The post-Thanksgiving realignment news

[dakshdar]

The ACC screwed up with their contract with ESPN. They don't have the ability to start up their own channel and have anything left over to show of any value since ESPN will show most of their games of any worth and the rest they'll sell off (with profit going to ESPN) to Raycom Sports.

I can't see how an ACC channel that had 1-2 football games per weekend and then a bunch of the unbroadcasted basketball games couldn't generate as much money as any other conference channel. I think they have to wait until 2017 or something to renegotiate or try for something like that. Terrible decision making.

[WooPigSooie316]

I think you are overestimating GT's TV pull. The SEC dominates the ATL market. More Auburn fans in ATL than Georgia Tech. Probably more bama and Tennessee fans as well. Not to mention the UGA contingency.

That doesn't matter. Just the fact that they're in the Atlanta market means that the Big Ten could push to get their network on the TV packages there. Whether anybody actually watches doesn't matter.

If that's the case, they could push for it be on without a team.

The Big 10 network is on my cable package and I'm in Fayetteville, AR. Definitely not Big 10 country.

[bearass]

here in norman on Uverse i get the longhorn network and btn, we dont get that pac12 channel but i do get the byu and mountain channel

[BIGmike]

BYU has a channel? Yuck.

[Mtwasik]

here in norman on Uverse i get the longhorn network and btn, we dont get that pac12 channel but i do get the byu and mountain channel

You don't get the mountain channel anymore, they shut it down last summer.

[ICE]

BYU has a channel? Yuck.

Ouch man. It's BYUtv. One of the large reasons that they went independent. Most carriers have BYUtv as one of their channels.

[WooPigSooie316]

BYU has a channel? Yuck.

Ouch man. It's BYUtv. One of the large reasons that they went independent. Most carriers have BYUtv as one of their channels.

Mine doesn't......

[NCSUholmey]

I think you are overestimating GT's TV pull. The SEC dominates the ATL market. More Auburn fans in ATL than Georgia Tech. Probably more bama and Tennessee fans as well. Not to mention the UGA contingency.

That doesn't matter. Just the fact that they're in the Atlanta market means that the Big Ten could push to get their network on the TV packages there. Whether anybody actually watches doesn't matter.

If that's the case, they could push for it be on without a team.

They can put it on any local cable package outside of their footprint, primarily as a pay to add channel in a sports package which leads to money from people that WANT to watch the channel. In a market with a team that they have in their conference, they can push to have it included in EVERY subscribers monthly bill as part of the basic channel lineup. Viewership may not change all that significantly but your subscription base does. Would you rather have $10 from 100 people or $1 from 2000 people?

[ICE]

BYU has a channel? Yuck.

Ouch man. It's BYUtv. One of the large reasons that they went independent. Most carriers have BYUtv as one of their channels.

Mine doesn't......

They say that they reach 50 million homes and their radio station is simulcasted on XM/Sirius radio. it is channel 374 on Directv and channel 9403 on Dish.

[LetsGoPeay]

I couldn't decide which of the 42 other realignment threads this fits in so I'm just going with this one. We're still post-Thanksgiving right?

Anyway, the Big Ten is talking about starting up a lacrosse league and inviting Johns Hopkins as a lacrosse only member. This may seem very insignficant initially but it can be interpreted in a couple ways:

1. A boost to the Big Ten's academic and research reputation, which believe it or not, the conference and their presidents do take seriously.
2. Another step in the direction towards adding some combination of UVA, UNC, and Duke.

It would also add an incredibly respected research insitution to the CIC (Committee for Institutional Cooperation). This an academic consortium consisting of the Big Ten schools and the University of Chicago. They collaborate in bringing in research funding and academic programming so as to advance and build upon the reputation of the conference schools. Again, the presidents and faculty take this stuff seriously.

Johns Hopkins Weighing Big Ten, Other Conference Options; No Imminent Decision
Terry Foy January 29th, 2013 41

About two weeks ago, the blog Inside Maryland Sports tweeted “Have now had a few people mention Johns Hopkins to Big 10 as Lacrosse-only member may be done soon,” a message that kicked into high gear a story that IL first referenced coming out of the 2012 IMLCA Convention in December, and one that’ll have significant ramifications throughout the world of men’s lacrosse.

Being a DI program in a DIII athletic department, Johns Hopkins has flexibility within lacrosse that nearly all of its peers lack — the best interest of the lacrosse team is the leading consideration in potential conference affiliation, not a byproduct of the football and basketball teams’ most lucrative TV deals, as has been the case in many recent realignment choices.

As a result, coach Dave Pietramala, athletic director Tom Calder and the rest of the Blue Jay staff can consider the future of the program and its possible conference decision more narrowly than most of their counterparts. In a conversation with IL earlier in January, Pietramala said while his program hasn’t joined a league or been offered an invitation to join a league and no decision is imminent, Hopkins is considering its options to abandon its long-lived independence.

“We have not joined any conference,” Pietramala said. “We have been approached by several, and like anything else, you do your due diligence. You research the pros and cons of things.”

Pietramala wouldn’t confirm whether a prospective Big Ten men’s lacrosse conference is one that’s approached the Blue Jays, but multiple sources have told IL that the Big Ten, the Big East (or a representative of the future Big East) and the ECAC are among those interested in Johns Hopkins.

Heather Lyke is an associate athletic director at Ohio State, a member of the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship Committee and a driving factor in the future of lacrosse in the Big Ten. She said 10 days ago, in advance of the Big Ten Sports Management Committee meetings in Chicago, that nothing had been offered or even discussed with any certainty, but mentioned that all options for all sports would be considered, and any decisions coming out of the meetings would likely be made early-to-mid-February.

Among the considerations, she seemed to indicate that adding affiliate members for individual sports could be on the table, which may come as a surprise to college hockey fans who for years awaited Big Ten hockey prior to Penn State’s adding the sport this season.

“We’ll be going through every one of our sports and we have to analyze each one of them,” Lyke said. “Obviously we’ll consider how [affiliate conference membership] impacts those particular sports and what are the best options for those programs.”

Jim Siedliski, the Big East Associate Commissioner for Olympic Sports and another member of the NCAA Championship Committee, also didn’t confirm the Big East’s status as a suitor for Hopkins, but his comment was still pretty enlightening.

“If Hopkins is out there and they're a free agent, every conference should want them,” Siedliski said. “If there are only three that are rumored to be in contact with them, that’s a shame because in this sport, every conference should be pursuing the Blue Jays.”

With the loss of Notre Dame and Syracuse to the ACC, Rutgers to the Big Ten and the breaking away of the informally dubbed “Catholic Seven,” Big East men’s lacrosse is in an precarious position because all of the remaining programs are in that breakaway group: Villanova, St. John’s, Marquette, Georgetown and Providence. In order to retain its NCAA Tournament AQ, that future conference would have to add another team in order to meet the six-team minimum.

Siedliski said the formal withdrawal of those athletic departments and the resulting domino effect is expected to tip off within the next few weeks, which may provide some clarity to an otherwise muddy situation. Like pretty much every party in the current college sports-wide conference realignment landscape, Pietramala called stability one of the factors his program would consider.

Finally, ECAC spokesman Roger Crosley responded to an inquiry about pursing Hopkins saying, “As always, the ECAC is in the process of reviewing future members to continue to make our lacrosse league as strong as it can be. While the names of institutions we have contacted or that have contacted us remain confidential, any potential member that would bring a perennially strong lacrosse program and tradition would receive every consideration.”

For the ECAC, Hopkins presents an attractive option to replace the cache lost with Loyola’s impending departure to the Patriot League.

However, the prospect of a Big Ten men’s lacrosse league has major implications for the ECAC, which would presumably have to say goodbye to Michigan and Ohio State.

One important consideration for Johns Hopkins is how joining a conference would impact their powerful ESPNU deal that guarantees the Blue Jays national TV coverage of all their home games, which began in the 2006 season. As an independent, Hopkins is currently able to negotiate directly with ESPNU; that likely wouldn’t be the case as a member of a conference.

“Make no mistake, that'd be a consideration for us,” Pietramala said. “When you think about [possibly joining a conference], ESPNU and TV has a lot to do with that. That's a huge part for us. With the strong relationship with them, it's not something we'd do without discussing with them.”

When asked if he had a timeline for making any decisions regarding a conference, Pietramala laughed and said, “No, I’ve got rides and clears and second slides to worry about right now.” Pushed further as to whether he’d like any decision to be in place for the 2014, 2015, 2016 season or beyond, Pietramala said, “No, not right now. We're not in any hurry. That's not something you rush. The other thing is you want to make sure there's stability. There's still a lot of changes going on with the conferences. How can you make a decision without knowing who's going to be where? We've not put any kind of timetable down.”

In light of each party’s insistence that no decisions have been made, perhaps the most interesting development is the fact that Hopkins is considering joining a league at all.

“We're in a different age,” Pietramala said. “If you'd have said [Hopkins is going to join a conference] 10 years ago, I and everyone would've probably said, ‘No way; ain't gonna happen.’ But we have to be very aware of scheduling, and with these other teams playing in these leagues and tournaments, how does that affect us?”

http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2013/01/17/hopkins-draft