Big East reportedly near TV deal with NBC Sports Network
BY RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
2/13/13 at 6:05 AM
NEW YORK (AP) - The Big East is moving past damage control and toward finally finishing some important business.
Two people familiar with the deal say the conference is closing in on a six-year contract with NBC Sports Network for football and basketball rights that will pay members around $20 million per year.
One person said the deal would likely be announced within the next two weeks. The Big East first has to go through the process of allowing ESPN, which currently holds the conference's football TV rights, to match the offer.
The deal being worked on would allow NBC Sports Network to move some Big East games to other networks.
Commissioner Mike Aresco wouldn't confirm any details of the television deal being worked on, nor exactly when it would be done, in an interview with the AP on Tuesday.
He did say the Big East was in position to come away with a "wide range of exposure and branding opportunities."
The Big East's current football deal with ESPN expires after the 2013 season and has paid football members about $3.1 million per year. The deal in the works would pay members about $2 million per year, depending upon whether the league has 11 or 12 members.
Since Aresco took over in September, 12 schools have announced they intend to leave the Big East - or not join - including seven prominent basketball schools that do not play FBS football.
The departures took a toll on the Big East' ability to negotiate a TV deal, and blew up plans to have a coast-to-coast football conference, with Boise State anchoring its western division, along with a huge basketball league that included traditional powers such as Georgetown and Villanova.
Aresco and the Big East also have been negotiating a split with officials from Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's, Seton Hall, DePaul, Providence and Marquette.
Those schools are working to start a new basketball-centric conference, but it appears they will be spend at least one more season as part of the Big East.
Among the issues being discussed by the departing and remaining Big East members are how to split tens of millions of dollars in revenue and which group will play under the Big East name.
Notre Dame is also in the Big East for at least one more season before moving its sports - other than football and hockey - to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Football members Rutgers and Louisville have at least one more season in the Big East before the Scarlet Knights move to the Big Ten and Louisville heads to the ACC.
After all those schools announced they were leaving the Big East, Boise State and San Diego State reneged on their commitments to join as football-only members for the 2013 season.
Joining the Big East in 2013 will be Memphis, Central Florida, SMU and Houston from Conference USA. Tulane and East Carolina, also from C-USA, come aboard in 2014. Navy is set to join for football only in 2015.
That would give the Big East 11 members, along with holdovers Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida and Temple.
The Big East is likely to add at least one more school to make it an even 12, split into two football divisions and play conference championship game.
Tulsa is the leading candidate to receive the next invite from the Big East, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Original Print Headline: Big East reportedly near TV deal
