Talking Bull - The Big East and it's Small contract

Big East Conference, ESPN agree to TV rights deal - ESPN
The Big East Conference confirmed Saturday that ESPN has matched a media rights deal offer, keeping the network as the league's primary rights holder. The deal is for seven years and worth $130 million through the 2019-20 school year, league sources said. The Big East's new deal is worth less per school than its current ESPN deal and six times less than what ESPN presented two years ago.

Quick math check... 130 Million, divided by seven years is 18.6 Million a year. Divide that by the nine current members and that's 2.06 million per team, per year. When, or should I say *if*, Navy comes on board in 2015 that drops to 1.86 Million per season. If they climb up to 12 teams by throwing a Coup de grâce at Conference USA the deal drops to 1.55 Million per team.

They are now living in mid major land. They have the nicest house on the block but they are still our neighbors. Two million a season is only about 10% of UB's low budget and would be more like 5-8% of the budgets you see in the Big East.

They will still have a lot of hoops money coming in because of UConn's hoops units, and there is of course the windfall of money from teams like West Virginia, Rutgers, Pitt, and Syracuse had to pay in order to get a lifeboat off of the Big East (about 70 million in total).

But the painful part is the refusal of a contract worth nearly ten times what they just took. Several years back convinced they should be making money on par with the other major conference the Big East turned down an ESPN extension that would have netted them anywhere from 15-25 million per team per year (depending on who you ask).

Ladies and Gentlemen the biggest mistake in NCAA television negotiating used to be owned by former MAC commissioner Rick Cryst. He sold away the MAC TV rights for a hand full of beans (150K per team) in hopes that ESPN exposure would be a magic bean stalk. This week the Big East officially rips away the MAC trophy for "most bone headed TV deal decision"

Should there be a statue of limitations?

Oregon vs. the NCAA, in which the future will bear the crimes of the past - SBNation.com
From John Canzano on the one-week-shy-of-two-years-old NCAA investigation into Chip Kelly's allegedly forbidden association with scout Willie Lyles and the neverending, needless strain it's placed on the rest of the Ducks:

There has to be a middle ground between what the NCAA did to Penn State and what they are doing to Oregon...

Here we go again!

Speaking of bad news for the Big East!

UNC-to-SEC rumors return, and we might've found the new Notre Dame - SBNation.com
That report from earlier in the week about North Carolina having a Big Ten offer, which came from a source with a track record on the subject? It gets juicier, for those who like juicy things

Any ACC instability means just one thing. UConn and/or Cincinnati will Quickly be taken away by whats left of the ACC. I don't think you're going to see super conference happen, that is until there are fourteen or fifteen regular season game you will not see more than 16 teams in a conference, in fact I would be surprised to see 14. Heck I don't see the PAC going past 12. They are the "MAC" of major expansion. Slow and steady.

There is also the question of can the Big12 if the ACC successfully raid each other? The two conference are so similar that it's hard to imagine bulk defections.

But *if* the ACC gets stomped the dominoes start to fall. The New Big East will the try to nab Tulsa and Southern Miss to officially become the old-new conference USA.

UB Thrower dominates...

MAC Indoor Track & Field Championships Recap - Hustle Belt
The meet's single best effort largely got ignored. Buffalo shot putter Jonathan Jones broke the meet record on Friday with a distance of 64' 3¼" (19.59 meters), which earned him the award as the meet's Most Outstanding Field Performer. The distance ranks him fifth in the NCAA and, while fields won't be set for another week, it will almost certainly qualify him to the NCAA Championships at Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center on March 8-9.

Sabres News... Go vote on your favorite Lindy Moment at Die by the Blade

Poll: What's Your Favorite Lindy Ruff Moment? - Die By The Blade
Lindy Ruff has been a part of the Sabres organization for more than half of the games they've ever played, which for a 43 year old franchise is simply astounding. Now that the dust has settled on his firing, we're going to ask: what's your favorite Lindy moment?

Started dating my Wife back in his first season, I suppose thats my favorite moment but its not on the poll.

Bills adding Talent, will it matter

Doug Whaley Extension: Talent Has Been Added To Buffalo Bills - Buffalo Rumblings
Buffalo Bills Assistant General Manager Doug Whaley has earned his contract extension with the team. Here's a recap of what Whaley has done during his time in the front office.