I'm sorry, but I totally disagree with this article on so many levels. The Big East is no longer a big popular brand. It's now known as a joke of a football conference. Honest, I hope we just come up with a fresh new name for our basketball only conf. I fully expect that to happen anyway because I don't think the Big East will dissolve completely. IMO this brand new basketball only conf is one of a kind and deserves a fresh new start with a new name. It will get plenty of notice and pub and coaches can sell this new basketball only conf to recruits. Why in gods name this writer thinks we need to hang on to the big east name is beyond me. It makes us look desperate. To hell with the big east guys. It's over. Done with. Time to move on

The brand still has value though Bubba. 

Especially if you restore the brand to what it used to mean back in the 80's - a hoops brand. 

I'm sure the original schools like Gtown, Prov, SJU, Seton Hall, Nova don't want to leave that brand behind.

---------------------------------------------
--- BillyBlueDemon wrote:

The brand still has value though Bubba. 

Especially if you restore the brand to what it used to mean back in the 80's - a hoops brand. 

I'm sure the original schools like Gtown, Prov, SJU, Seton Hall, Nova don't want to leave that brand behind.

---------------------------------------------

Respectively disagree. Are people gonna watch a DePaul vs Xavier game and think about the glory days of big east basketball? Not saying that's what you meant, just making a point. It's not the big east anymore BBD. We would almost look like fakes using it. Sure you got G Town, St Johns and Nova in it but still. In today's era of FB, Twitter and message boards most people look at the Big East from a 2012 perspective. Which is a bad football conference that high ranking and legendary members bolted from. In my opinion its no longer a brand at all.

I gotta disagree too bubba.  While I agree with you that the schools wouldn't need to retain the Big East name to stay relevant (I think thats absolutely crazy, especially with the schools that are interested in joining), I do think the Big East name is definitely still a brand.  It's been arguably the top conference in college basketball for the last 5 years, and being able to keep the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden every year definitely has value.

While I understand your point of us looking like fakes using the BE name, I don't think it matters anymore with everything going on.  The ACC is not the same ACC it used to be, and the Big 10 doesn't even make sense anymore.  Don't even get me started on the PAC 10, uhh.. I mean 12... wait, 14?  I think you get my point..

I agree that we wouldn't need to keep the name, but it is still a valuable brand name in college basketball.  Reshaping the Big East name by bringing it with the these 7 schools would only cement its image as a basketball conference for good.  It's not the Big East of old, but it's still the Big East (although not so east anymore).

Fair enough and solid points.

I disagree too Bubba, but for more than the reasons stated earlier.  What a great opportunity to market the "new" Big East.  Retro '80's meets 2015.  Linkages to the original and ties to the next generation.  A marketers dream.  Brands matter, and it wouldn't take long for everyone to forget what the BE had become and go "Back to the Future" with the new Big East.  IMHO, a marketing bonanza waiting to be tapped.

this brand that we all talk about will all boil down to the product that's on the floor.  If the product on the floor is bad, they will say it's not the Big East but if it's good, everyone will say " Big East is the Beast."

---------------------------------------------
--- bluedemon211 wrote:

I disagree too Bubba, but for more than the reasons stated earlier.  What a great opportunity to market the "new" Big East.  Retro '80's meets 2015.  Linkages to the original and ties to the next generation.  A marketers dream.  Brands matter, and it wouldn't take long for everyone to forget what the BE had become and go "Back to the Future" with the new Big East.  IMHO, a marketing bonanza waiting to be tapped.

---------------------------------------------

I don't agree. But it's not like I think your wrong or that your not making solid points. I just think most college b ball fans know what the big east is and was. The "new" big east marketing plan could be mocked by many because it's really not the big east conf anymore. But again I'll admit am prolly nit picking a little. As mush said at the end of the Day it's all about what you put on the floor and produce. I'm just in favor of a new fresh name and start.

BIGBUBBATHEBLUEDEMON wrote:

---------------------------------------------
--- bluedemon211 wrote:

I disagree too Bubba, but for more than the reasons stated earlier.  What a great opportunity to market the "new" Big East.  Retro '80's meets 2015.  Linkages to the original and ties to the next generation.  A marketers dream.  Brands matter, and it wouldn't take long for everyone to forget what the BE had become and go "Back to the Future" with the new Big East.  IMHO, a marketing bonanza waiting to be tapped.

---------------------------------------------

I don't agree. But it's not like I think your wrong or that your not making solid points. I just think most college b ball fans know what the big east is and was. The "new" big east marketing plan could be mocked by many because it's really not the big east conf anymore. But again I'll admit am prolly nit picking a little. As mush said at the end of the Day it's all about what you put on the floor and produce. I'm just in favor of a new fresh name and start.

I understand your point and can't really disagree.  Let's hope that this thing happens, happens quickly, and we have a date to circle on the calendar where we get to tee it up against a conference full of basketball schools with similar goals and missions.  I can't wait.

Excluding the $'s of exit fees and TV contracts, I love the idea of basketball schools only.

14 or 16 programs, east and west conference. Play your own division twice the other once at home every other year. The Conference tourney on each coast every other year.

The name: I don't care as long as the word basketball is in it and the word catholic is not.

The Big East brand does have a great deal of value; however, I don't see how we can leave the conference yet retain the name as it would violate various copyright laws.

The brand is still good because all the big brand schools are  still there. Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, ND and Rutgers are not gone yet. The Big East brand has been declining now and will continue too. Once those schools leave the brand is no better than the Conf USA. The only things it has is history.

I think it's easier to build a strong conference from scratch thus creating a strong brand from the get go. A conference with a schools like Xavier, GTown, Marquette, Dayton, Creighton, Butler, etc, will go much further as a brand than a watered down Big East basketball conference that really only holds 2-3 bball powerhouse teams.

How much easier is the job for Steve Lavin or Jay Wright if he can sell a recruit on playing in the Big East, a league whose name the young man will instantly recognize, as opposed to some new brand conceived by a sports marketing agency?

Playing in the Big East was definitely a recruiting tool. Breaking away from the recognizable brand name will be a problem because you have to re-brand and introduce an entirely new conference to new recruits. I don't think the 7 schools need to keep the Big East name because I agree with those that say it has lost its value. But whatever name they choose, whether its the Big East or a new name, its going to be a big battle to make sure you maintain relevance and can market the new conference successfully.

dbdfan0730 wrote: I gotta disagree too bubba.  While I agree with you that the schools wouldn't need to retain the Big East name to stay relevant (I think thats absolutely crazy, especially with the schools that are interested in joining), I do think the Big East name is definitely still a brand.  It's been arguably the top conference in college basketball for the last 5 years, and being able to keep the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden every year definitely has value.

While I understand your point of us looking like fakes using the BE name, I don't think it matters anymore with everything going on.  The ACC is not the same ACC it used to be, and the Big 10 doesn't even make sense anymore.  Don't even get me started on the PAC 10, uhh.. I mean 12... wait, 14?  I think you get my point..

I agree that we wouldn't need to keep the name, but it is still a valuable brand name in college basketball.  Reshaping the Big East name by bringing it with the these 7 schools would only cement its image as a basketball conference for good.  It's not the Big East of old, but it's still the Big East (although not so east anymore).

Bubba... after the ND "brand" discussion, I would have thought you might leave that topic alone! 

I've read several of the statements coming out of these schools and I think we are not correctly discussing this matter. It isn't so much that the Catholic 7 are leaving the Big East. It is that the Catholic 7 want the football schools to leave the Big East and are willing to pay for that.

If the "7" pull this off I will be very impressed.

If so, that would be one way to keep the Big East brand name if they choose to.

CoachRayMeyer wrote: I've read several of the statements coming out of these schools and I think we are not correctly discussing this matter. It isn't so much that the Catholic 7 are leaving the Big East. It is that the Catholic 7 want the football schools to leave the Big East and are willing to pay for that.

If the "7" pull this off I will be very impressed.

correct... it is easy research, but I am lazy... but do we not (the 7) have more founding members of the BE than what would be left behind?

Yes we do.  It all will be a negotiation.   Remember there is naming rights,  MSG contract,  Exit fees from the schools that have left or announced they are leaving (minus the 7) NCAA tourney  units that count toward cash.  There will be a lot of lawyers billing a ton of hours negotiating this.  

DemonDave wrote:

CoachRayMeyer wrote: I've read several of the statements coming out of these schools and I think we are not correctly discussing this matter. It isn't so much that the Catholic 7 are leaving the Big East. It is that the Catholic 7 want the football schools to leave the Big East and are willing to pay for that.

If the "7" pull this off I will be very impressed.

correct... it is easy research, but I am lazy... but do we not (the 7) have more founding members of the BE than what would be left behind?

Speaking of this ND doesn't know who to deal with in their departure negotiations.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2012/ 12/17/notre-dame-jack-swarbrick-big-east-acc-colle ge-realignment-expansion/1775077/