schools overvalued themselves out of existence. They really though they were worth $50M or more, and based on the BIG contract, they thought they could get it. A complete miscalculation putting their rights out to bid in the open market, and they paid a big price. The BIG has not returned an ROI on their media numbers yet, and will be interesting the next time their contract comes up for renewal. They are not the NFL, and while they have national appeal, I'm not convinced they will be a "national" conference either. College ball's fans may watch some of the games, but their team and conference games supersede any big national conference game the BIG will throw out there. Will you turn off a competitive VT game, so you can watch Michigan USC? Will most of Virginia? They will get good ratings because of the networks they are on, or the time slots, but I'm not convinced the ratings will go up significantly. They may have overpaid the BIG.