Seeing the conversation on the previous page about whether the C7 will be able to fill MSG for the conference tournament got me thinking about the financial viability of the the new Big East. While I acknowledge that the C7 had no choice but to break off, and they're starting off with a pretty good TV deal, I think its possible the conference crashes and burns in 20 years or so.
Why? Well, its been reported that Georgetown loses about $30,000 per game at the Verizon Center. Georgetown has never had an adequate on-campus facility, and has always been forced to rent out DC's NBA arena (the Capital Centre first, then Verizon when it was built). Renting out an NBA arena wasn't a problem at the height of the Big East's power and popularity, but they've been really struggling to fill it in recent years (which is why they lose nearly $30,000/game) and that is only going to get harder without UConn/Syracuse/Pitt et al coming to town.
If you take a look around at the rest of the new Big East schools, most of them are in the same boat. They're forced to rent out a major arena because they have nothing on campus:
-Marquette: Rents out the Bradley Center, only on-campus facility is the Al McGuire Center which seats just 4,000.
-Villanova: Used to play many of its games at the Sixers' arena, now plays almost exclusively at the Pavilion, which seats only 6,500.
-Seton Hall: Rents out the Prudential Center, only on-campus facility is Walsh Gymnasium which seats just 2,600.
-St. John's: Rents out MSG for about half their games, plays the other half at Carnesecca Arena which seats just 5,600.
-PC: rents out the Dunkin Donuts Center, only on-campus facility is Alumni Hall, which seats just 2,600.
-DePaul: rents out Allstate Arena, only on-campus facility is the Sullivan Center which seats just 3,000.
-Xavier: plays all games at the on-ampus Cintas Center which seats 10,500.
-Butler: plays all games at the on-campus Hinkle Fieldhouse which seats 10,000
-St. Louis: plays all games at the on-campus Chaifetz Arena, which seats 10,000.
So, essentially, each of the C7 schools is forced to rent out a major arena because they don't have adequate on-campus facilities for big time college basketball. If Georgetown, the premier basketball school in the conference, is losing money under such an arrangement, then how the heck are schools like Seton Hall and DePaul going to stay afloat?
Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic, but it seems to me that many of these schools are operating with an out-dated business model--one that relied on the big attendance and big TV money that came with the old Big East. If they don't take in the same revenue in the new Big East (and if they don't have an adequate on-campus facility to fall back on), won't most if not all of these athletic department's start bleeding money? The Fox Sports deal might keep them afloat for a while, but without on-campus arenas I can see a lot of these schools being forced to take a hatchet to their athletics budgets in the near future.