Big East Marathon on Jan. 2

[MU/Panther]

Kevin McNamara*‏@KevinMcNamara33

Now hearing that Fox/Big East Marathon will run Jan 2 and that many teams will also play Dec. 31 for difficult turnaround @BIGEASTMBB

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Hmm...not really liking that at all. Thanks college football playoff.

[MU/Panther]

Good move by FS1. Maybe games on big FOX. We shall see.

[Nukem2]

Good move by FS1. Maybe games on big FOX. We shall see.
Is it a good move? Thought it was going to be 12/30.

[MU/Panther]

Is it a good move? Thought it was going to be 12/30.It's good move moving away from NYE. Sounds like some teams will start on Dec. 30 & 31. If the marathon is also on Big FOX & FS1, I say it's might be a good move. I will have a better answer, once I see the schedule.

[TheSultan]

I think they should nix the idea of December 31 games. For some reason, the College Football Playoff decided to stick with the December 31 / January 1 dates, instead of Friday, Dec. 1 and Saturday, Dec. 2 when there is NO NFL competition. They could have had two straight days of huge ratings, but instead stuck with a tradition that is only a year old.

So the BE can now do its marathon on Saturday the 2nd, with the only competition being some lower level football bowls. So drop the December 31 idea entirely IMO.

[The Reptile]

Let them experiment and see what works. I'm happy to see them try something rather than sit still and accept the status quo. I trust that they'll hit on a formula at some point.

[TheSultan]

I'm not really even sure the "marathon" concept is a good one to begin with. They are trying to make a big splash kicking off their season right in the middle of the height of college football and just before the NFL playoffs - and I think it just gets lost in the shuffle. Does the casual sports fan tune in wondering what its about? I doubt it. There is a reason most of the other conferences just start their conference season up without much splash.

Maybe the "marathon" idea should be done the Saturday the weekend before the Super Bowl or something.

[IWB]

whether it is NBA, NCAA or even college football, I always wonder why none of the networks go hard after that Saturday before the Superbowl.

[The Reptile]

I'm not really even sure the "marathon" concept is a good one to begin with. They are trying to make a big splash kicking off their season right in the middle of the height of college football and just before the NFL playoffs - and I think it just gets lost in the shuffle. Does the casual sports fan tune in wondering what its about? I doubt it. There is a reason most of the other conferences just start their conference season up without much splash.

Maybe the "marathon" idea should be done the Saturday the weekend before the Super Bowl or something.


I agree, the marathons are an old concept that don't really inspire the masses anymore. I hope that somewhere along the way they find a better concept than this.

[Nukem2]

I agree, the marathons are an old concept that don't really inspire the masses anymore. I hope that somewhere along the way they find a better concept than this.Yep. With the marathon concept, we end up with odd starting times for games. And, how is it really any different than an ordinary BE Saturday...?

[MUMac]

I agree, the marathons are an old concept that don't really inspire the masses anymore. I hope that somewhere along the way they find a better concept than this.

It's all about marketing. They blast market it as an event and hope you tune in to one of the games. That leads to the remainder of the season. While we may not care for the time the games start, etc, the publicity of it is not a bad thing for this league.

[MU/Panther]

With the marathon concept, we end up with odd starting times for games. And, how is it really any different than an ordinary BE Saturday...?
It's not really any different, just a nice title to hope to get buzz.