What I am getting at is the excuses on why ECU is not in the big east are not true. Because there are 4 BCS teams in NC has nothing to do with it. This is all politics. The UNC system has tried to keep ECU down for years by trying to allow us university status, trying to stop the making of our medical school as well as the dental school. Somewhere along the lines ESPN is running the show and somewhere ECU has either a bad relationship with ESPN, the big east, or the ACC who may be telling ESPN that bringing in ECU to the big east would lower the ACCs TV contract. This is all speculation, but to say temple and san diego state bring more to the big east is ridiculous. Its the behind work that is keeping ECU out and will eventually be the death of the athletic programs.

Boise would only join if they had western partners along the way henceforth why SDSU is in the big east. And of course having SDSU will increase viewership on the west coast, but it will not be at a high rate and me and you both know that. Saying SDSU vs Temple will have more viewers than ECU vs Temple is ridiculous. Potential viewers? sure if you want to say san diego cares about SDSU but actual viewers no.

So ECU is the #5 school in the state because the rest of the teams are in the ACC? Duke has no pull in football as most of their alumni are out of state and people really only care about Duke because of basketball. When coach K retires lets see how good Duke is and if they can continue their success. To say Duke and Wake Forest has a bigger pull in the state because they are in the ACC is ludacris. If some magical way ECU is invited to the SEC tomorrow do they automatically become the #1 team in the state? Its crazy to use the 4 ACC teams in the state when Houston and SMU are being added to a state that has A&M, Texas, TTU, Baylor and UCF is being added to a state that has Florida, Florida State, USF, and Miami(Yes I know orlando and houston are considered bigger markets)

When looking at fan bases and their impact (travel to bowl games, home attendance, merchandise sales) its easy to see that the pull/draw looks something like this.

1. UNC
2. NC State
3. ECU
4. App/Wake/Duke

ECU is not a national brand but in no doubt in my mind is ECU a regional brand because it brings a good chunk of NC, parts of SC, and parts of VA. Are they the number 1 draw in Raleigh? No. But they definitely should get credit for partially bringing raleigh as well as charlotte. Again I am not saying ECU delivers the whole market of these two cities but the TV ratings do not lie when the pirates are on TV(I believe ECUs bowl game against Arkansas had a stat on a great viewing audience) and when ECU plays NC State or UNC there is more buzz throughout the state compared to when these schools play Wake and Duke.


The real question I want to ask you Quinn is lets say the big east makes the mistake in your mind and adds ECU. Does ECU all of a sudden become the 3rd team in the state because they are in the BCS? I think this all about perceptions and politics and for whatever reason ECU is looked at as small time to the big east or the administration must have stepped on their toes along the way.

Well arent 0 people watching the big east in NC? Basically ECU has not won enough games in recent years, the basketball program isnt great, the airport is too small and our leaders have rubbed the big east wrong.

Actually, yes, you can watch Big East games in North Carolina...they are on TV. But if you're out west, it's not always a lock that they are on TV. Living in LA with DirectTV, I got a few Big East games from time to time. But in NC, you'll find just about every televised Big East game.

The problem is that being in 3rd place in North Carolina, which isn't a great football state overall, doesn't do very much for the powers that be. Even if you were to completely ignore Duke and Wake Forest, just having UNC and NC State alone takes up a massive amount of media and fan base oxygen. Just look at other states. There's a huge drop-off in fan base size after Texas and Texas A&M in the state of Texas, and that's a massive population base with about the most football-crazy people out there. Third place in the state of California is between Cal or Stanford, yet their fans are really just concentrated in the Bay Area alone. Third place in the state of Illinois is Northern Illinois. Western Michigan doesn't get a prize for being the third most followed team in the state of Michigan. The strongest third place team in a state is arguably Miami, and that fan base is still more localized in South Florida as opposed to the entire state. So, when it comes to the casual (AKA T-shirt) fan that drives TV viewership, most markets really only pay attention to one or two teams at the most and then there's a significant drop-off. North Carolina has a unique basketball culture where it has high interest in all 4 of the state's ACC teams, but I don't find that to be the case in football.

It's not the primary reason why ECU isn't in the Big East, but it's a part of it.