Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 16, 1994 TAG: 9402160084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Big East Conference took another step toward expansion or explosion Tuesday, when the league's eight football schools agreed to a five-year contract with CBS Sports.
The agreement, for all intents and purposes, places Virginia Tech in an all-sports conference.
That's because CBS made the deal with the Big East Football Conference, exclusive of six other Big East members that play basketball and non-revenue sports. However, the package also will include men's and women's basketball telecasts for the football eight.
Confusing? Consider that the Hokies now are part of a new basketball TV contract with one conference while playing in another league - the Metro. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has said for two months that the status quo in his Rhode Island-rooted league - a house divided - cannot continue.
He repeated that opinion Tuesday on a conference call announcing the CBS deal.
So, if Seton Hall, Villanova, Connecticut, Providence, Georgetown and St. John's do not agree to merge with all-sports members Syracuse, Miami, Pitt and Boston College and football-only players Tech, Temple, Rutgers and West Virgin- Braine ia, the last eight of those will take their money and start a new league.
CBS will pay $69 million for Big East rights. Tranghese said Tuesday that if the conference chooses to expand to 14 schools, then all 14 would share in the basketball portion of those rights. Without expansion, the basketball fees and appearances would be divided only by the eight current football members.
However, with or without expansion, only the football members will share the football money - which at $56 million to $58 million is the bulk of the package.
The presidents and athletic directors of the 10 Big East Conference members - without the football-only quartet - will meet next week to vote on whether to expand to 14 members. A two-thirds majority is required for expansion, or seven of 10 votes. If expansion fails, the eight football-playing members will form a separate conference.
"The first thing I was told when I was hired [in December 1987] was that the desire was to place the Virginia Tech program in an all-sports conference," said Hokies' athletic director Dave Braine from the Big East football members meeting in Pittsburgh. "That was our No. 1 priority and we have achieved that.
"This agreement makes this an exciting day for Virginia Tech. Our staff, coaches and athletes have worked hard for this."
Tech hasn't played in an all-sports league since leaving the Southern Conference 30 years ago.
CBS also formally announced a similar agreement with the Southeastern Conference, for a reported $85 million.
"We're very pleased to be back into college football," said CBS Sports president Neal Pilson, who joined the conference call from Lillehammer, Norway, and the Winter Olympics.
CBS lost college football after the 1990 season when ABC took away the College Football Association package. CBS recently lost the NFC portion of the NFL package to the Fox Network starting next fall.
CBS Sports vice president Len DeLuca said the Big East and ACC will share about 24 football games annually over 12 weeks in 16 time periods, mostly split-national presentations. Each conference is guaranteed two national games annually.
Each school is guaranteed a minimum of one CBS appearance over the five-year contract. The maximum number of appearances for any school in a single season is four, although an exception for a fifth is possible.
Big East football games on CBS will kick off about 2:45 p.m. and the SEC about 15 minutes later, allowing each league to continue its regional conference schedules in the noon time slot. Three doubleheaders will be scheduled annually, two of those after mid-November.
The deal was driven as much, however, on CBS' willingness to air Big East games into all of the large markets in the Northeast and into member schools' regions. When Penn State has appeared on ABC, the Nittany Lions have occupied many of the Eastern markets, including New York. Big East regional games on ABC's CFA schedule have rarely aired in Virginia, which has received ACC and SEC telecasts.
"What this agreement allows is for the Big East to market correctly in the Northeast," DeLuca said.
CBS already televises 24 Big East basketball appearances per year in a contract that expires after the 1994-95 season. That contract has been renewed through 2000-01 - albeit with only eight members to date - and will be trimmed to 15 appearances annually. CBS also will air three Big East women's basketball games per season, or 30 appearances over five years.
The Big East's potential revenue-sharing and financial plans have been presented to the university presidents in the league "after extensive research." For the next two seasons, the Big East Football Conference - like the SEC and the ACC, which made a $50 million deal Monday with ABC - will finish their participation in the CFA package on ABC and ESPN.
Tranghese said his conference has had "very basic" preliminary discussions with ESPN for a cable package over the same five football seasons. "Hopefully, we'll come to an agreement," he said.
The SEC's basketball contract with CBS will begin next season and run through 2000-01. The deal includes the SEC men's tournament championship starting in 1997.
sh: :wq!: not found STORY #13316 TOPIC BIG EAST TV KEYWORDK AUTHOR:BOGACZYK02/16/94 SP, BIG EAST TV, C-1 SUB!!! PLEASE USE THIS ONE!!! headline byline
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