Re: Summit Expansion?
Originally Posted by
abc123
Agreed that ratings might not be the driver but to pretend that media market concept is obsolete is way off. By adding Rutgers (and Maryland), the B1G was able to get the cable companies all along the east coasst to add the B1G Network to the standard lineup (instead of a optional subscriptions) and significantly increasing payouts to member schools. I would venture to guess that anyone who's looking at the financial windfall that came from those two additions would vehenmently disagree that adding KSU would have been more beneficial.
I do agree that it isn't quite as applicable when you're talking mid and low major conferences (though there is something to the recruiting portion of it) but when you're talking P5, its all about what it does for the bottom line.
Do we know this to be true? I've lived in B1G country most of my adult life and the B1G was a premium package channel everywhere I lived. Just because it is being offered in NYC as a channel doesn't mean there are a bunch of people that want to buy it, and maybe they don't. Perhaps that's why almost everyone in the B1G now believe that Rutgers was a terrible addition. Maybe the revenue hasn't panned out.
I don't care what Jim says. That is not the real Ben Franklin. I'm 99% certain.