When Big Ten Network’s football pregame show hits the air at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, it will feature the same trio that appeared when the network launched on Aug. 30, 2007.
Host Dave Revsine and analysts Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith aren’t always in the studio together these days, but they will come together before an opening-night doubleheader, capped by UAB-Illinois, to commemorate BTN’s 20th season.
“It’s really special to be working with them tomorrow night,” Revsine said Wednesday. “I think we’ll do a little bit of a nod to our history together. One of the things that we’re really trying to do with this is not make it about us. But I can’t think of many scenarios in the sports-television world where you have three guys who have been together that whole time.”
BTN will celebrate its anniversary with special programming in the fall. “B1G Network Season 20: 20 Moments” will show fans the most memorable moments that aired on the network. “The B1G Story: Rise of Women’s Sports” will examine how the conference helped lead the movement. “B1G Network Season 20: Moments and Memories” will bring Revsine, DiNardo and Griffith together with fellow originals Rick Pizzo and Mike Hall to discuss the network’s origin.
Revsine has been the face of the network from the start. The irony is that when he first met with BTN officials about the job, he only did it to give himself leverage with his then-employer, ESPN, as he sought a new contract. Revsine had spent more than a decade there as an anchor and play-by-play voice.
But after meeting with original BTN executive producer Leon Schweir, Revsine became intrigued. Then he realized the network wasn’t talking to anyone else about the job. After returning to have dinner with then-BTN president Mark Silverman and Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, Revsine was sold.
“I remember my thought was, I’m going where they’re going,” he said.
But not everyone was sold, particularly at ESPN, which wanted Revsine to stay.
“All these people were coming up to me, like, ‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ ” Revsine said. “ ‘You’re in a good spot here. Why would you do this?’ I had no hesitation.
“I was convinced this was the right thing for me. I just didn’t know how good. I don’t think that I envisioned that it would be as great as it’s been and that it would change college-sports television in the way that it has.”
Eventually, ESPN launched the SEC Network, then the ACC Network. The Pac-12 launched a network on its own, and that decision plus distribution issues led to its demise. BTN has had its share of carriage disputes, including at launch, when it wasn’t available on Comcast cable. Now, with members from coast to coast, it’s carried by every major distributor in the country.
Revsine said he notices the network’s reach everywhere he goes. While out to dinner with his wife and another couple in Chicago, about a week after visiting Iowa on BTN’s training-camp tour, Revsine said a Hawkeyes fan approached him to talk about the team’s quarterbacks, who had had a rough practice the day of Revsine’s visit.
”I don’t think I really understood how connected we were going feel to the schools and by extension to the fans,” Revsine said. “You have people come up to you and start talking to you, address you by name as if you’re old friends, and just talk about their team. That part of it is really neat.”
So is being able to work with the same people for 20 seasons.
“It speaks to what a great place it has been to work,” Revsine said.
