land the new Big East contract.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/col...catholic-7-tv/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...x-cbs/1820707/
http://www.vuhoops.com/2013/1/9/3855...es-in-new-york

[Dawg06]

The conference may start with 10 members and eventually expand to 12, but FOX will probably ecourage them to go to 12 immediately to give them more programming content.

Also, VCU may take the last spot over Saint Louis even though VCU is a public school. VCU is a bigger name and has had more recent success. VCU would also make the division split nicer. It sounds like the presidents want Saint Louis, but FOX wants VCU.

Here's an article about the candidates: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...lic-7/1772723/

[WWDog]

If they can vote themselves out without exit fees, then why not just vote out the football schools and keep the BE for themselves? Not that they have to worry about guarantied spots in the playoffs but they give that up by making a new conference and everything else they would keep by staying BE and getting rid of the football schools.

[HogDawg]

If Memphis was smart, they'd try to join this "Big Priest" basketball conference. They have the basketball credibility and reputation to do it. Their investment in football is nothing more than a waste of time and resources.

[Bigdog13]

If Memphis was smart, they'd try to join this "Big Priest" basketball conference. They have the basketball credibility and reputation to do it. Their investment in football is nothing more than a waste of time and resources.

I agree. I think it would be an enormous move for them.

[Wade_Antley]

Less likely possible additions include Gonzaga, St. Mary's, St. Joseph's, VCU, Richmond, and/or George Mason.

I would like to see the departing 7 BE schools join/merge with the WCC.

[Dawg06]

More about the Big Priest candidates: http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=4881

The Catholic 7 are expected to focus on adding Xavier and Butler as their 8th and 9th teams, with Dayton, Saint Louis, Creighton and VCU as possible targets for expansion to a maximum total of 12 teams.