ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 series debuts “Requiem For The Big East,” Sunday, March 16, at 8 p.m. CST after Bracketology on ESPN. The film chronicles the rise and fall of the Big East, which used to be the best college hoops conference in the nation. If you ever wondered why ESPN was in bed with the Big East, and why “Big Monday” was such a thing, then this film is for you.
Being born in the late 70s, college basketball is game that has grown up at exactly the same time that I have, so the formation of the conference, primarily for television, and television revenue streams generations purposes, is something that I’m not quite old enough to remember.
“Requiem for the Big East” does a fantastic job of edifying me on this; and many other topics.
The film features famed Big East coaches such as Jim Boeheim, Lou Carnesecca, Rick Pitino Rollie Massimino and John Thompson, former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, and some of its most iconic players like Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin and Ed Pinckney.
Requiem for the Big East tells the story of an athletic/ business venture which revitalized college basketball in the northeast. It’s a microcosm for the exponential growth of the sports media business in America. Launched in 1979—the same year that ESPN was born (one year after I was born, see I told you we all came of age at the same time)—the Big East used the burgeoning cable TV network and the media as a whole to thrive. But Requiem For The Big East is also a tale of change as the super conference eventually found itself in a new era fighting for survival. Because Big East football was so bad, and football rules everything, the conference fell apart.
And that’s rather sad.
More specifically, television generated revenue rules everything. And college football, not college basketball is what flips on the TV sets. Size of markets matter too. But even in the big markets of the northeast, football is still too powerful.
“From its creation, the Big East had a dramatic impact on the college basketball landscape,” said John Dahl, Executive Producer, ESPN Films. Requiem For The Big East explores what made it so extraordinary and how the hurdles to keep it thriving became more and more challenging to overcome.”
“Having grown up on the East Coast, I’ve spent most of my life as a dedicated fan of the Big East and I, like so many others, was saddened by its split last year,” said director Ezra Edelman. “In setting out to make a film about the league, I hoped to not simply tell a story about the rise of a great basketball conference but also understand and ultimately convey the causes of its fall.”
Requiem for the Big East is a film I recommend. I give a 3.8/5 rating.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar, he’s also a frequent analyst on multiple news talk radio stations. The former NBC Chicago and Washington Times contributor has also been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows The Sports Bank on Twitter (@paulmbanks) you should too