Big East Football: Hiring TV Exec as New Commissioner Is a Forward-Thinking Move

The Big East, a league that has had so much in the way of bad news recently, just got its second dose of positive news in as many days. As first reported by Mark Blaudschun, over at his blog, A Jersey Guy, the Big East hired Mike Aresco as its new commissioner.

Never heard of Aresco?

He's an executive vice president with CBS. He's been in charge of the network's programming since 1996 and has worked on blockbuster deals that include the NCAA tournament and the network's big-time college football property: the SEC.

This is a major win for the league and a tremendous step forward for a conference that is scrapping to maintain its footing in the face of transition. Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Big East had retained the services of Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures to work on negotiating its television contract. Now, with the hire of Aresco, the conference has another foothold in the television marketplace who understands how the game is played and who will work to get every penny off the table.

Having a "football guy" or a "basketball guy" or a "recognizable face" in the league is nice. It makes people feel comfortable, and the recognizable guy often has pre-existing relationships with the homegrown talent. However, as Larry Scott has shown during his short time with the Pac-12, going outside of the box in finding a commissioner can most certainly be a tremendous positive for a conference.

Mike Aresco has worked across multiple platforms; the groundbreaking "March Madness On Demand" streaming service is operating at a level that most conferences aspire to push toward with respect to their online media. Aresco, coming from the television side of things, understands value and how to sell that value. He also understands how the competition, in this case ESPN and Fox, have largely shut out NBC and CBS; both networks with cable sports channels that need something to broadcast.

This is a big win for the Big East. There is little doubt that the league will be successful in its negotiations at this point. Expect Aresco and the Bevilacqua firm to suck the marrow out of the contract negotiations and work to not only increase Big East exposure, but to spread that exposure across multiple platforms. 

Lead image courtesy of ctpost.com.