Is ESPN too dominant?

[GuyFawkes38]

News just broke this week that ESPN will be the sole broadcaster of BCS College Football games. And through a 10 year effort of purchasing contracts from every conference in the country, ESPN now dominates College Football in the regular season too.

The situation isn't quite so dire in College Basketball. Fox sports carries a lot of weight. And CBS is still king by owning the TV rights of the NCAA tourney.

But there are a lot of rumors that ESPN might make a run at purchasing the rights of the NCAA tourney from CBS.

I think this would be a disaster for College Basketball. ESPN has a reputation of supporting college teams with large alumni/fan bases. CBS, in contrast, loves to engage the non-college basketball by supporting the Cinderellas of the bball world.

Teams like X, and conferences like the A 10, should send a clear message to the NCAA that they oppose an ESPN monopoly of College Basketball.

[Stonebreaker]

I've always thought competition was a good thing. Of course they've gotten too big.

[PMI]

I understand your point, but do you really think Xavier wants to be the one to take on ESPN's "dominance?" X fans still complain about lack of respect at the national level. Taking on the machine that gives programs their national image might not be the best way to get to where we want to be. My interest falls there, so if ESPN is going to dominate, that's fine as long as they recognize the blue X.