Big East has verbal offer from NBC Sports worth $20 - $23 million annually

The day has finally arrived where an actual number has been placed alongside what the new look Big East will be getting in terms of a new television deal. NBC Sports has made a verbal offer to the Big East, and well, it is not very much. The reported deal would pay the Big East between $20 to $23 million per season.

To say that amount is low is an understatement. During the Big East's exclusive timeframe to work with ESPN, the World Wide Leader offered the league $130 annually. That was two years ago before expansion ran rampart and tore apart the Big East.

The verbal offer from NBC Sports would pay each football playing member would be earning around $1.5 million per year, half of what the current deal pays full members. So, it looks that Boise State and San Diego State made the correct choice by staying in the Mountain West.

The current Mountain West deal pays about $12 million per year, or about $1 million per member. However, that number does not include the ability for the league to sale games that are not protected by CBS Sports, approximately 15 games. Nor does it include the Mountain West title game, more than likely digital network or that Boise State's games are going to be sold as a different package, while being distributed equally to the league.

It is very possible that the Mountain West teams could equal, and possibly surpass $1.5 million per team. Just with Boise State's home games it is possible those games are worth, on the low end, $200,000 per game (BYU gets around $500,000 per home game, so Boise State could possibly earn near that amount), and that would add another $1.2 million in the pot. Then consider a title game could be worth say $2 million, and then lets say the other games could be had for about $50,000 per game equal $2.55 million.

These are rough estimates but I think the amount is undershooting the value. Add all of those together and the Mountain West could rake in $17.75 million, and that also does not take into account the national television bonus. So, earning over $2 million per school is a possibility.

The folks over at OBNUG discussed how staying in the Mountain West was the right move, but they still hope it is no their end location for a league:

I too hope that the MWC is more of a parking spot than a final resting place...but in the short-term, our membership there is a no-brainer.

While they have outgrown the Mountain West from a competitve stand point, there are many reasons to why the Pac-12 or Big 12 have yet to come calling. It could one day, but probably not until college football makes its way to the doomsday scenario where there are four leagues of 16 teams.