by GoldenWarrior11 » Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:00 pm
I have previously been on record to not immediately dismiss ESPN pursuing the Big East once the contract comes close to ending. ESPN, for all intents and purposes, has pulled back from it's "Requiem for the Big East" and "R.I.P. Big East" days from a few years ago. In recent weeks, numerous broadcasters for promoted the Big East as a top basketball conference, even diminishing their own product and our local resident's favorite conference, the American. With the regional sports networks under Fox now going to ESPN, and the need for more content once again coming to the forefront, I definitely see ESPN making a pursuit to reacquire the Big East package under its banner. Not only is it one of the best basketball conferences consistently year-to-year, the Big East was - for over three decades - ESPN's baby. It probably stung incredibly hard to not only for them to see the Big East continue to thrive, after their attempt to sell off its top pieces to other conferences that it owned the rights to, but also because they are now on a competitors network. The Big East Tournament, one of the staples of ESPN, and still regularly getting close to 20k during the semifinals and finals, cannot be shown on ESPN.
Conversely, I think this will inevitably end up negatively impacting the American. ESPN's stance on the AAC has been and is currently clear: they don't view them as a power conference, and only view them as content fillers on ESPN 2 and ESPNU. They don't want to pay them a single dollar more than they feel they are worth. With all of the new channels acquired today, many of the ESPN3 games will probably be bumped to those channels. Most importantly, the big dog (ESPN) just acquired many pieces of its top competitor. Without competition, there is not demand for the content. Without demand, the American will not be able to go to other networks in an attempt to drive up its price. With the new ACC network, they will have plenty of content to distribute on the East coast through these new channels. Less competition means far fewer options and lower revenue for content providers. This has the American written all over it.
If nothing else, I hope we finally get a decent Fantastic Four movie.