Describe the Big East Conference in a nut shell.
- Thread starter 12375CAT
- Start date
A Catholic school basketball conference that destroyed eastern football in order to protect Providence College.
This. Football was better than most would give credit for. BE football was instrumental in cementing ESPN's Thursday Night games as a 'big deal' and did well in bowl games. However, conference leadership was a myopic mess and the fanbases overall didn't speak loudly enough with their wallets to wield any type of power to stay at the 'big dog' table.
Joe P.
The [Old] Big East's Priorities (in order):
Linguini and clam sauce
Providence College
Basketball
Lobster
.
.
.
Football
Rutgers
Linguini and clam sauce
Providence College
Basketball
Lobster
.
.
.
Football
Rutgers
Pre-internet it was, I remember the day I read in the paper of our big east invite....
At long last I said, a real positive step for RU..... The original offer was not for basketball, I believe, but it got our foot in the door of a better league, something we longed for, for decades
At that time, the big east was a smart and cagey league, with nary a misstep..... I was grateful then and will always remember that part of it........ We may mock the big east, or its current form, but for those of us who go back all the way to our joining, should remember some appreciation of the time
At long last I said, a real positive step for RU..... The original offer was not for basketball, I believe, but it got our foot in the door of a better league, something we longed for, for decades
At that time, the big east was a smart and cagey league, with nary a misstep..... I was grateful then and will always remember that part of it........ We may mock the big east, or its current form, but for those of us who go back all the way to our joining, should remember some appreciation of the time
Well stated. It was a very good league in football. Miami, BC, Pitt, Cuse, West Virginia, Rutgers, Temple, VaTech. That's a fun NE league.
That said, we have reached the Promised Land in the B1G. It's insane how good of a landing spot we found.
What? You didn't like Meatball's idea to invite Nova and their soon-to-be-built, rented Soccer Stadium, in as full members?
Dropped quarters to pick up nickels
Now that is leadership. I like when they hired Tagilabue to be some sort of consultant and he immediately disparaged Rutgers saying no one would watch on Long Island. Classy!
He said that no one wanted to watch Rutgers play Minnesota in a football on long Island.
This was years before the Big Ten invite.
The Big East was always basketball 1st 2nd and 3rd. The worst run football conference of all time.
This was years before the Big Ten invite.
The Big East was always basketball 1st 2nd and 3rd. The worst run football conference of all time.
Yea, telling people no one wants to see the only D1 team in the DMA who happens to be in the conference you represent isn't a great strategy. He was proven wrong before he said it, and after. The Big East clearly had heard the B1G rumors at that point and hit desperation mode. Even so, Taglibue's comments were just silly at that point, especially considering his role.
Here is the actual quote, because I want to make sure people reading this thread do not think we are making this up, his and the Big East strategy was to downplay Rutgers and try to make us unattractive to the Big Ten... really this actually happen :
APRIL 22, 2010
The former N.F.L. commissioner Paul Tagliabue will be working with the Big East as an unpaid consultant to help the league maximize its value when it renegotiates its next television contracts.
Tagliabue has engaged with Big East Commissioner John Marinatto on a number of topics, from hiring consultants in different areas to anticipating and capitalizing on new media trends.
“At some point they’re going to overreach and get a big negative reaction out of Congress or someone else,” he said. “You have to eventually tie your television to people actually watching and not just to television subscribers added up and totaled.”
“One of the real challenges for the networks is to provide value, but you only provide value in markets where you provide traction,” he said. “Is Minnesota and Rutgers going to get a big rating on Long Island? Give me a break. Every game isn’t Michigan and Michigan State.”
He added, “Am I going to rush home from a tennis game on Saturday to watch Minnesota and Rutgers if I live on Long Island?”
Source: http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ten/?pagemode=print&scp=3&sq=Tagliabue&st=cse
APRIL 22, 2010
The former N.F.L. commissioner Paul Tagliabue will be working with the Big East as an unpaid consultant to help the league maximize its value when it renegotiates its next television contracts.
Tagliabue has engaged with Big East Commissioner John Marinatto on a number of topics, from hiring consultants in different areas to anticipating and capitalizing on new media trends.
“At some point they’re going to overreach and get a big negative reaction out of Congress or someone else,” he said. “You have to eventually tie your television to people actually watching and not just to television subscribers added up and totaled.”
“One of the real challenges for the networks is to provide value, but you only provide value in markets where you provide traction,” he said. “Is Minnesota and Rutgers going to get a big rating on Long Island? Give me a break. Every game isn’t Michigan and Michigan State.”
He added, “Am I going to rush home from a tennis game on Saturday to watch Minnesota and Rutgers if I live on Long Island?”
Source: http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ten/?pagemode=print&scp=3&sq=Tagliabue&st=cse
It is hard to believe but Mike "Football Hater" Tranghese is a member of the DI Football Championship Selection Committee. You can't make this stuff up. They couldn't have picked a less qualified candidate.
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http://www.collegefootballplayoff.com/selection-committee
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http://www.collegefootballplayoff.com/selection-committee
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...don't forget with the rest of the league, including Rutgers and Louisville (who had just spent over $100 mil each expanding and updating their stadiums/ facilities), helping subsidize the upgrading costs (estimated at at least $35 mil). I think that was the moment when I actually realized that the writing was on the wall for the football conference, although in reality the league foretold its own demise before it even started playing football (not approving PSU as a member in the 80's; had they gotten in, I truly believe that CFB would look much different today and that FSU would have likely joined the BE in '92 and not the ACC).
Joe P.
The B1G Ten and RU had to be in serious discussion long before the announcement. Why would Taglibutt choose To mention RU, it's most attractive TV market and a less popular B1G member to make a point?
There was also a incredulous quote by BE commissioner describing the markets BE represented and he did not use RU and its market but instead mentioned lesser markets. I think it was at a RU game of all places when bowl reps where evaluating teams.
I was driving to Long Island to visit friends and rushed there to watch Rutgers-Nebraska last year; does that count??
Do you all know why the Big East invited Rutgers in the 1st place, right?
If not, read this, you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried and no one would believe you if you did:
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/10/s...st-virginia-are-invited-to-join-big-east.html
Let that soak in for awhile.
If not, read this, you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried and no one would believe you if you did:
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/10/s...st-virginia-are-invited-to-join-big-east.html
Let that soak in for awhile.
From this 1994 article the Rutgers to the B1G addition was already being talked about,
"By adding Rutgers, which had reportedly discussed the possibility of joining the Big Ten, the Big East prevents that league from establishing a presence in the New York market. The Atlantic 10 will lose Rutgers and West Virginia, but keep Temple."
So yes we were already in Jim Delany's eye almost 20 years before we joined.
"By adding Rutgers, which had reportedly discussed the possibility of joining the Big Ten, the Big East prevents that league from establishing a presence in the New York market. The Atlantic 10 will lose Rutgers and West Virginia, but keep Temple."
So yes we were already in Jim Delany's eye almost 20 years before we joined.
^^^^^^
This needs its own thread sometime. That's just crazy, and I bet a lot of people don't know or haven't thought about it and how ironic it is given what has happened to the Big East now.
What are you getting at. The league wasnt nearly as dumb or short sighted as they make it out to be. It failed because BB went out of favor as the primary money making sport, and it was a league where even the FB playing schools really prioritized basketball.
really, the history of the league could be sumed up as - how do we keep Cuse from leaving.
