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Representatives from the Catholic 7 held discussions in New York on Wednesday that included potential future commissioners of the league as well as its television deal, sources said.

At the meeting, Fox officials reaffirmed a $500 million rights fee offer that would be predicated on a 12-year deal with the Catholic 7 (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova) adding five additional teams to the league.

Assuming the Fox bid wins out, it would keep the bulk of the games to air on Fox Sports 1, which will replace the Speed Channel in August. Sources say Fox's plan would be to sub-license rights to games it would not broadcast to other interested parties.

Under the current deal, which expires at the end of this season, the non-football schools in the Big East receive between $2 million and $3 million from the television contract. Due to what would likely be a lower fees split with the new teams in the conference, sources say the Catholic 7 could double their annual money on TV revenue as compared to what they were pulling in with the Big East.

Although the teams can leave the Big East without any exit fees if they leave at the end of June 2015, they hope to leave much sooner. With the TV deal up and Fox looking for content right away, it would make sense to try to get out at the end of this season, if that could be negotiated.

The names of potential commissioner candidates discussed weren't immediately available.

The league has hired TV consultant Neal Pilson and the law firm of Proskauer Rose to move things along.

xman wrote:Had this been spelled out as clear as this previously? I don't recall seeing it, but like that it's in print.

Due to what would likely be a lower fees split with the new teams in the conference, sources say the Catholic 7 could more than double their annual money on TV revenue as compared to what they were pulling in with the Big East.

Edrick wrote:You can walk into your bosses office and ask for a 500k raise if you'd like. You aren't going to get it. But you can ask.

There is 0% chance that the C7 would be able to pull off that unequal share nonsense given the situation of the various parties. The 5 really could put the 7 over the coals because they have the one thing that wins every single negotiation, the possibility of walking away from the table.

If there is anything, which I sort of doubt, it will be very short term. That thing ESPN seems to like bringing up doesn't make any sort of logical sense.

GumbyDamnit! wrote:

Edrick wrote:You can walk into your bosses office and ask for a 500k raise if you'd like. You aren't going to get it. But you can ask.

There is 0% chance that the C7 would be able to pull off that unequal share nonsense given the situation of the various parties. The 5 really could put the 7 over the coals because they have the one thing that wins every single negotiation, the possibility of walking away from the table.

If there is anything, which I sort of doubt, it will be very short term. That thing ESPN seems to like bringing up doesn't make any sort of logical sense.

Edrick let's say you built a prestigious law firm and decided to split off with 6 other partners and decided to engage other talent to join. And then you told that talent that they would be making 4-5x what they were currently making and they would be moving from the 12 floor middle office to the 20th floor corner office, would that be a fair offer? From what I can see the C7 is doing all of the heavy lifting right now. In this scenario there may be some partners that are past their prime (Depaul, Prov, etc) and new associates who are primed to be Rainmakers (Butler, XU) but why should they be invited in at the same equity position? Now it should absolutely be graduated over a set period of time. In the long run it'll cause problems. Maybe unequal for the first 3-4 years then slowly leveled out. But for you to think at 1). This is a bad deal for a Creighton or a Dayton or SLU you are crazy. 2). That this is something new (see WVU joining Big 12 as an unequal member) and 3). That the negotiating is over for all parties. Before you freak out and stomp off wait and see what happens. This is a big boy conversation with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, and hopefully all parties are bringing very competent negotiators with the business acumen to make the proper valuations of this particulars of this deal.

xman wrote:

GumbyDamnit! wrote:

Edrick wrote:You can walk into your bosses office and ask for a 500k raise if you'd like. You aren't going to get it. But you can ask.

There is 0% chance that the C7 would be able to pull off that unequal share nonsense given the situation of the various parties. The 5 really could put the 7 over the coals because they have the one thing that wins every single negotiation, the possibility of walking away from the table.

If there is anything, which I sort of doubt, it will be very short term. That thing ESPN seems to like bringing up doesn't make any sort of logical sense.

Edrick let's say you built a prestigious law firm and decided to split off with 6 other partners and decided to engage other talent to join. And then you told that talent that they would be making 4-5x what they were currently making and they would be moving from the 12 floor middle office to the 20th floor corner office, would that be a fair offer? From what I can see the C7 is doing all of the heavy lifting right now. In this scenario there may be some partners that are past their prime (Depaul, Prov, etc) and new associates who are primed to be Rainmakers (Butler, XU) but why should they be invited in at the same equity position? Now it should absolutely be graduated over a set period of time. In the long run it'll cause problems. Maybe unequal for the first 3-4 years then slowly leveled out. But for you to think at 1). This is a bad deal for a Creighton or a Dayton or SLU you are crazy. 2). That this is something new (see WVU joining Big 12 as an unequal member) and 3). That the negotiating is over for all parties. Before you freak out and stomp off wait and see what happens. This is a big boy conversation with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, and hopefully all parties are bringing very competent negotiators with the business acumen to make the proper valuations of this particulars of this deal.

But that's not the situation. The old 7 need the new 5 as much as the new guys need the current 7. The 7 on their own are tired and generally worn out and everyone knows it. It's the new blood that will make the league.