Maybe it’s a case of too little, too late.
Maybe the only thing that can save the Big East is a Hail Mary pass. It has happened: Doug Flutie found the 5-foot-9 Gerard Phelan behind half the Miami defense. Roger Staubach (and an orange) found Drew Pearson. Eli Manning connected with the velcro helmet of David Tyree.
The point is, someone has to throw the ball high and deep or there’s no chance — and the Big East is ready to take a shot.
The Post has learned 12 of the league’s university presidents met last Sunday at Georgetown, where the Boston Consulting Group presented them with a strategic look at how the league can not only survive, but thrive. The other nine presidents will see the presentation on July 26, just days before the Big East holds its annual media days on July 30-31 in Newport, R.I.
“I’m not a betting man, but I would say the headline in five years will be, ‘The Big East gets it,’ ’’ interim commissioner Joe Bailey told The Post. “When people talk about the Big East being the sixth league, I’ve been around sports long enough to know that things change. When I was in the NFL, the AFC was the best, then it was the NFC. The Big 12 was the best, then the SEC. Where people perceive we are doesn’t mean a lot.’’
Actually it does — the league has no tie-in with a major bowl — but for those who want to see the Big East survive, it must have been nice to hear a little bluster from the league office. That will be the league’s persona going forward. Bailey said the days of the Big East operating with a New England humbleness are going to change.
“One of the things the league has never gone overboard on is promoting itself,’’ said Bailey, a long time NFL executive. “I’m not going to compare us to any other conference, but if you look at our performance on the field the last seven years, we’ve been very, very good.
“And the basketball league is the best in the country, but its preference has always been to let its performance speak for itself. We have a lot to talk about. We need to be proactive.’’
Which is why Bailey boasted of the league’s enormous footprint. With the additions of San Diego State, Houston, SMU, Temple and Central Florida, the Big East is a coast-to-coast, four time-zone conference. To some that is amusing at best and garish at worst.
But Bailey knows his league is the last “free-agent” TV conference on the market. Sports is the Apple stock of television because most sports fans do not DVR games to watch during down time. They watch it live — commercials and all.
With Big East’s programs such as high-level football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and lacrosse, the conference has a humongous inventory of high quality programing. It is that exact dynamic which made the Big East and ESPN a Ken and Barbie match in 1979, the first year for both entities. Comcast knows it will only get so far with Bob Costas, Jim Rome and enough auto racing shows to make a gearhead think he has gone to that great transmission in the sky.
Sounds good? Well what about that elephant in the room with the trunk of the ACC, the ears of the Big Ten and the wandering eyes of the Big 12? No TV executive in his right mind would make a lucrative commitment to the Big East if there isn’t level of comfort more teams won’t follow Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia out the door.
Bailey said after watching the response of the presidents who saw the BCG presentation, which was described as realistic and opportunistic, he feels more confident the league members will remain committed to one another. Of course, former commissioner John Marinatto would have bet the moon Pitt president Mark Nordenberg was committed to the Big East.
“I’m not a mind reader,’’ Bailey said. “But I’m fairly good at evaluating people. It’s a general sense that’s served we well in the NFL. I think they understand the marketplace and the opportunity.’’