WSJ: BEast

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

For those with access

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-ditching-football-saved-big-east-basketball-1487616324

[MUBigDance]

I don't have access but like the first 1.5 paragraphs.

Not sure what's said in the article. But I think a key element besides good basketball is success in other sports. Soccer and lacrosse come to mind. We'll never compete in size and scope with state schools but quality is important.

[GoldenWarrior11]

But is the Big East as good as the Atlantic 10, or even better than scheduling as an independent?

[MuMark]

I thought we were quiting the Big East?

[Tugg Speedman]

Jay Bilas, a college basketball analyst for ESPN, said he would rank the Big East among the top leagues in the country, with the Atlantic Coast Conference still at No. 1. The Big East, he said, is comprised of "a great collection of basketball brands" with real rivalries and at least some geographic cohesion.

"The Big East is still a league, it's a conference," Bilas said. "The ACC and some of these other quote-unquote leagues are really just media-rights consortiums."

100% correct

[Herman Cain]

Jay Bilas, a college basketball analyst for ESPN, said he would rank the Big East among the top leagues in the country, with the Atlantic Coast Conference still at No. 1. The Big East, he said, is comprised of "a great collection of basketball brands" with real rivalries and at least some geographic cohesion.

"The Big East is still a league, it's a conference," Bilas said. "The ACC and some of these other quote-unquote leagues are really just media-rights consortiums."

100% correct

Very positive article

[vogue65]

I thought we were quiting the Big East?

No, I  think we are in it for the duration. 

[Tugg Speedman]

But consider that the Big East's television deal with Fox Sports—in which every in-conference men's game is aired on one of the Fox channels—averages around $42 million per season. In 2011, before the league disbanded, it was widely reported that the league turned down a nine-year contract with ESPN worth an estimated $133 million annually.

For now, the schools say they don't feel they are at a disadvantage. Even though the big football schools have fatter athletic budgets, said Creighton head coach Greg McDermott, those schools tend to spend most of their football revenue on football.

"We're all flying around in private jets recruiting," McDermott said.

The league also benefits from unusual coaching stability: Six of the league's 10 head coaches have been with their respective programs for at least six seasons. Villanova's championship last year, in the new Big East's third season, also went a long way toward giving the league renewed credibility, said ESPN's Bilas.

Success is often cyclical, of course. As recently as 2014, the Big East placed just four teams in the NCAA tournament, with none advancing past the Round of 32. The pendulum can always swing back. But the Big East schools have no regrets, at least for now.

Remember the ESPN deal for $133 million/year included BE football and was for a 16 team league.

The current $42 million/year with FS1 is for 10 schools without football.

[tower912]

Vogue is the last one to see it.