Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delany was exhausted.
It was Monday morning, Aug. 25, and he was on the charter flight that was bringing the USA Basketball team back from Beijing. A member of the teamâ??s executive committee, Delany was reveling in the Redeem Teamâ??s successful three-year pursuit of an Olympic gold medal.
But when the plane landed in Minneapolis, Delanyâ??s excitement was tempered by e-mail messages that came across his BlackBerry suggesting that the Big Ten Networkâ??s yearlong pursuit of a critical carriage deal with Time Warner Cable would not be as successful.