The Big Ten’s entry into the television business is, as conference officials proclaim, a win-win proposition.
When the Big Ten Channel starts in 2007, the conference will receive guaranteed national exposure, each school will get a projected $7 million a year and the athletes in non-revenue sports will have a chance to perform on TV.
On second thought, that makes it a win-win-win proposition.
Nevertheless, the creation of the Big Ten Channel, a joint venture with Fox Cable Networks, and the conference’s new contracts with ABC and the ESPN family have come at a cost.
And who will bear the brunt of that cost?
Who else?
You.