The new Big East, otherwise known as the Catholic 7, announced a new partnership with FOX Sports that will grant the television network exclusive media rights. The old Big East was completely in bed with ESPN, so this move to Fox could signify at least a small shift in power away from ESPN and to Fox Sports. Certainly it means a lot in the college basketball world.
With the launch of Fox Sports 1, hopefully one day Fox Sports will be able to rival ESPN, the World Wide Leader.
FOX Sports and FOX Sports 1 will acquire television rights to all Big East games, as part of a 12-year contract that was detailed during a press conference at the midtown Manhattan studios of FOX News. (And you know those studios are fair and balanced, the won’t tip over) Under the broadcast partnership, FOX Sports will have television rights to a wide range of marquee Big East basketball games, including the annual Big East conference tournament.
The new Big East will consist of the Butler Bulldogs, Creighton Blue Jays, Xavier Musketeers in addition to join the Catholic 7 basketball conference which consists of the seven college basketball only schools previously in the Big East: (Catholic institutions Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, Villanova, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Providence)
“The New Big East is fortunate to have found a partner such as FOX Sports, which shares our intense passion for college basketball, and is committed to celebrating the student-athletes and the natural rivalries that make college athletics so unique and appealing for fans across the nation,” said Father Holtschneider of DePaul University.
The Big East Conference will officially commence July 1 and the Big East Tournament will continue to call Madison Square Garden its home,
ESPN owns the sports media the way Google owns the search market. It’s great for those companies, bad for the consumer and even worse for competitors. These two imperial corporations are so world-dominating that they’re almost a brand synonymous with the product a la Kleenex, Rollerblade, or Xerox.
Hopefully, Fox Sports can change that as Fox Sports 1 takes off. Grabbing the broadcast rights to a premier college basketball conference such as this will certainl help. Because with great power comes great responsibility, and ESPN has excessively abused that power. It’s been pretty obvious for quite some time that ESPN is more of a sports marketing company than it is a sports news company. No one embodies that as much as obvious shill Darren Rovell. Ralph Nader once called George W. Bush “a corporation disguised as a human being.” Darren Rovell personifies that quote in the sports media world.
And we can’t have more creatures like Darren Rovell on the air. We must stop it now before our long national nightmare begins. Hopefully, Fox Sports and Fox Sports 1 can end the Bristol tyranny.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, a Google News site generating millions of visitors. He’s an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
Banks has appeared on Comcast SportsNet and the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks)