Forbes on article Big East's finances and more

[ArmyVet]

Really well written article with financial info provided. I included a couple of interesting points:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jppelzman/ ... 19d93b58ac

The conference received over $31.5 million in rights fees from FOX in 2015 and more than $32.8 million in 2016, according to tax records obtained by Forbes.com. Figures for 2017 were not available.

Ackerman said other revenue streams include ticket sales and sponsorships, noting “we have ancillary streams from our tournament, which is sort of a high-cost event.”

In 2016, the conference paid out more than $28.6 million to its members to help them run their programs, and retained $847,564 for itself, according to tax records.

“We don’t have football distractions,” Ackerman said, “but we don’t have football revenue either, and that does set us apart from the leagues that we’re competing against for coaches and for facilities development and ultimately for student-athletes.”

What about potential expansion? Some have speculated that Connecticut, which has a faltering FBS football program, might want to come home to the Big East.

“A number of schools have directed interest to us,” Ackerman said. “I’ll leave them unnamed. … But at this point, our schools are really happy with 10 and in part because they really like the double round-robin” conference schedule.

She added, “We are (happy with 10). We have talked about expansion at board meetings and within our AD group. The school kind of has to be the perfect fit. It’s not a casual conversation. It’s do they fit, do they share our focus on basketball, do they want to be with us long-term? Because nobody here is going anywhere.”

[Xudash]

Thanks for sharing ArmyVet.

Great article. All we can do is to keep building our individual brands to keep the Big East brand strong, including continuing to fill up MSG for our BET. The answer to the long term question about financial viability comes from that first and foremost.

We have to continue to be very attractive as a content partner. We'll see what becomes of the financial model for collegiate sports content in the near future. Hopefully, we'll be okay in the next round, which you would think would run for at least another decade+.

We've otherwise clearly proven that we don't need expansion as a crutch, because we're thriving.

[billyjack]

Nice article ArmyVet. The conference is in great shape, and has smart people in charge. Also, Val and Stu and the admin are modest and all-class, with no loudmouth blustering nor lying nor ridiculous spin and BS like Delany and Swofford.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Wonderful article, and positive viewpoints towards the future of the league. As stated before, we are incredibly fortunate to have Val as our commissioner - she has done a remarkable job representing our schools and speaking on our behalf. The expansion line is intriguing, yet unsurprising. My guess is that - in addition to UConn having on-going conversations to keep their options open - Saint Louis, and Dayton are pursuing those discussions to see what they need to do in order to elevate their candidacy (other than strengthening their basketball programs). Beyond those three programs, any other school *should* be considered a long-term long-shot at best (Davidson, Duquesne, Richmond, Fordham, Loyola, Denver, etc.). Other candidates are not realistic at present, but could eventually be if there is a mass shakeup at the FBS level concerning pay-for-play and scholarship values (Duke, Wake Forest, Boston College, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, etc.).

[xusandy]

Great find, ArmyVet! And of course, the bottom line is that the "new" Big East has been rather nicely profitable so far, to the tune of almost $3 million each to its members in 2016 alone. I'm sure the Football 5 distribute more total $ to their members, but except for the Big 12, they have to split it more ways, and each member school has two major sports programs to help fund. I wonder what that means in terms of "relative" men's basketball budgets for us vs. them. Louisville was able to outbid X for Mack, but that's just anecdotal evidence that we have smaller bball budgets.

Anyone got data or stats on this?