Ninety percent (90%) of Holyland of Hoops commenters said Yes!  Wow!

www.holylandofhoops.com  Basketball Message Forum.

One guy said no!  A brave soul indeed.  Just for sh_ts and grins I’ll be contrarian no. 2.

While the sky is Not falling and unlike some others who think “the BE is Doomed”, I am not nihilistic. However, the foreseeable future is not all ice cream, cake, and Rainbow Brite. The Big East needs to be vigilant, forward thinking, opportunistic, and aggressive in order to grow and maintain its’ status among the elite hoops conferences.

No, the BEast won’t be able to keep up. Why?

1). Just like back in the 70’s, the power conferences are still greedy. They want the whole NCAA Tourney. They colluded with the NCAA hicks in Shawnee Mission, KS. (now in Indianapolis) to kill off the independent universities (1977-78), forcing all universities into conference affiliations of one sort or another. (Note: the BE was birthed in 1979 as a result.). They are the driving force behind the continuous expansion of the tourney-more slots equal more berths for their teams on the “skewed” s-curve of the NCAA seeding chart. Their goal is to completely fill the tourney.

2). When a power conference secures 6-9 tourney bids ($2-4M per school) and when those same conferences payout 90% of tv revenues to schools ($18-30M per year), they don’t need to sink football monies into the hoops programs. They are making money hand over foot – but it won’t be enough. The P5 want complete control, total power, and zero outside interference or competition. The ego maniacs directing the B1G and SEC are power freaks, and once the non power conferences are Finally subdued – permanently, they will cannibalize their weaker big-boy brethren.

3).  This is about domination, ownership, and autonomy.  the B1Gs Delany and the SECs Sankey (successor of Slive) will continue their master plans for total control.  It should be noted that Sankey is one of the key architects of the P5 Autonomy Plan.  The Big East is an obstacle in the path…granted only in basketball, but we hold the MSG and a coveted TV region.  The BE must fall or be relegated to obscurity with the other 26 conferences.

a.  “Keep your friends close, and enemies closer.”  Both want power and control.  Delany is keeping the Big East closer…the B1G is not a friend.  When the perception is that we are weak(ened), the B1G will try to crush the BE and take MSG permanently.

b.  The SEC is quieter, sneaking around doing their work.  They still covet some of the ACC and will move to secure ACC teams when they feel it is time. With the 2019 horizon line for a new GOR and the ACC network, I expect the SEC to move within the next year or two.

c.  The ACC is desperately attempting to plug holes, stop the hemorrhaging by means of expansion, new GORs, and the attempt to get a network – incorrectly thinking that money solves all ills.  It doesn’t.  In the haste to get bigger, they have created an even worse set of problems – incompatibility.  They have grown into 2 conferences in one, BE-itis.  The ACC is the “new” Big East and the discord, dissention, and internal compatibility bleeding will cause an implosion.  Money cannot stop it.  The traditional members are pissed at the loss of identity, the incompatibility of the northerners, and in having to compromise their values for the newbies: the Syracuses, Pitts, and BCs, etc. The old guard will get fed up and cause the breakup.  The SEC is biding its’ time, waiting.

4. The BE is Fine. The Round Robin format is PERFECT. We don’t need to do anything, and expansion is dilution!    No, all is not “fine”.   As our fanbases sit around the campfire, content, happy, and resting on their big, fat “laurels”, we continue to see the P5’s hard at it: scheming, planning, plotting their best for total domination. Nations and armies could take ques from these folk. Hopefully the good folk at BE Conference HQ are not singing Kumbaya along with you good fans? If Val, Stu, Gavit Jr., and the rest are half as smart as advertised, they are hard at work. WE are at the end of Phase 1:

• We escaped/evacuated a dying conference enterprise and revamped, reconfigured our group back into its’ original form.
• We added 3 newbies (and would have been 5 IF there had been enough “great fits”).
• We have competed well and have quieted the naysayers, the doubters, and the media experts.
• We have won sufficiently to remain amongst the elite.

But, this is merely phase 1, not the endgame.

Expansion – for survival – is inevitable and it is also highly recommended for financial viability. The BE staff should be continually surveying the scene AND making discrete inquiries on select candidates. Being proactive in the search, evaluation, and communication with potential candidate schools is smart.  Identify, evaluate, and strike -the sooner the better. Waiting to see what leftovers shake out of the bushes in post P5 raiding is not. Take the top 2 candidates currently available now (Gonzaga/BYU or Gonzaga/VCU) and negotiate in earnest with potential future P5 candidates.

There are probably several disgruntled and/or struggling universities amongst the P5.

• A few have made news regarding the weight of football on the overall university livelihood.
• Several marginal football schools are losing money, even with the TV revenues growing.
• Others are unhappy with the rapid growth of their “traditional” conference into a mega-conference, as they hardly recognize the new conference with all of the alien additions.

There are candidates amongst these groups that would be amenable to leaving before the cement of a 2019 “new” GOR firms up. A couple of conferences don’t have a GOR (SEC/MVC) so if a school wanted to leave – no problem. If the right candidates are available, the BE could/should assist their transition to the BE.

5. Grow our Revenues – Financial Incentives
a – Most here and on my home boards don’t favor padding the bottom to boost the top scenarios laid out by JPSchmack and the other guy. Most fail to perceive the benefit of gaming the system for additional NCAA bids. Most don’t see the BE as leaving NCAA bucks on the table. I am not surprised. However, by adding 2 schools we increase the odds of getting additional schools into the dance annually, which increases NCAA revenues by $1.6-1.8M minimum, per each additional school, over 6 years. We average 5 schools/per year now. By increasing to seven schools/yr adds $3.2-3.8M minimum to what we are getting now.

b – However, even as conference networks are “hitting the wall” with the media companies (notably the LHN and ESPN, and the potential ACC Network- now reworked to begin in 2019) the BE is primed to make headway in the newest media venue – online. The BEDN is optimally set to forge boldly ahead on the Internet with online content, streaming video and internet broadcasting of BE sports to both home and mobile platforms – across the board. The conference should forge ahead with all due haste to provide the broadest online access, expanding it’s content offerings, and building alliances and online partnerships. Growing the BEDN into a business in the neighborhood of $80-150M/year will provide approximately $5-10M/yr additional income per school.

c- The BE has opportunities to upscale its 2nd and 3rd tier Media rights packages. This should be the 2nd most important goal as the league moves forward. Member schools with limited deals or minimal deals may be better served by bundling their individual 2nd/3rd tier rights with an umbrella BE Conference Media rights package to maximize their income opportunities. Elite schools such as Villanova and Georgetown may be able to stand alone, but others may fare far better by hitching their rights to an overarching conference package.

The BE primary agenda should be on strengthening the conference, growing its’ war chest, and in gaining numbers.  Resting on our “laurels” may be fine for some…but it ain’t the best deal for the Big East Conference.

gtmoBlue

Appeal to Bluejays Fans – You can come home, again.

Courtesy Adam Streuer/White and Blue Review

We are a fortunate group of people.  We have a great university and sports programs.  Creighton has a passionate following in the community of universities.  Our fanbase is one of the top pillars of university support in several sports.  In this regard CU is the envy of many universities nationally.

Our online history is also good.  In the short 20 or so years of fanbased BBS’ and websites, we have been fortunate to have dedicated people found sites for our collective sports passions.  Many Creighton loyalists have built boards over the years for us: FreddyMac, Polyfro, Creighton Otter, and several others whose names I cannot remember. 

In 2009, several independent boards coalesced into a joint venture, the White and Blue Review.  Also back then, the Bluejay Café (now known as BluejayBanter.com)- our major board, joined the Rivals.com group.  Both moves increased the CU profile nationally.  The main issue is that our boards continue to be small by comparison to other sites.  We need growth.

Other boards have come and gone since then, 10^th St Blue, Bluejay Nation, Bluejays Basketball, Creighton Crazy, among others.  The Creighton.Scout.com (Bluejay Report) site has been inconsistent. 

To keep this short.  Our boards walk a thin line.  Providing services to the fanbase while fighting to grow and stay solvent.  Message boards with large memberships(10-20K) have higher baseline hit rates, even with low individual participation levels. Small boards (1-2K) such as ours need high participation to offset a low baseline hit rate. If BJU/BJB/BJR can achieve/maintain active participation at high levels (30% to 50%, or more) of membership, their Admins/Mods can do a better job of policing problems and high site hit rates offer opportunities for new income.  Perhaps some of the talent from defunct sites would be willing to join/assist the Big 3 sites (WBR-BJU, BluejayBanter, Bluejay Report).  More importantly the fanbase needs to help by:

Joining our active sites 

Visiting regularly (site hits)

And by active participation on the boards (viewing is not enough)

Boards get infected by certain types of posters (sailors, pot stirrers, crabs in a barrel, haters, sunshine pumpers, negative nancys, hemingwayers, doom-n-gloomers) 
http://gtmos-bluenotes.blogspot.com.co/2015_09_01_archive.html and in general by pervasive fanbase attitudes. Such things are countered by an active fanbase with diverse POVs and posts.  Boards need diversity and more than a 5-10% participation rate to remain healthy.  

If small boards such as our BJU/BJB/BJR can achieve/maintain active participation at high levels, their Admins/Mods can do a better job. The staffs will have more latitude in policing, enforcement, an excising severely problematic members (negative nancys, Stever20’s (pot stirrers), novelists (hemingways)and CU Final Fours/gtmos/WB77s (sunshine pumpers).  As an additional benefit, a high participatory membership will routinely check and counter wildcard members and trolls, and help to keep the board climate healthy from the doom-n-gloomers.

But the greatest single threat to any board/website is fanbase apathy.  When a board plummets into apathy…any wushock, stever20, dawgiestyle, our numerous anxious negative nancy’s, or other vermin rise to run roughshod, reek havoc, and have a fieldday.  Such boards implode and die.  Our fanbase is knowledgable, diverse, and opinionated – and ALL are needed to maintain and to improve our boards. There is no current indication that a 10th St or another defunct board can/will make a comeback.

Individually opting out only adds to the problem, not the solution.  Participation is the solution.  We currently have 3 good boards – high level participation can make them great boards.  High member participation rates are both critical and vital for our low membership Bluejay boards.  Someone can find the numbers/stats on websites health, but a lack of hits and lack of participation have been the death knell of numerous sites.

Recent posts on the BJU and BJB lament the loss of many faithful Jays posters.  Whatever the reasons for past and present departees from our boards… I say to those who have left: “come back home”.  Technology is such that if a fan segment or individual is counter to your views – block them or put them on ignore, but you must come back and participate.  Only you can help restore and/or better our sites by your participation.  Our sites are small and not nearly as bad as say the HLH site with numerous multisite “trolls” and rabble-rousers.  Our Admins and Moderators have to balance the needs of the site vs fan expectations and desires.  Your return home aids board needs in increased member participation as well as increases in overall numbers to be (remain) healthy.  You are required for the health and survival of Creighton Fanboards.

Loyal fan of the Jays…please join or return to our 3 main boards and actively participate.  You are part of the needed solution and we need you Now: to help our message boards grow, to be active, to bring your needed perspective and opinions, and to participate passionately.  

The Bluejays need you.  Come back home now.

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