I’ve harped on the fact that I feel the Big East is not acting with any foresight with regards to its television deals. I usually cite the Mountain West and now the Big 11 as conferences that are starting to look to the future. The issue isn’t simply about exposure. It’s about sustaining and growing the revenue streams and market to ensure the teams in the Big East do not lag, get forced to engage in deficit spending and other issues regarding the ever growing costs of being involved in top-level college athletics.

I noted earlier that the NFL Network will air and be the sponsor for the bowl game being held in Houston. That’s not all they get.

The NFL Network also received all media platform rights, including Internet, wireless, video-on-demand, satellite radio, and international TV rights for this bowl game.

That may seem like small potatoes for a minor bowl. So, who cares? But I’m thinking about what those rights mean in the football and basketball deals the Big East will be announcing. These are new, growing, emerging revenue streams that the Big East — and therefore the member schools — won’t be able to tap. Those will remain with ESPN/ABC and CBS (for some basketball).

That’s why professional teams are moving to their own networks as well as college conferences. Not just the revenue but distribution of the content. Future revenue that will only grow as more and more people don’t just use the TV. Additionally, by controlling the distribution of the games, the conference is not beholden or required to air the games when the network says so.

That means avoiding the Wednesday and Friday games to fill ESPN programming. Limiting the Thursday night games to keep them relatively special events. That was one of the major reasons the Mountain West went in a new direction. Being forced by Disney to play more and more games on weeknights began showing diminishing returns from the flip-side to network exposure — reduced live fan support/attendance. How many fans can keep coming to non-Saturday games? How does getting on national TV help, when the cameras show half-empty stadiums because people can’t make a Wednesday night game?

Again, this is about forward thinking.

The Big East seems to be allowing ESPN to control the where and when of airing games in a straight cash deal. While this is not as big a deal with basketball, it really makes a difference in football since that means they decide which games will get any TV — even if it’s just ESPN regional or to air in their gameplan package. The conference is dependent on the network to choose to provide TV coverage. For Pitt, that means going into the season, 3 games will not have any TV coverage whatsoever. Now while the Louisville game may ultimately be picked up, it seems unlikely the Toledo or The Citadel will.

I am well aware that the Big East schools are no where near the Big 11 in terms of size, popularity, alumni base, marketing strength, etc. — especially in terms of football — but the conference does need to do more to leverage the strength and interest that exists on the basketball side to plan ahead.