Originally Posted by
xubrew
That is a VERY good question. And I don't now how to find out the answer.
The BTN earns the conference $0.59 per month per subscriber. That means if you have the Big Ten Network, whether you're paying for it on a premium sports tier or if it is included with your basic channels, you are (indirectly) paying the Big Ten 59 cents a month. Even if you don't watch a single second of it throughout the year. If you have it, you're paying for it. So, say for the Big 12 Network it's 50 cents, and it's available to all subscribers in all those big markets....that's how much they'd be making per month That's $6 per year per person in all those cities.
And this is REALLY the only reason the Big Ten wanted UCLA and USC, and Maryland and Rutgers in the previous round. I don't think Rutgers's stellar history in football and basketball was really the selling point on them.
And I also get the impression that Brett Yormark doesn't really care about football or basketball. He'll add basketball schools if he thinks he can get the network distributed in those markets. He'd probably add a bowling school if he felt there was enough of a following within that market to get the network distributed. That's what I think his goal is. To HIM, I don't think he even cares about the whole "football/basketball" school thing. He's already got the first two tiers of his TV deal in place.