The Big 10 and Pac 12 should dump ESPN and go to FOX for all of their college sports

I hate ESPN.  They are a giant monopoly that ruins sports and not just college sports.  Back when the Mountain West Conference told ESPN they didn't wast to play Thursday night games and decided to start their own cable channel ESPN pretended the whole conference didn't exist and ceased talking about them.  When the Big East turned down ESPN's last television offer ESPN sent the ACC to destroy them and rewarded the ACC with a better television deal for doing the bidding of the Worldwide Leader is Sports.  Not to mention the fact that ESPN buys the media from midmajors and then warehouses those games so no one can watch them.

The Big 10 and Pac 12 have already partnered with FOX for their conference channels so why not consummate their union by negotiating for FOX to have their Tier 1 and 2 media rights.  By partnering with someone other then ESPN it loosens that network's grip over college athletics and their ability to lobby for the inclusion of certain schools, whom they have a vested interest in as their media partner, for post season play.  On FOX's end it would give them a firm relationship with two college football's five remaining elite conferences--that's 40% of all meaningful college football.  Subscriber fees for their cable channel FX would sky rocket as it would be a must-have as many games featuring big name schools would be featured there when FOX already had a marquee match up for that timeslot on their flagship broadcast channel.  On the Big Ten and Pac 12's end of things they get the same great coverage, perhaps even better coverage, and they don't have to work with the corrupt crime syndicate that is ESPN.  The relationship with FOX also elevates the importance of the conference networks, which each conference owns 51% of which means more money to be split among the 12 (or 24 if we count both leagues) schools.

So here's what we do:

FOX has the following time slots (all eastern time) that they can fill with college football:
Noon
3:30 pm
7:30 pm
11:00 pm

Similarly FX, FOX's cable network has those same slots

The Big 10 Network (BTN) can show 3 games a week through October, but the conference forbids November prime time games so for the last month of the season they just have the first two.


Noon
3:30 pm
7:30 pm


The Pac 12 Network, for understandable reasons, should avoid the Noon (EST) start time but could conceivably air a game at the 11 pm (EST) slot that would essentially fall in the West Coast's prime time but would get missed by most east coast viewers.

The various regional FSN's (FOX Sports Networks) could also air games as well.

During the season, aside from Out of Conference play, which both of these leagues are classy and confine most of it to the first 4 weeks of the season, each conference has 5 or 6 games to broadcast.

So, at Noon (EST) the Big Ten can have games broadcast nationwide on 3 networks---FOX, FX, and BTN.  In the eastern US the Big 10 could also have a game on all 3 networks, and September-October a game in prime time.


The Pac 12 is a little trickier.  While they have exclusivity at the 11 pm time slot most of the US is asleep so that slot might ought to be used more sparingly.  Then again, when I'm awake that late I'd rather watch a live Pac 12 game than Sports Center highlights.  For the Pac 12 I would air 3 games on FOX, FX, and the Pac 12 Network at the 3:30 pm EST/12:30 pm PST slot in the western United States.  I'd do the same for the 7:30 pm EST/3:30 pm PST time slot but in November, when the Big 10 isn't playing at this timeslot, I would pack it with nationwide telecasts on FOX and FX of the league's biggest and best games.  The Pac 12 can also televise games on those 3 networks at the 11 pm EST/8 pm PST slot nationwide too but these would be some the Pac 12's less exciting games.  


If FOX got really ambitious they could even contract with a 3rd conference, a mid major, to fill in any slots on FX, BTN, and Pac 12 Network that didn't have a live game already.  Imagine being able to catch a MAC game when their isn't a Big Ten game available to watch.  This would be a huge win for any midmajor because it would mean increased exposure as ESPN always relegates their games to ESPN3.com or weeknight time slots.

Something else FOX and FX could utilize is the Friday primetime slot.  The Big Ten won't play in this slot but the Pac 12 has demonstrated a willingness to play Friday games.  This could also be an opportunity for a midmajor like the MAC or MWC to get exposure.

Here is what happens when FOX steps up to the plate and commits to broadcasting college football:  Suddenly ESPN's broadcasting options for its family of networks are severely limited.  Remember that ESPN has to have games for ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU.  They now only have have three premier conferences (SEC, ACC, Big 12), a glorified midmajor (Big East),  two high midmajors (MWC, C-USA), two low midmajors (SBC, MAC), and BYU to choose from.  CBS already has dibs on the best available SEC game each week so that also limits options.  NBC and its newly acquired cable channel NBC Sports (formerly Versus) are also out there looking for programming and while it looks like they are aiming for getting a deal with the Big East they could be in the market to do themselves one better and land the ACC.   ESPN suddenly has to really scrape to find enough games for all of its channels.  All of the conferences know of ESPN's desperation and the Worldwide Leader has to start paying them more for games because they all know if ESPN doesn't win the contract (over NBC or in the case of the midmajors, NBC and FOX) they won't have anything to air.  Timeslot for timeslot, channel for channel FOX, the Big Ten, and the Pac 12 would have something better to offer than ESPN and their networks.
College football, at least among the power conferences, also becomes far more stable as there is a bull market for sports programming and since everyone is getting big pay days there is no incentive to be jumping from league to league.  ESPN has become highly vested in making sure the ACC remains a valuable conference and ups their pay to make sure no one goes to the Big 12.  Big East football might become a bit of victim as ESPN urges the ACC and Big 12 to raid them and not each other but in all sincerity the previous waves of realignment were what delivered the death blow and for the schools that left recently left C-USA to join the BE they will be simply reforming their old league and, while not getting the pay days that big leagues will be getting will still be making far more than when they were in the original C-USA days.