ESPN and Current Big East Conference Agree to Multiyear Rights Agreement ESPN and the current Big East Conference, soon to be renamed, will continue their relationship of more than three decades with a multiyear, multimedia rights agreement. The agreement grants ESPN exclusive worldwide distribution rights across all media and will continue ESPN’s coverage of the conference’s football, basketball and more through 2019-20. In addition, video subscribers of ESPN will have access to the games via digital and mobile devices. ESPN’s existing football agreement with the conference runs through 2013 while the 2013-14 season will act as a bridge year for the conference’s basketball rights. Commencing in 2014-15, football, basketball and other sports will be under one agreement through 2019-20 granting ESPN rights to all conference contests (not included in CBS’s basketball rights package) including at least 66 football games and 170 men’s basketball games which will be made available annually across ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, ESPNU, ESPNEWS and ESPN3, and via limited regional and national sublicense. In addition, select women’s basketball regular-season and postseason contests as well as other conference-sponsored sports will be presented throughout the year. http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-r...nference-agree-to-multiyear-rights-agreement/
Re: THE CONFERENCE (formerly known as the Big East) Number 12 coming sooner rather than later Q: Your TV deal for the new conference is done. So what's next? Aresco: We have some serious work ahead of us. We must find a good name that works and reflects the new reality of who we are. We have to come up with a good logo and branding that the public will accept. We feel we are going to get great exposure with our new ESPN deal with some Thursday night and Friday night windows. Some of our new schools like SMU, Houston, Memphis, Tulane, and East Carolina have never had this kind of exposure before. Now it is up to us to perform on the field and on the court. Q: When Navy comes (in 2015) you'll have 11 schools. How quickly will you go to 12? Aresco: We'll go to 12 sooner rather than later. We didn't want to do it in March and disrupt the focus on the tournament. Q: Most people believe that conference expansion and realignment are not over. Is it possible that after all this work you could lose more schools down the road? Aresco: Anything is possible but we believe that if this group of schools can stay together we can be a challenger brand. In football there is the opportunity to land one of the top bowl spots in the new playoff format if our conference finishes first among the Group of Five (Big East, Mountain West, Conference USA, Sun Belt, Mid-American). Cincinnati was No. 3 a few years ago. We think the Florida schools (UCF, USF), can become the brands we want. Q: But what about basketball? Aresco: Again, we have a really good core. We have four proven basketball brands in UConn, Cincinnati, Temple and Memphis. We have (coach) Larry Brown at SMU. Houston wants to regain their former glory. I think we are going to be a good basketball league. But right now we have to find a couple of locations to play our men's and women's basketball tournaments. http://www.cbssports.com/columns/st...-new-football-brand-after-big-east-defections
Re: THE CONFERENCE (formerly known as the Big East) THREAD name game will wait-for now Sources say that since the driving force for the old Big East is still football, announcing a name in April–at the height of the early flurry of spring football games at various league sites–will create more of a splash than if it were announced in March. With that in mind, look for mid-April announcement of a new name, perhaps with some other news such as East Carolina being elevated to full member status. Another issue which must be decided quickly is to find a site for next year’s conference basketball tournament. With Madison Square Garden and New York City lining up with the new Big East basketball conference, Aresco is looking at several options. http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=6023
Re: THE CONFERENCE (formerly known as the Big East) THREAD Long-Term Deal With CBS For Men's Basketball The soon-to-be-renamed Big East Conference, demonstrating the continuing vitality of its basketball programs, has entered into an agreement with longtime partner CBS Sports to telecast men's basketball games through the 2019-20 season, Commissioner Mike Aresco and CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus announced today. The contract includes up to 12 appearances per season. Half of the appearances each season will be conference games. CBS Sports retains the right to have the first selections among conference, non-conference and neutral site games. Financial terms of the agreement were not announced. With this agreement and a previously announced deal with ESPN, the Conference continues its association with two of the most prestigious media organizations in sports, a major milestone in a realignment and rebranding that will culminate in the announcement of a new name later this spring. http://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-big-east-tv-0327-20130326,0,6932847.story
Re: THE CONFERENCE (formerly known as the Big East) THREAD East Carolina joining Big East in all sports East Carolina will join the soon-to-be-renamed Big East as an all-sports member, instead of just for football as originally planned. East Carolina had already been set to join Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida and the rest of the Big East football schools in 2014. But with the recent split of the football and basketball schools, the football side is giving up the name Big East and needed to add more members for all sports. Commissioner Mike Aresco called East Carolina ''a valuable addition'' in a statement announcing the move Wednesday. ''They have forward-looking leadership under Chancellor Steve Ballard and an outstanding and well-rounded athletic program,'' Aresco said. ''Their men's and women's basketball teams have enjoyed excellent seasons and their Olympic sports are strong. East Carolina being made an all-sports member is another important step in strengthening our conference.'' http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ap-source-e-caro-joining-144604834--ncaaf.html
Re: THE CONFERENCE (formerly known as the Big East) THREAD http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=6302 The soon-to-be-renamed Big East Conference are expected to make a series of site visits following the Final Four as they search for a venue for next season’s men’s basketball conference tournament. The candidates (for the first year): Memphis, Philadelphia, Hartford, Cincinnati, Louisville *** The soon to be named Big East conference could have its new name by the end of the week. There is increasing pressure on Big East commissioner Mike Aresco to take advantage of the Big East presence in the Final Four and announce a new oame in Atlanta. Big Metro or Big Metro American are picking up support.
Re: THE CONFERENCE (formerly known as the Big East) THREAD Sources: Old Big East has new name By Brett McMurphy | ESPN The American Athletic Conference is the new name for the former Big East Conference, according to sources. The league is expected to formally announce the new name as early as Thursday. In the Big East's final season in its current makeup, the league is going out with a flourish. Louisville upset Florida in the AT&T Sugar Bowl, and five teams reached the men's and women's Final Fours, the most from one conference in NCAA history. Last month, sources told ESPN that commissioner Mike Aresco favored America 12 Conference as the league's new name. However, the schools' presidents rejected it because they didn't want a number included. http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...named-american-athletic-conference?src=mobile
Re: THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (formerly known as the Big East) THREAD Big East Conference@BigEastConf46m For those asking, the conference intends to emphasize "The American" as its brand, not an acronym.
Ben Fairclough@bigeast_ben36m The American will launch its new website at its new domain July 1. Twitter handles for The American have not been used to date.
Nike helps rebrand University of Connecticut as UConn HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The University of Connecticut is officially rebranding itself as UConn. The school is adopting the UConn nickname as the "primary visual word mark for the entire institution," President Susan Herbst said Thursday in her annual State of the University address to the campus community. The nickname will replace the University of Connecticut on the schools signs, letterhead, banners, advertising and web pages, she said. The change comes with a new logo, which features the block letters UCONN in all capital letters. "As an institution, for years we have made use of UConn as institutional nickname of sorts," Herbst said. "But while we see it as shorthand, it appears that throughout the nation - due to our athletic success no doubt - most everyone refers to the university as UConn. That's not a bad thing at all. Think UCLA or Penn or Georgia Tech or Cal or MIT, nicknames all - and proud ones." http://www.oregonlive.com/playbooks-profits/index.ssf/2013/04/nike_helps_rebrand_university.html
The newly named American Athletic Conference will begin its search for a site for men’s basketball tournament in Philadelphia. According to sources familiar with the process, representatives of the American will visit the historic Palestra in Philadelphia on Tuesday as a potential site of the men’s basketball tournament in March 2014. Other sites that will be considered are Hartford, Memphis and Tampa. American Athletic Association commissioner Mike Aresco is intrigued by the Palestra because of its historical significance as one of the storied venues in college basketball as not only the home court of the University of Pennsylvania, but as a long time site of Big 5 basketball–Temple, Saint Joseph’s, Villanova, LaSalle and Penn–in a prime basketball market. http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=6776
Casino bidding for AAC tourney HARTFORD, Conn. -- A tribal casino in Connecticut is bidding to host the men's and women's basketball tournaments for the new American Athletic Conference. Chris Sienko, vice president for the Mohegan Sun, which includes a 9,500-seat arena that is home to the WNBA's Connecticut Sun, said the resort is interested in hosting one or both tournaments. "We have no insight as to whether we'll be chosen or be a finalist," said Sienko, who also serves as general manager for the WNBA team. "We're just going through the same process that everyone else is going through to be vetted out by the AAC." Conference officials confirm the venue is in the running, but said the sites for each tournament will be chosen separately by the presidents and athletic directors of the member schools, with input from coaches. The topic will be discussed at the upcoming conference meetings, which begin May 20. http://espn.go.com/womens-college-b...nning-american-athletic-conference-tournament
The NCAA Division One Board noted that the current Big East Conference would become the American Athletic Conference ("The American") on July 1, 2013, clearing the way for the new conference to adopt the Big East name. The American will retain the Big East's permanent seat on the Division I Board of Directors and their three votes. http://www.vuhoops.com/big-east/201...board-recognizes-new-big-east-as-a-conference The only conferences with permanent seats and 3 votes on the NCAA D1 Board are the 11 FBS conferences. The other 7 seats rotate. In any given year, 4 will go to FCS conferences, and the other 3 to D1 leagues that do not sponsor football. Those 7 leagues have 1.14 votes each.
The American is how we want to brand ourselves," Aresco said. "The AAC acronym will probably be used, but we shy away from it because it's similar to the ACC and we're also trying to be sensitive to the Appalachian Athletic Conference." •Aresco said the conference logo will be released very soon. "We've been going to campuses (showing the group of logos) and it's generated a tremendous positive reaction," •"American" could potentially be in the endzone, that word with a group of marks as well. It depends on how people want to use them. We'll have choices. We're doing a logo that can customized and color-coded by school. •"Everything will be rolled out in the next 2-3 weeks." http://ucf.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1504015
American Athletic Conference officials will begin their spring meetings next week in Florida, with a logo for the newly named conference, plus the sites of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments the primary items on the agenda…Memphis and Philadelphia remain the leading contenders for the men, although Atlantic City is receiving some consideration Lame duck member Rutgers, which is heading to the Big 10 in 2014, is expected to name a new athletic director with Nebraska associate AD Sean Frazier and Louisville Sr. Associate AD Julie Herman the two finalists… http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=6860#more-6860
Mohegan Sun (Women), Memphis (Men) Likely Venues For American Athletic Conference Tournaments All signs point to the American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament being held at the Mohegan Sun Arena while Memphis is the favorite to land the men's tournament, which leaves Hartford without an event. The XL Center had bid for both, and the downtown Hartford arena has been the site of the past 10 Big East women's tournaments. The league ended its spring meetings Wednesday morning, when some of the remaining athletic directors met with women's sports administrators and commissioner Mike Aresco. They talked more about choosing sites for the postseason basketball tournament. Aresco said Tuesday that it could be two or three weeks before deals are finalized with venues, but he said after Wednesday's meeting that deals could be completed sooner — perhaps within a week. Women's basketball coaches endorsed the Mohegan Sun to athletic directors Tuesday and league presidents expressed no apprehension about playing the tournament at a facility attached to a casino. The leading candidate for the men's tournament is Memphis. Conference officials have said privately that the league is being cautious in identifying the venues because negotiations must be completed and the league wants to keep other options available. http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...hletic-meetings-0523-20130522,0,7976655.story
American Athletic Conference ratifies plan to split realignment funds Three former Big East schools will receive 60 percent of funds PONTE VEDRA BEACH — American Athletic Conference presidents agreed on how to split lucrative Big East exit fees and postseason credits that reportedly could be near $100 million. League officials declined to reveal how much each school would receive, but UCF athletics director Todd Stansbury said in an exclusive interview with the Orlando Sentinel the schools previously in the Big East would receive about 60percent of the revenue while the newcomers would split about 40 percent. Following the second day of meetings, league commissioner Mike Aresco said the conference is looking to craft a bowl lineup for 2014 and beyond. The conference could lose three bowl affiliations – the Pinstripe Bowl in New York City, the Belk Bowl in Charlotte and the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando – but is considering creating its own bowl to be played in South Florida. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...bury-american-athletic-conference-mike-aresco
The NCAA tournament impact of the ‘real AmeriCon’ Yesterday, CBS Sports’ @JonRothstein tweeted seven teams from the newly created league that could challenge for an NCAA berth in 2014. Whether he’s a little strong on his prediction or not, it seems pretty likely the league will grab at least four NCAA bids next season. Louisville, in its only year in the league before joining the ACC, may be the preseason No. 1 team in the nation. The defending champs are a certainty to dance. Connecticut, eligible again after a one-season APR penalty, has plenty of backcourt firepower. Cincinnati likewise should be more than good enough to make it, and Memphis and/or maybe reloading Temple should be good enough to get in as well. Maybe there’s a surprise team that emerges, too, but let’s use four as a relatively sound guess and go from there. http://college-basketball.si.com/2013/05/22/ncaa-tournament-american-athletic-conference/
2013-14 College Basketball Conference Snapshot: American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference doesn’t have a logo or a site for its conference tournament. But it does have the defending national champion and clear top team for 2013-14. In its first and final season in the American Athletic Conference, Louisville is the clear favorite with many of the key pieces returning from last season’s title winner. Although the American won’t be as good as the former Big East, the league is hoping a handful of teams -- both from the old Big East and teams imported from Conference USA -- will keep the league flush with its share of postseason contenders. 1. LOUISVILLE (35-5, 14-4 Big East, won national title) Key players gone: Gorgui Dieng, Peyton Siva Top returners: Chane Behanan, Wayne Blackshear, Luke Hancock, Montrezl Harrell, Russ Smith, Kevin Ware New faces: Anton Gill (Hargrave Military Academy), Chris Jones (junior college), Terry Rozier (Hargrave) Not so fast on slotting Kentucky as the national championship favorite. The Cardinals will have a chance to defend their title with the return of Russ Smith after early indications had the shooting guard headed to the draft. Chris Jones and Terry Rozier will ease the loss of Peyton Siva while forward Montrezl Harrell could be the Cards’ breakout star in 2013-14 after shining in the postseason. http://www.athlonsports.com/college...basketball-conference-american-early-rankings
