Right, HOO, they need content. The whole idea of the content for ESPN, or any media company is to sell advertising. There is a particular set of advertisers who want to reach the audience that watches college football on Saturday afternoon. And then, of course there is the problem of filling all of the airtime between football Saturdays. We'll know if the Ivy League is being used as "filler" or as an actual "draw" when we see the broadcast schedule. If the games appear during the week, like the MAC games. then they're just filler. But if they occupy Saturday slots, then ESPN must need help selling ads in that territory. I don't have any stats to support this, but I think in the Norhteast, the Ivies have more following than BC, Rutgers, UConn, etc. College sports in general lives in the shadow of the pro leagues.
I think ESPN got a wake up call in the last B1G contract. They tried lowball the B1G, but the reality is, they cannot afford to tell national advertisers that they have a hole in their footprint from NY to Minnesota and DC to Nebraska. They have since started acquiring more content and more regional networks around the country. ND is huge for them in NYC and Chicago. Fox regional networks will help too. How well these latest moves payoff will prepare ESPN for the next B1G rights negotiation.