If this is accurate, you can see why schools lost faith in Aresco

[GGGG]

Completely delusional....


http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/dennis-dodd/21519494/big-east-sought-300-million-per-year-annual-rights-from-espn

"The Big East initially sought $300 million annually for its combined rights fees from ESPN during an exclusive negotiating period in the fall, CBSSports.com has learned.

The figure would have been the largest annual fee ever paid to a conference. That's probably the reason why the figure was dismissed by ESPN, which allowed the exclusive negotiating window to expire. Per terms of the agreement, once that window expires the rightsholder (Big East) has to give the rights buyer (ESPN) a final offer. Only if that offer is rejected can the Big East seek rights for the amount of that final offer or higher.

The Pac-12 is believed to have the largest annual rights-fee payout, $250 million.

The Big East was seeking $300 million for a 15-team league scattered across the country that would have included Navy by 2015. However, the Big East continues to seek a TV suitor for the diminished league that has lost the Catholic 7 in basketball and Louisville in all sports since the exclusive window expired."

[Dawson Rental]

Maybe? he was just trying to break the exclusive negotiation rights of ESPN.  If the Big East finds no takers for its final offer to ESPN, does it have to not televise its sports?  Not likely.  So, now they can seek the highest bidder.

[brewcity77]

Maybe so...but let's say ESPN would have been willing to pay $150M per. Why not try to get a fair market offer and not sign anything until the window expires. Then you at least have a baseline you can bring to NBC and Fox. Breaking from ESPN seemed inevitable, but asking for the moon wasn't the only way to do that, and certainly not the most productive way.