Marinatto out as Big East Commish

[Goose85]

Need to get someone in the position that can successfully market and negotiate a very good t.v. deal.
Make football happy, make everyone money.

The CBSsports article indicates that in September negotiations will begin on a new tv deal. That will be the key to solidifying the conference.

This may actually be a good thing for the conference as long as they can keep Lousiville and any others from leaving.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7899745/big-east-commish-john-marinatto-quits-amid-shifting-landscape

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/brett-mcmurphy/18983292

[IWB]

Here is the Fox Sports story on Marinatto 'resigning'. Can't help but wonder if this is a little too late. Look at what happened with the Big XII - they were reportedly gone. Mizzou to the Big 10, Oklahoma, OSU, Texas and Texas Tech to the Pac 12, A&M to the SEC and the Big East was looking at taking any combination of Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Baylor. They immediately fire their commish, Texas, OU, Tech and K-State all stay, and now the conference, while only at 10, is as stable as ever.

Will Gavitt Jr take over? Not likely as he is a basketball guy and the conference needs a football guy. But will it matter now that all of the moves "seem" to be over?

[Goose85]

Could be too little too late, all depends on the new TV deal.

I understand football is king, and for a network like NBC, which has had ND for years, and is looking for programming on its other channels, I think the Big East would be worth paying for.

Football is generally played on Sat. The expected makeup of the Big East with football teams in every US time zone should bring some vaule. Start the morning with east coast games and move west through the day with a night game featuring Boise State or San Diego state.

Basketball. You have a network that needs programing, the Big East has enough teams that you could show a game every night. The conference also has enough marquee teams that you could have Saturday and Sunday big games on the flagship NBC station.

ESPN already has a ton of sports programming. Hopefully NBC and its new sports channel (the old versus) finds value in the Big East and we get a new commish that can help them do just that.

[Gato78]

Do you think if Pitt's president, Mark Nordenberg (played by OJ Simpson), had disclosed during the TV contract negotiations with ESPN, that he was talking to the ACC, and ESPN, that the deal is done, the BIG EAST remains in tact and Marinatto is hailed as a strong leader and is effectively "Commissioner for Life"? Marinatto is just another casualty of Pitt's double dealing.