I actually work at the same company with Mike and have gotten to know him a little bit. Have to say I was pretty surprised by this but he he is sharp as a tack and a heck of a nice guy. He's done an amazing job protecting and securing long term contracts to CBS's most coveted properties. I have a feeling he will do a great job, congratulations Mike!
Thanks for the incite. What is being written about him is very positive. Rutgers AD is wild about him and Bevalaqua (spelling?). I have believed all along that the key to this is having the right people in place to make things happen. (Mike Repole and what he has done for SJ ball.) Next up is negotiation with ESPN for 60 days until October 30th. If nothing is done, the BE is a free agent any that could be interesting when one considers Comcast/NBC. They have started up a sports network as seen with the Olympics and want to compete with ABC/ESPN. They need programming! They BE as reconstructed would give the "national" not regional programming. Look at the markets that the BE is in; they have a lot of "cable boxes" in those areas.
While football is the "key", the conference also offers significant other hours of coable entertainment. The basketball, both men's and women's, can compete with any other conference. The Men's soccer and lacrosse offer many hours during the fall and the baseball works in the spring.
Football possibilities--as long as NBC loves ND, they don't need ND to join the BE FB conference; rather, they could get ND to play other conference schools on the "road" each year and show those as the BE game of the week.
In one of the articles regarding our new commissioner, they mentioned the addition of a 14th FB school to balance the conference. I would love to see a raid on the ACC. My choice, don't throw bricks, would be BC. They never should have left; they have been nothing since they went into the tobacco farmer conference. Their alums that I know regret the day the decision was made. It would take backdoor pressure from some big BC donor alums but it could be done by their friends/business cohorts from the BE schools.
Remember, the thing is to think BIG, not small as in the past. Go as a league with a vengence.