A friend of mine (Big SU Donor) was up in Syracuse last weekend from Texas for the Notre Dame/ UConn bb games and also a private booster meeting with the AD/Coaches.

"Here is the word as it concerns SU, WVU, Pitt and UL. The Disney Empire has decided these four will be the teams they promote with the best TV slots for FB. WVU will open at Cuse on either Sat/Sun on ABC over Labor Day weekend. Also, they expect UL to host Syracuse on Nov 26th--the game will be either ABC or ESPN. All the games between these schools are expected to be on ESPN/Duece or ABC on Saturday or Thursday. I know AD Jurich thinks they are closing with Cinci but TV is dictating Louisville/Cuse."

What does this mean for UConn, Rutgers, USF and Cinci? Inject my opinion here-->I suspect they (TV guys) are taking a wait and see on how the teams progress. In football the national cachet isn't there yet for these schools. This doesn't mean you won't be on Thursday night ESPN or weekend ESPN games but it will be much less than the other four teams. Disney does have the flexibility to highlight a team later in the season, for example... Rutgers is 6-1 or 5-2 they can definitely get a good TV slot in Oct/Nov on ESPN or ABC regional

Quote:What does this mean for UConn, Rutgers, USF and Cinci?

-- It probably means they aren't going to be on TV....not only are UL/Pitt/SU/WVU the attractive league games...they also have the attractive non league ones...the BE controls the ND@ Pitt game, VT@ WVU, Oregon State @ UL, I think UVA is playing @ SU as well....so the majority of BE TV is going to be those 4 schools

-- Uconn will probably be #5 in TV appearances...its proximity to ESPN and its ideal location in betwen NYC and Boston will gurantee that...also TV execs can us the UConn/Pitt, Uconn/SU bball rivalry and try to turn that into an interesting football matchup

-- UC will have its game with UL on ESPN..but that will probably be about it and USF/Rutgers could very easily not see national TV at all.....but the plus side for those last three schools is the BE game of the week...despite not being on national TV.... 2-3 games conference games involving UC/USF/Rutgers could at least be shown on the BEs vast regional boradcast


Jackson

You have ABC follow by ESPN and then ESPN2 with local if not national.

ABC will carry one or two from the top four match up. You have the remaining broadcasts BE games carry by ESPN/2. If eyeballs are what they looking for which market have the most and which markets have to share with other events?

UC has been on ESPN2 or regional quite a few times the last several years.

We may take a hit next year due to the loss of so many players. And our non-conference schedule is not too good with the exception of Penn State and Miami (OH). I doubt either of those make it to TV, though.

But we have also had good showings against some Big Ten teams, most notably OSU a few years back, on ESPN.

I could see them showing UC/WVU or UC/Pitt.

I think UC/UofL should be there if for nothing else it is the first season for both in the Big East and each team had some good success over the years in CUSA.

It all depends on scheduling of course.

Daily Mail: ESPN moves WVU-UConn to a Wednesday night?

Few negotiations have been held until recently, after Central Florida informed WVU that it wanted out of the team's scheduled game next fall in Morgantown.

Suddenly, the Mountaineers had a hole in their schedule and Marshall was more than willing to fill it. But since ESPN moved WVU's home game against Connecticut to a Wednesday night, which knocked out both the preceding and following Saturdays from consideration, the schools couldn't find a mutual date.

As a result, WVU scheduled a game with NCAA Division I-AA opponent Wofford University.

bearcatfan Wrote:UC has been on ESPN2 or regional quite a few times the last several years.

We may take a hit next year due to the loss of so many players. And our non-conference schedule is not too good with the exception of Penn State and Miami (OH). I doubt either of those make it to TV, though.

But we have also had good showings against some Big Ten teams, most notably OSU a few years back, on ESPN.

I could see them showing UC/WVU or UC/Pitt.

I think UC/UofL should be there if for nothing else it is the first season for both in the Big East and each team had some good success over the years in CUSA.

It all depends on scheduling of course.

I'm not suggesting you (Cinci) won't be on TV but there is a pecking order. Cinci will get some games but they might be ESPN2/ ESPN on Wed night/BE Game of the Week. Your Penn State and UL games will definitely be on TV. I expect the games versus Cuse, WVU, Pitt and UConn to be on some sort of TV. The link shows last year's BE syndicated network.<a href='http://www.bigeast.org/airwaves/' target='_blank'>BE TV</a>

Murph1 Wrote:Daily Mail: ESPN moves WVU-UConn to a Wednesday night?

Few negotiations have been held until recently, after Central Florida informed WVU that it wanted out of the team's scheduled game next fall in Morgantown.

Suddenly, the Mountaineers had a hole in their schedule and Marshall was more than willing to fill it. But since ESPN moved WVU's home game against Connecticut to a Wednesday night, which knocked out both the preceding and following Saturdays from consideration, the schools couldn't find a mutual date.

As a result, WVU scheduled a game with NCAA Division I-AA opponent Wofford University.

Wednesday night games are evil--Thursday games only work if both teams are on the same sheet of music (i.e. both had the same previous Sat either as an open date or a game)

I feel bad for WVU--they are too good to play Wofford

I don't know what the big surprise is here. Florida, Tennesee and LSU are on TV more than Vandy, Kentucky and Mississippi State. Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State are on TV more than Indiana, Northwestern and Minnesota. Texas, Nebraska and Oklahoma are on TV more than Baylor, Texas Tech and Iowa State. It's like that in every conference.

UC will earn their way on T.V. Remember when UC got hot last year and ESPN scrambled to put UC and Louisville on television. Build it and they will come.

I'd rather not be on TV at all than play on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. and Friday is right out.

We might not be able to control away games, but don't look for Dantonio to agree to HOME games in Cincinnati for any other time slot than Saturday. We don't need TV, we need local fans in the seats. And we won't get that on a Thursday night.

Further, I can't believe the Big East is going to let ESPN dictate the end of season matchups. Freakin' incredible.

Screw ESPN. So our big rivalry game of the year is moved from the last game of the season to... what? October? September?

We need to switch to Fox.

Quote:. So our big rivalry game of the year is moved from the last game of the season to... what? October? September?

-- Did they officially announce UC/UofL is not going to be the last game of the year? It wouldn't suprise me if that occured...the BE has always tried to hedge its bests regarding its best team by having them play the last game of the year as a mini conference championship game....this is why VT-Miami always played so late and WVU-Pitt is on thanksgiving...it makes sense that the BE conference and the networks would be pushing for the two other marquee football programs to play the last week as well


Jackson

Bearcat 1984 Wrote:Further, I can't believe the Big East is going to let ESPN dictate the end of season matchups. Freakin' incredible.

Screw ESPN. So our big rivalry game of the year is moved from the last game of the season to... what? October? September?

This "last game of the season" thing is being blown out of proportion. UC only recently has played UL as the last game of the season. In 2002 UC played them at the beginning of November. In 2001 it was in October. In 2000 it was in October. 1999 beginning of November. 1998 early October.

I don't really care when they play the game, personally. If anything, the earlier the better in the season because once we get to the rainy, cold nights in Cincinnati the attendance drops quite a bit.

Jackson1011 Wrote:

Quote:. So our big rivalry game of the year is moved from the last game of the season to... what? October? September?

-- Did they officially announce UC/UofL is not going to be the last game of the year? It wouldn't suprise me if that occured...the BE has always tried to hedge its bests regarding its best team by having them play the last game of the year as a mini conference championship game....this is why VT-Miami always played so late and WVU-Pitt is on thanksgiving...it makes sense that the BE conference and the networks would be pushing for the two other marquee football programs to play the last week as well


Jackson

VT/Miami was the last game only the last two years. As you remember SU/Miami was the normal last game for the BE before Coach P killed the program. Bottomline: the Big East hasn't really established any long term record of last game series besides Pitt/WVU. UL/Cuse and Pitt/WVU makes sense to play the last weekend in Nov. Both will be guaranteed ABC or ESPN telecasts. Regardless what the Cinci fan sez about TV games--programs usually bend over backwards to get on TV. We just need to limit the Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri crap.

I think Mikey T is bending over backwards to keep the Big 4 on TV during traditional weekend or Thursday night slots.

TexanMark Wrote:

Jackson1011 Wrote:

Quote:. So our big rivalry game of the year is moved from the last game of the season to... what? October? September?

-- Did they officially announce UC/UofL is not going to be the last game of the year? It wouldn't suprise me if that occured...the BE has always tried to hedge its bests regarding its best team by having them play the last game of the year as a mini conference championship game....this is why VT-Miami always played so late and WVU-Pitt is on thanksgiving...it makes sense that the BE conference and the networks would be pushing for the two other marquee football programs to play the last week as well


Jackson

VT/Miami was the last game only the last two years. As you remember SU/Miami was the normal last game for the BE before Coach P killed the program. Bottomline: the Big East hasn't really established any long term record of last game series besides Pitt/WVU. UL/Cuse and Pitt/WVU makes sense to play the last weekend in Nov. Both will be guaranteed ABC or ESPN telecasts. Regardless what the Cinci fan sez about TV games--programs usually bend over backwards to get on TV. We just need to limit the Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri crap.

I think Mikey T is bending over backwards to keep the Big 4 on TV during traditional weekend or Thursday night slots.

Exactly. Trust me, from UC's perspective, the Big East sees potential ratings, maybe not bonanza ratings but solid ratings, and tradition in a UC/UofL and UC/Pitt and even a UC/West Virginia game and will protect those games from being put in the graveyard shift. But if it was put on in the middle of the week you can bet UC would jump at it. National exposure is national exposure and I would hope that UC fans would come out in droves to see a conference game against a Top 10 Louisville team or a Top 10 or 15 Pitt or West Virginia team even if it's in the middle of the week.

There's every reason to believe the Pitt/WVU game will once again be the Thanksgiving Night game, with UConn/Rutgers being the morning game (unless they decide to pair UConn with Syracuse this year, since BC is now gone).

Remember that ESPN dumped the Egg Bowl in favor of Pitt/WVU on Thanksgiving.

Looks like there will be a few Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday night games on ESPN this season from what I have been told by several other Bulls fans.

Murph1 Wrote:There's every reason to believe the Pitt/WVU game will once again be the Thanksgiving Night game, with UConn/Rutgers being the morning game (unless they decide to pair UConn with Syracuse this year, since BC is now gone).

Remember that ESPN dumped the Egg Bowl in favor of Pitt/WVU on Thanksgiving.

I don't think SU will play UConn on T-giving weekend. As I posted it looks like SU vs UL. What I'm not sure of is if SU/UL is the last weekend of Nov or the first weekend of Dec. I would prefer SU/UConn square of in mid Oct every year when the weather is still good and the leaves in full colors. That would make tailgating special. Su/UConn will grow into a very good rivalry in football due to the closeness of the teams and the BB history.

USFBullSpit Wrote:Looks like there will be a few Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday night games on ESPN this season from what I have been told by several other Bulls fans.

Definitely we'll (BE) have several of these non traditional nights on ESPN or ESPN2. The price the BE pays to be ESPN's beotch.

Cat's_Claw Wrote:Trust me, from UC's perspective, the Big East sees potential ratings, maybe not bonanza ratings but solid ratings, and tradition in a UC/UofL and UC/Pitt and even a UC/West Virginia game and will protect those games from being put in the graveyard shift. But if it was put on in the middle of the week you can bet UC would jump at it. National exposure is national exposure and I would hope that UC fans would come out in droves to see a conference game against a Top 10 Louisville team or a Top 10 or 15 Pitt or West Virginia team even if it's in the middle of the week.

Don't be so sure.

The Big East apparently has no interest in the tradition of UC vs UL football, and will do nothing to protect it. We will be playing USF at the end of the season. ooh boy.

On a Tuesday night at that. Or a Friday night. even better.

UC has already said it will not play on Friday night, and don't be so quick to think that we will buy into this ESPN crapola. I think Dantonio plans to play on Saturday, and if he gets televised great. And if he doesn't that's great. If you win, they will televise you.

But don't be so recklessly confident that people in Cincy are going to come out in droves on a Wednesday night, a school night, to see Bearcat football in November, just because they're playing a 10th ranked Louisville.

If you make it hard, or inconvenient to come to games, if you make it a family-unfriendly event, then you are going to hurt attendance. And that will hurt local perception.

Right now, LOCAL perception in CINCINNATI is more important to our program than national tv exposure. We need Elder and Colerain families to get in the habit of attending Bearcat games to see their high school stars playing at the college level.

Quote:Looks like there will be a few Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday night games on ESPN this season from what I have been told by several other Bulls fans.

-- I'm not sure about this...but I thought the BE said no to Friday night football last year out of respect to the high school game...as for Tuesday games...I don't recall a BE matchup on Tuesady night last year....there will be some Wednesday games for sure and an occasional Thursday night matchup

Quote:The Big East apparently has no interest in the tradition of UC vs UL football, and will do nothing to protect it.

-- I wouldn't go that far....I'm confident that UC/Louisville will be playing on TV...it just might not be the last game of the year....And really it makes sense for the league to do this...having to Big primetime games during rivalry week especially considering this is the league's first year together is a big coup...and frankly I think it might be good for UC as well....unless I'm mistaken the last UL/UC game at Nippert only drew about 13,000 fans out because of the cold weather etc....if the game is earlier in the year perhaps more fans will attend...its even possible that UC could sell the game...a sell out would make UC look good locally and nationally

-- As a poster said above this happens all the time...before the ACC raid sometimes Miami played Syracuse and sometimes they played Virginia Tech....Since WVU has been in the league we have closed with Pitt, Virginia Tech and there have been times when we haven't played either one...two years ago WVU closed with Temple because the BE wanted Miami to play Pitt the last game of the year and VT was already playing UVA on that date

-- This year West Virginia opens @ Syracuse labor day weekend...that is a huge game for the fans of both schools and I'm sure no one is happy playing it in September...but TV controls things now and it is something we have to live with

-- If UC and Louisville are both ranked in the Top 25 preseason or it is pretty well established tha both schools are going to be solid...the game will be moved back...but unill then there are more TV friendly games we can take advantage of

Jackson