Bilsky on Princeton-Harvard ESPNU game

I'm yet to transcribe my super-long interview with Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky from yesterday, but I wanted to update on a point we briefly discussed — the Princeton-Harvard basketball game being televised on ESPNU, not the traditional Ivy Rivalry of Penn-Princeton.

Bilsky was frank in saying that it was completely a contractual thing. Scheduling the Penn-Princeton game is always tough, he said, and this year's scheduled date conflicted with a contractual obligation ESPNU already had, so they decided to air Princeton-Harvard.

He said that when it comes to TV rights and negotiations, airing Penn-Princeton basketball and Harvard-Yale football are still the marquee matchups that broadcasters look for.

Nonetheless, he agreed that the Harvard-Princeton game this year would likely be one of the marquee matchups of the Ivy season given that both teams are expected to finish in the top of the league.

Update: for the full story here, see Brian Kotloff's story.