On Wednesday, the TV deal between “The Catholic 7,” those basketball schools that broke away from The Big East and took the conference name with them, and Fox Sports will be announced.
Along with the announcement, three additional schools, Xavier, Creighton and Butler, will be unveiled as those joining the Catholic 7.
So before the press conference at the News Corp. World Headquarters in New York takes place, let’s take a look at what we know about the new Big East contract with Fox:
- The TV rights deal will reportedly be a 12 year, $500 million contract with Fox. It could grow to $600 million if the conference expands to 12 teams.
- Games will carried on Fox Sports 1 joining the Big 12, Conference USA and the Pac-12.
- The new Big East will carry on the tradition of Monday night games. A source says that Fox Sports 1 will spread the new Big East to other nights as well.
- Fox is expected to sublicense games to other networks, most likely ESPN, however, this has not been finalized.
- The conference tournament will be played at Madison Square Garden as part of another long-term deal.
- No word yet on who will call the Big East on Fox Sports 1, however, it would most likely be Gus Johnson as the lead announcer for the Monday games and possibly the new Big East Tournament at MSG.
We’ll know more when the contract is made official on Wednesday.
