ACC and MSG

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mens-col...en-sources-say

Love this "breaking news" from ESPN -- ACC will consider playing in MSG. No ****!

Not sure what the benchmarks are, but I sure hope like heck the new Big East meets them because no way do I want to see the ACC playing the conference tournament at MSG. Need to make sure the tourney will be sold out, which hopefully can be done. A successful St. John's wouldn't hurt.

Yeah, but I don't think this has been reported previously:

"Sources said MSG can get out of its deal before 2026 if the new Big East doesn't reach certain benchmarks."

So the now arrogant ACC is looking to work with MSG assuming that the new Big East won't hit their benchmarks (which I'd guess are attendance driven).

I really can't stand the ACC, and I hope Louisville dominates that conference for years to come.

Well, the BE has nothing to worry about as long as they hit the benchmarks. I mean, if the shoe was on the other foot and we were trying to leverage the A10 out of the Barclays Center, we would have no problem with the tactic.

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Originally Posted by TheSultan

I mean, if the shoe was on the other foot and we were trying to leverage the A10 out of the Barclays Center, we would have no problem with the tactic.

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Great point.

Who can blame them for thinking of going to MSG? It's every university and every conference for themselves nowadays, everybody is looking for their best interest. Let's just hope the first conference tournament for the new Big East at the Garden is a huge success.

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Originally Posted by MUBasketball

Great point.

Who can blame them for thinking of going to MSG? It's every university and every conference for themselves nowadays, everybody is looking for their best interest. Let's just hope the first conference tournament for the new Big East at the Garden is a huge success.

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Agree that it is everyone for themselves and screw the others now.

I just think it is more than unusual that the ACC, through ESPN, would according to the article say "We'll be playing there," a source said. "It's just a matter of getting all the legal ramifications worked out."

The building is booked through 2026, yet the ACC says they will be playing there and does so publicly through ESPN.

Sounds like the ACC, and I'd guess with ESPN's help, is trying to find a way for MSG to break their deal with the Big East and go with the ACC.

Here is what kills me.....

"Why shouldn't the premier basketball conference play in the world's premier arena?"

"No matter what business model you're in, if you're the best -- and our league is the best -- you should take it to New York," a source said.

While true, that is a pretty sh*tty thing to do. Raid the Big East, then boast about being the best and taking over their venue? That is BS. Screw the ACC.

This is about the fourth time ESPN and the ACC floated this...really would help the new BE to friggin name a commish and staff to get the positive pr machine rolling.

Or at least have the ADs of the leading schools refute this.

Next year will be very important. EVERY Big East team needs to re-invest some of the extra dough they are getting into making next year's tourney attendance to be be as close to normal years if not more and that won't be easy - 5 less teams next year and no UCONN and SU. Ticket allocations per team I assume will be up due to the decrease in teams. Has MU ever had chartered planes to the BE tourney like the FF flights in '03? If not they need to. As far as UCONN, if there was a fail-safe way to ensure that UCONN and a Cinci wouldn't later bolt, I wouldn't mind making them the 11th and 12th teams - UCONN presence would certainly help the BE retain the MSG.

I really love this quote that IWB posted: "Why shouldn't the premier basketball conference play in the world's premier arena?" So in essence, he is admitting that the ACC wasn't the premier conference.

As far as the tourney goes, will it be the first 6 teams getting a bye on Wednesday and then 8 on Thursday, 4 on Friday and final 2 on Saturday?

I bypassed this year's tourney specifically to ensure I could attend next year's.

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Originally Posted by kneelb4zerg

Love this "breaking news" from ESPN -- ACC will consider playing in MSG. No ****!

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Exactly. Did anyone really expect the ACC not to go after the Garden for their tourney? The earliest they could get it is 2022 so the Big East has 6-7 years to really prove itself.

We really need the headquarters to be in NYC (possibly inside MSG).

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Originally Posted by DCwarrior

The earliest they could get it is 2022 so the Big East has 6-7 years to really prove itself.

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Actually, the latest article says the Big East's contract has performance requirements, so if they do not meet them, MSG can show them the door.

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Originally Posted by Jim Ganzer, "IWB"

Actually, the latest article says the Big East's contract has performance requirements, so if they do not meet them, MSG can show them the door.

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I believe this quote from the article is the basis for DCwarrior's comment:

"The official deadline to bid for the 2016-21 ACC men's basketball tournaments was last September. Madison Square Garden did not submit a bid but still would be allowed to pursue future tournaments, a source said."

More from Andy Katz this morning:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebaske...ot-acc-and-msg

1. The ACC coaches want to get the conference tournament in Madison Square Garden and discussed it at length during the league meetings in Amelia Island, Fla., on Tuesday and Wednesday. But whether or not they can pull that off is out of their control. MSG has long wanted a regular tenant, based on the busy March schedule with outside events, as well as primary hosts the Rangers and Knicks. The ACC is reviewing MSG's deal with the new Big East. MSG is unlikely going to go with a conference that would only make a cameo in the building every so often. The ACC is not going to move the conference tournament out of North Carolina (Greensboro or Charlotte) for more than one year every three or four years. If MSG wanted to maximize the opportunity it has in front of it then it should get the Big East to move its tournament to early in championship week and take the ACC the latter part of the week. If not, then the ACC has to see if it can wedge its way into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn around the A-10, or push the A-10 to play earlier in the week. Meanwhile, as expected, C-USA voted Wednesday at its league meetings to have all 16 teams go to the 2014 C-USA tournament in El Paso.

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Originally Posted by ge1974

More from Andy Katz this morning:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebaske...ot-acc-and-msg

1. The ACC coaches want to get the conference tournament in Madison Square Garden and discussed it at length during the league meetings in Amelia Island, Fla., on Tuesday and Wednesday. But whether or not they can pull that off is out of their control. MSG has long wanted a regular tenant, based on the busy March schedule with outside events, as well as primary hosts the Rangers and Knicks. The ACC is reviewing MSG's deal with the new Big East. MSG is unlikely going to go with a conference that would only make a cameo in the building every so often. The ACC is not going to move the conference tournament out of North Carolina (Greensboro or Charlotte) for more than one year every three or four years. If MSG wanted to maximize the opportunity it has in front of it then it should get the Big East to move its tournament to early in championship week and take the ACC the latter part of the week. If not, then the ACC has to see if it can wedge its way into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn around the A-10, or push the A-10 to play earlier in the week. Meanwhile, as expected, C-USA voted Wednesday at its league meetings to have all 16 teams go to the 2014 C-USA tournament in El Paso.

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The ACC is quickly overtaking the Big 10 for the A-Hole Conference award.

Agree Mac - Here are the points that stuck out to me

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Originally Posted by ge1974

More from Andy Katz this morning:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebaske...ot-acc-and-msg

The ACC is reviewing MSG's deal with the new Big East.

it should get the Big East to move its tournament to early in championship week and take the ACC the latter part of the week.

push the A-10 to play earlier in the week.

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Why would they be able to review the Big East's contract? That is between the Big East and MSG, and the ACC should not be able to "review it".

Push the Big East to earlier? Push the A-10 to earlier? Who in the hell do they think they are?


Also, C-USA agreed to their conference tourney in El-Paso? Thank God MU found a way to get to the Big East.

What stood out to me was this:

"MSG is unlikely going to go with a conference that would only make a cameo in the building every so often. The ACC is not going to move the conference tournament out of North Carolina (Greensboro or Charlotte) for more than one year every three or four years."

The ACC is based in Carolina. They will continue to play the majority of their tournament games there. Very unlikely that the MSG gives up a permanent deal (BE) for one that might appear every four years. Not to mention Boeheim will be retiring soon. Who knows if 'Cuse will be relevant after that.

VS

It would be interesting to see what exactly some of the provisions in the contract are. I mean, if they fail to meet certain performance targets, can the MSG move the BE to earlier in the week?

But I agree with VS. If one of the drivers for MSG is to have permanence, the BE is going to be fine as long as people show up.

I think this a reason to invite Dayton. They probably are more likely to bring fans to the tournament, than a St. Louis. Also, I'm guessing that this is a reason to have more than 10 teams in the conference, as well.

I'm not a big professional sports guy, but at least the pro teams work together, for the most part, for the good of the leagues members. The college conferences are now all out for themselves and apparantly out to screw each other over.

I guess in both instances, they are trying to maximize their profit.

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Originally Posted by TedBaxter

I'm not a big professional sports guy, but at least the pro teams work together, for the most part, for the good of the leagues members. The college conferences are now all out for themselves and apparantly out to screw each other over.

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Makes perfect sense since the television contracts (the main source of money) are negotiated with the league in the case of professional sports...and the conference in the case of college sports.

I would think a big university like VCU, that is also east coast with easy travel to NY and the Garden, who is basketball only and successful would be a great add to help keep the Garden and raise the league's profile.

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Originally Posted by Goose85

I would think a big university like VCU, that is also east coast with easy travel to NY and the Garden, who is basketball only and successful would be a great add to help keep the Garden and raise the league's profile.

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I don't know if they would travel or not. Their arena holds 7,500 and they have not been able to fill that:

http://aroundthehorns.wordpress.com/...-hand-in-hand/

They are missing the last two seasons in those numbers. I saw alot of the A-10 tourney and VCU fans did travel in solid numbers.

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Originally Posted by Mucrisco

I think this a reason to invite Dayton. They probably are more likely to bring fans to the tournament, than a St. Louis. Also, I'm guessing that this is a reason to have more than 10 teams in the conference, as well.

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You may be right Crisco. Hopefully MSG will be accomodating the first few years to allow the conference to grow up a little bit before the performance targets are instituted. Kind of changes the dynamics of our many conversations on this board about who should be the next two members. Anybody still on board with Gonzaga? Realistically, how many fans would they bring annually to NYC for the conference tourney?

I didn't realize the ACC was this bad in football from a BCS standpoint. Ranked 8th among conferences and only 3 BCS bowl wins.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ential-for-acc

The new Big East paid a hefty sum for the MSG tourney rights to the AAC, they better damn well have a good plan to fill the joynt up and have proper protections in the amended tourney contract. Then again, no permanent commisioner is yet in place or their staff...tick, tock.

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Originally Posted by MU/Panther

They are missing the last two seasons in those numbers. I saw alot of the A-10 tourney and VCU fans did travel in solid numbers.

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I realize they are missing the last two years. Still, they had not sold out their 7,500 seat facility. I don't know what solid numbers mean or how that translates into a BE Tournament at the MSG. Counting on VCU to travel to the tournament may not be the best.

We could really use someone speaking on behalf of the Big East right now.

Why? What would they say? The Big East has a contract with MSG, and they don't need to respond to every little blurb posted on ESPN.

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Originally Posted by TheSultan

Why? What would they say? The Big East has a contract with MSG, and they don't need to respond to every little blurb posted on ESPN.

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Exactly. Put out a response that the Big East has a contract to play at MSG until 2026 and the Big East fully intends to play there through 2026.

ESPN is trying to set the expectation that the ACC will be there, it would be nice for an official response to set ESPN straight and let them know they don't call all the shots.

From Zagsblog. Zagoria indicates that ESPN really wants to get it done.

http://zagsblog.com/articles/boeheim...sg/#more-96312

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Originally Posted by Goose85

Exactly. Put out a response that the Big East has a contract to play at MSG until 2026 and the Big East fully intends to play there through 2026.

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Again...why? Based on something reported on ESPN? There is absolutely no reason to do this regardless of the message board hang-wringing. They can't respond to every challenge or slight.

Why? Well, now with ESPN, Bilas, coaches and recruits commenting on this, it is becoming more of a real issue. You can only absorb so many shots before the general public starts to believe it should happen. The Big East needs to stake their claim instead of sitting back and being picked apart. The 'sit back and wait to see what develops' mentality is why the Big East was picked apart instead of the Big 12.

Time to put on the gloves and come out swinging before we are stuck playing the conference tourney in a second tier facility/city.

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Originally Posted by Jim Ganzer, "IWB"

Why? Well, now with ESPN, Bilas, coaches and recruits commenting on this, it is becoming more of a real issue. You can only absorb so many shots before the general public starts to believe it should happen. The Big East needs to stake their claim instead of sitting back and being picked apart. The 'sit back and wait to see what develops' mentality is why the Big East was picked apart instead of the Big 12.

Time to put on the gloves and come out swinging before we are stuck playing the conference tourney in a second tier facility/city.

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In what way is saying something publicly going to protect an existing contract any more than by simply letting the talking heads talk?

I would definitely have talking points ready unless people are contacted for a response, and I would have someone put in a call to MSG have a gentle conversation about its relationship with the BE, but there is absolutely no need to say anything proactively.

For the most part sports fans all get their sports news from ESPN. Having high school kids, I know that is their source of sports info. Now recruits that are going to Syracuse are talking about it. ESPN is all but promoting it. Why should MSG comment, they are likely going to be the benefactor if the ACC and ESPN pay more for their show at the Garden.

Right now there is nobody to contact from the Big East to get a response to the story. So basically the ACC and ESPN are telling the sports world that they will be having their tourney at the Garden. It's being reported by ESPN, so most expect it to happen. It would be nice for once for the Big East to stand up for itself and step in and say the Big East and MSG are partners and we expect to host our tourney through 2026 so I'm not sure what the ACC folks are talking about.

Contracts can always be bought out. ESPN gets enough momentum on this I could see MSG saying, hey Big East, for $10 mil how about you skip a couple years.