mateer

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...th-new-tv-deal

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ExplorerSteve

I am sure the A10 commish has a similar deal in the works.

And exit fees from the A10 will also be increased in the near future also to discourage schools from jumping to other conferences.

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Title_BU

This'll end up taking a while and be pretty contentious. I can't imagine Butler nor Creighton, Xavier, etc would ever agree to joining a league under those conditions. But the money is too great for everyone to not come to an accord.

My guess is what you are going to see, ultimately, is the target schools banding together in what amounts to a labor union.

But, Steve, there's no chance of the A10 coming up with something even fractionally as large that's why it's such news.

FlyingElvis

Interesting. It sounds like they want to leverage the "additional schools" into being 2nd class citizens in their new league. How do you like the thought of DePaul getting a much bigger payday than the "new invites"?

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bprichard

This is interesting. It will really help define the relative importance of money and dignity.

College Hoops

If the prospective payout structure is as is being reported, I would love to see the targeted A-10 schools say thanks but no thanks. Unfortunately, I doubt they would remain unified, but it would be interesting if a number of the A-10 schools pulled their own exodus and set-up a new conference bringing in Creighton, Bradley Gonzaga St.Marys etc.

Title_BU

It's not really that big of stretch. The whole thing falls apart if Xavier and Butler are not complicit (think of them like the UAW and the teamsters and the C7 is GM). Everyone else would just then fall inline. They have no alternatives. A group of 7 teams isnt a conference and that reality becomes clearer as the time dwindles away to 7/1/14. cThis is sort of how labor negotiations go. It's funny it's manifesting itself in this context.

antboy

A 12 year deal? Why in the world would they offer a 12 year deal for something as risky as this? I assume there's exit clauses of some kind.

Looking at those teams, it's 1 famous program, 2 decent ones with at least some history, and 4 anchors being dragged along with them. They need marquee programs to join in the worst way, and even then, that's no guarantee of success. I think Xavier and others' negotiating positions are pretty strong in this case and that they could argue for at least a full share. I also think Xavier et al. should be suggesting all kinds of scenarios to Georgetown, Villanova, and Marquette for ways they could escape from some or all of the other 4 also-rans and form a better conference that doesn't need to split money as many ways.

RF1

Crazy like a Fox?

The Fox network would be absolutely crazy to pay that much for that many years for an untested league in a new college basketball world.

X-band '01

To me, sweet irony would be if La Salle or Fordham jumps to the MAAC/Patriot League and had to dole out a $1-$2 million exit fee check to the A-10 office. We can all dream, can't we?

One thing seems certain - I wouldn't expect an announcement on Butler or Xavier anytime soon if either one of those schools gets scraps at the C-7 table compared to DePaul or Seton Hall. This is the one bargaining chip the A-10 has at keeping Butler and Xavier - they (along with VCU, Dayton, SLU, etc) could be given a similar preferential status as far as future A-10 revenue sharing. Any future A-10 TV contract will still pale in comparison to the C-7, though.

It tells me just how desperate networks are for "inventory" as it relates to college basketball games (or any sport in general).

BmoreX

Fox Sports doesn't have any inventory. When they re-launch Versus, they're going to need programming. This conference gives them just that. As more of these sports networks pop up (Fox, NBCSN, CBSSN), they're going to start paying more in order to get sports and their games on their stations.

College Hoops

If its only Butler & Xavier who are not 'complicit' I tend to disagree. The C7 would just move down the list looking at not only A-10 schools but also Creighton, Gonzaga etc. Butler and Xavier will have alot more leverage if Dayton, Creighton ans St.Louis are with them.

RF1

I wonder if the prospective 2nd class members that receive less tv money will be allowed to participate in the tourney for the automatic NCAA bid or even be given the right to host conference games? I seem to recall that the lower class passengers of the Titanic didn't seem to fare particularly well either.

agoo101284

At some point, folks will realize that they're talking about 5 of the bottom 7 Big East teams and none of the top 5 this year. I think at that point, the teams they are poaching will have an upper hand if they can get their acts together and get on the same page. The teams they are poaching would be among the top half of the conference consistently. You don't last very long if you're being treated like a second class citizen despite providing more of the prestige.

FlyingElvis

If the BE7 pulls off this kind of a deal at the expense of teams that have been better than most of their membership, it will be one of the most lopsided negotiations ever. It will fuel instability in the future. Take the best 7 current "possible additions to the BE7" and they should have more negotiating power than the BE7 themselves.

How can Georgetown, Marquette, Nova and four also-rans command a 500 million dollar contract on their own while the A10 in it's current form can't command a fraction of that? There is something wrong here if this is true.

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