Interviews with Val Ackerman (good and the bad...BET tickets issue)

[bradley center bat]

MSG looks good for Butler and Seton Hall. Most seats look filled. Juice in the building.

[79Warrior]

I'm actually not too worried about the ACC making a move to MSG anytime soon.  The Carolina schools (UNC, Duke, Wake Forest and NC State) would vehemently be opposed to such a move (despite what Syracuse, Pitt and Louisville would be in favor of).   

Really? Why? Duke and UNC travel well and have large fan base. They would love nothing better to play in NYC. Every time Duke or UNC plays in MSG their fans fill the place.

[The Lens]

Re: Attendance:

Creighton probably has the best fanbase bc they are Omaha's team, not just Creighton alums team.  We're going to be very thankful for them.  The rest of the Big East teams will struggle because no other school with the exception of maybe PC "owns" their town.  And we're all small schools, which means small alumni bases.  Hopefully Val & Co built in attainable benchmarks in their deal with MSG.

Re: ESPN's "agenda"

Grantland premiered its Untucked 30 for 30 short today...
Mike & Mike had FOX's Bill Raferty on this morning...
The McDerrmotts were on PTI last week...
We're still getting the same treatment as the SEC, PAC-12 etc on ESPN.com

STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT with the ESPN agenda.

[MUBasketball]

Im so sick of this...

http://m.golocalprov.com/sports/big-east-future-at-msg-may-include-company

[chapman]

Really? Why? Duke and UNC travel well and have large fan base. They would love nothing better to play in NYC. Every time Duke or UNC plays in MSG their fans fill the place.

The ACC tourney in the backyard is pretty much a state holiday.  It's been in Greensboro, Raleigh, or all the way in Charlotte 50 of 61 years.  The NC schools don't want to travel any further than the Coliseum.  The other schools had to pitch a fit to get it in Atlanta a couple times.  They now have enough leverage with the additions to get it moved out of NC, but the NC schools won't be thrilled.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Going down what path?

A path of attacking the Big East or some how ostracizing the conference.  Too much conspiracy talk on this.  ESPN is not covering Big East like they did in the past because the conference isn't as good, big, etc.  That's just reality of what has happened when you lose a Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville, WVU, Rutgers, etc

[The Lens]

Im so sick of this...

http://m.golocalprov.com/sports/big-east-future-at-msg-may-include-company

Not sure why the ACC TV rights holder would go for this but...

ACC could stage Saturday Semi's during the day, with BE Champ on Saturday night.  Then ACC Champ game on Sunday.  

Friday would be interesting squeezing 6 games (4 ACC & 2 BE) into 4 slots.  What's a 2nd site for early round games?  Barclays is out.

[keefe]

Re: Attendance:

Creighton probably has the best fanbase bc they are Omaha's team, not just Creighton alums team.  We're going to be very thankful for them.  The rest of the Big East teams will struggle because no other school with the exception of maybe PC "owns" their town.  And we're all small schools, which means small alumni bases.  Hopefully Val & Co built in attainable benchmarks in their deal with MSG.

Re: ESPN's "agenda"

Grantland premiered its Untucked 30 for 30 short today...
Mike & Mike had FOX's Bill Raferty on this morning...
The McDerrmotts were on PTI last week...
We're still getting the same treatment as the SEC, PAC-12 etc on ESPN.com

STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT with the ESPN agenda.

Lens and Chico are right - there is no anti-BE conspiracy at ESPN. Just as there is no anti-MU conspiracy at the MJS.

[Coleman]

Lens and Chico are right - there is no anti-BE conspiracy at ESPN. Just as there is no anti-MU conspiracy at the MJS.

Agree there is no "conspiracy."

But networks are going to hype the conferences they have deals with.

[Golden Avalanche]

Look at how much grief the American Conference got when they did their re-brand.  All the Conference USA 2.0 jokes, best of the rest conference, etc.  What would we have re-named the league?  The Eastern Catholic Basketball Conference?  It would inevitably be compared with the Atlantic-10 conference, which isn't something the league should want.

The AAC may have gotten grief during the rebrand but they got more coverage in the NYC metro and NJ this season than the Big East. UConn still rules the roost and with Cincinnati making a concerted effort to recruit NJ/NYC hard they have become a pseudo "local" school.

This solution is simple: it comes down to good basketball. The Big East desperately needs the Johnnies to become nationally relevant year in and year out along with Georgetown and Marquette to show this past season was an outlier. It would also help everyone if DePaul became a NCAA Tournament possibility.

[WarriorFan]

Lens and Chico are right - there is no anti-BE conspiracy at ESPN. Just as there is no anti-MU conspiracy at the MJS.

True - no conspiracy.  They just don't give a s&*t.

[79Warrior]

True - no conspiracy.  They just don't give a s&*t.

Fact is the new BE is not that exciting this year. Of the three marquee legacy programs. MU sucks, Georgetown sucks. Only Nova is pulling its weight.

[GooooMarquette]

I'll be interested to see how many Creighton fans there are tonight.

A friend from Omaha told me that lots of CU season ticket holders are passing on NYC, and saving their post-season $$$ with the hopes of a deep run in the NCAAs.  I suspect they'll still have solid showing because they have a good following, but it may not be as big as some think.....

[MDMU04]

I'll be interested to see how many Creighton fans there are tonight.

A friend from Omaha told me that lots of CU season ticket holders are passing on NYC, and saving their post-season $$$ with the hopes of a deep run in the NCAAs.  I suspect they'll still have solid showing because they have a good following, but it may not be as big as some think.....

I flew from St Louis to Chicago last night on a plane that was continuing on to Newark. On the STL to Chicago leg, there were probably about two dozen people in Creighton gear on the plane. When I got off, there were probably another two dozen or so Creighton attired people waiting at the gate for the continuing flight.

If this is any indication, they will be fairly well represented at MSG.

[CreightonWarrior]

I'll be interested to see how many Creighton fans there are tonight.

A friend from Omaha told me that lots of CU season ticket holders are passing on NYC, and saving their post-season $$$ with the hopes of a deep run in the NCAAs.  I suspect they'll still have solid showing because they have a good following, but it may not be as big as some think.....

Over 3000 all session sold, over double amount of any other school...they'll be there in force.

[Atticus]

Not sure why the ACC TV rights holder would go for this but...

ACC could stage Saturday Semi's during the day, with BE Champ on Saturday night.  Then ACC Champ game on Sunday.  

Friday would be interesting squeezing 6 games (4 ACC & 2 BE) into 4 slots.  What's a 2nd site for early round games?  Barclays is out.

Heard this from a client plugged into SJU - MSG could host semis of ACC on Saturdays as well as BE championship game. ACC ends it's tourney on Sunday so there is no conflict there. ACC would play earlier rounds where they historically play it's tourney and provide teams one day off to travel to NYC.

He also said that he heard one of the MSG stipulations was a threshold of "at least 90% of all tickets sold based on capacity." Of course, he couldn't confirm it and neither can I.

Regardless, the ACC has no interest in making MSG it's permanent location for tourney. However, with the dilution of North Carolina influence, their tourney could rotate between verizon center, MSG and one location in NC.

[CreightonWarrior]

ACC finalizing details to play its tournament at Barclays Center

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/news/20140314/acc-tournament-barclays-center-2017/#ixzz2vwamH8FI

[keefe]

True - no conspiracy.  They just don't give a s&*t.

And that is different. Sins of omission vs. sins of commission.

[mu03eng]

Lens and Chico are right - there is no anti-BE conspiracy at ESPN. Just as there is no anti-MU conspiracy at the MJS.

It's certainly not a conspiracy from a menacing standpoint, but ESPN does have an economically driven bias.  They have economic incentive to drive eyeballs to content they provide and prevent eyeballs from going to content provided by others.  Ergo, as a news operation they are biased to cover content provided by their live broadcast arm and minimize the impact/coverage of non-provided content.

Again this is capitalism, but let's not act as if ESPN is making decisions in a vacuum.

[barfolomew]

I was surprised to see that the BE Tourney logo just said "New York" and not "Madison Square Garden".
Put your assets front and center where everyone can see them, Val.