New Big East Boss

The Big East search committee has settled on a new person to lead them through the recent upheaval. The conference has decided on Mike Aresco to replace John Marinatto.

The Big East is at a crossroads for its future and its seat at the table of power conferences. One of the key components of moving forward is providing it’s members a national stage and a nice regular payday! Aresco’s hiring is the type of move that shows its current members and future additions that it is taking the key actions to produce a stable conference with a strong tv deal. He has never worked in an athletic department or any other position at a university, but he has tons of network experience. He earned his stripes at ESPN as one of the key components in developing long term strategies for the network including scheduling and acquisitions. In 1996 he moved to CBS and became VP of programming for CBS. Some of his major accomplishments included negotiating CBS’s rights to March Madness. He also helped in securing the rights to the SEC.

Aresco’s abilities will immediately be put to the test starting in September. ESPN and the BIg East will have an exclusive 60 day negotiation period to work out a deal on the TV rights. Last year,according to ESPN, the conference turned down a $1.4 billion extension over 9 years. With the new west coast football additions in the coming years (Boise St./ San Diego St) he will certainly have a broader audience to use as leverage, rather than just a regional fan base. Let’s not be too modest though, he still has a strong basketball conference that will draw national attention. The Big East also joins only the SEC and PAC-10(12) as the only conferences with a .500 or better winning percentage in BCS bowl games. Let’s hope Aresco is able to promote the stability that is much needed in the Big East and get the league in more homes!