Around the Big Ten

[entropy]

I wouldn't mind CBS in the mix. CBS' one SEC game a week was usually very highly ranked from a viewership perspective. CBS going to 3 games a weekend with the BIG sandwiching the SEC would be fine by me.

[Wild Hoss]

Rumor is that ESPN is putting together another offer this week.

I suspect that entertaining NBC/CBS offers- if they are even legit- is just a negotiating tactic. Delaney wants us on ESPN, as do all of his coaches and ADs. Making them ride shotgun is fine though.

[froot loops]

ESPN better put together a better offer than the lowball offer they gave for the first half.

[Wild Hoss]

It seems unlikely that they put together a working group to come up with a lower offer.

They'll go up, but not as far as matching FOX's half, as some are predicting. Which is fine. If we get $150M a year for the back-half of our schedule, on top of FOX's $250M, we're printing our own money. And Delaney hasn't locked us in for 20 years either.

[Hannibal]

ESPN is a bucket of monkey shit mixed with pig vomit, crusted in fetid donkey semen. Why the B1G wouldn't jump at the chance to be with another network if the money is at all close is a mystery to me.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Because sometimes exposure is worth more than money. Like it or not, FS1's ratings have been pretty awful.

[froot loops]

Yeah but the word is ESPN first offer wasn't even in the same area code. They are having money problems.

[drok]

ESPN is the most profitable media and entertainment entity in the world. Their subscriber revenue alone brings in the same amount as Star Wars: Force Awakens every single month.

https://frankthetank.me/

[Hannibal]

Because sometimes exposure is worth more than money. Like it or not, FS1's ratings have been pretty awful.

True, but if the Big Ten ends up with another network then that probably means at least one game a weekend is on an over the air network, no? Something like NBC or Fox would be great.

[Wild Hoss]

Yeah but the word is ESPN first offer wasn't even in the same area code. They are having money problems.

That initial lowball offer was for the whole contract, with, IMO, the belief they had no competition. Which was probably true in all actuality, but Delaney pulled that rug from underneath them by splitting the inventory into more affordable bits. Now TWWL will only be bidding on half, with some semblance of competitors.

Besides, ESPN's money problems will be be worsened by losing the ad revenue they sell for BIG football and basketball, not helped by losing the contact obligations. They make their bones on televising games...they cannot make money on what they aren't broadcasting.

[Wild Hoss]

True, but if the Big Ten ends up with another network then that probably means at least one game a weekend is on an over the air network, no? Something like NBC or Fox would be great.

...except for the fact we have 25+ games to sell, so both entities would hard-pressed to fit all that inventory in. That means some games get pawned off to obscure subsidiary platforms.

ESPN/2 have unmatched market share and available airtime. Plus, its what our recruits watch...which is what all our coaches are telling the suits in Indy.

[hodgkal]

Genghis Jon:

"THE BAD-ASS LIBRARIANS OF TIMBUKTU and their race to save the world's most precious manuscripts" by Joshua Hammer. "This is a pretty cool story and I just ordered my copy. As an unrepentant history geek, I have a special respect for ancient literature and documents. This is the story of a like minded fellow responsible for saving nearly 300,000 ancient works from Al-Qaeda when millitants overran Mali."

I was intrigued and ordered this book last week. lt is outstanding. I couldn't put it down! The author is a superb writer with extensive experience military and political reporting.

The nation of Mali in central Africa was unknown to me except for a vague notion of a historic city called Timbuktu. Well, I learned a lot about the history of Islamic scholarship in past centuries and how Islam is so falsely portrayed in current national discourse.

The origin of the popular notion of a backward fundamentalist Islam is Wahabiism as promoted in Saudi Arabia and its many madrassas throughout the Middle East. This is completely at odds with the writings of historical Islamic leaders and thinkers of the past. Thousands of manuscripts that expose the enlightened versions of Islam were kept by sympathizers in Timbuktu, and these precious documents were in jeopardy when fundamentalist Islamic insurgents out of Libya and Algeria (after the fall of Quaddafj - thank you, Hillary) invaded territories in the southern Sahel (desert region of Africa) and took over parts of Mali. I can't do justice to the complexities of this situation that erupted in 2012. Joshua Hammer does a fantastic job of reporting on the heroic efforts of loyal and enlightened Islamic individuals and the tension-filled account of how these documents were protected and preserved for posterity.

This is a fabulous book! Thank you Ghengis Jon for bringing it to our attention.

[Hannibal]

The NHL did perfectly fine when ESPN dropped them. I think that the ratings actually went up and they have never looked back. The B1G will do just fine too.

[hodgkal]

Opps! Posted the above (#7377) in the wrong thread. I moved it to miscellaneous discussion thread.

[Wild Hoss]

The NHL did perfectly fine when ESPN dropped them. I think that the ratings actually went up and they have never looked back. The B1G will do just fine too.

Yeah....college football and basketball ain't the NHL. At all.

I'll also defer to what the coaches say...that ESPN presence is critical to recruiting.