Big East changes finally becoming reality
Friday, March 08, 2013
What has been rumored and discussed for weeks is apparently ready to become reality.
The Providence-based Big East Conference has announced it has reached an agreement with the "Catholic 7" basketball-centric schools, allowing for their departure this summer, according to numerous media reports.
The agreement between the Big East and the Catholic 7 -- Providence, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Seton Hall, St. John's and Villanova -- will allow those schools to keep the Big East name and the right to play their basketball post-season tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York, for a price. It's a price that is apparently worth paying for those schools, in order to exercise control over their athletic futures.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe seven schools will depart on June 30th, 2013 and will begin their new league on July 1st, according to media sources. They are expected to add Butler and Xavier from the Atlantic-10 and likely Creighton from the Missouri Valley Conference to have at least a 10-team basketball league for the 2013-14 season. No formal invitations to join the "new Big East" have yet been made. Current Atlantic-10 members Dayton and St. Louis are the leading candidates to increase the league's membership to 12 teams for the 2014-15 season, sources have said.
In addition to pursuing new members, the new Big East must also hire a commissioner, draft league bylaws, and complete fall championship planning in other sports, in addition to basketball.
What will happen to the schools left behind? The remaining schools will have 10 members in 2014: Connecticut, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Central Florida. Navy is scheduled to join in 2015, and Tulsa is the leading candidate to become the league's 12th member in either 2014 or '15, sources have reported. These schools will have until July 1st to decide on a new name - with the "America 12 Conference" the favorite to become the new name of the current Big East Conference's football schools, league sources told ESPN Thursday.
The name has not officially been approved by the league's presidents, and the conference is apparently considering several other names. However, league attorneys purchased and registered the domain name America12.org on Tuesday, according to WhoIs domain-registration data. The league's law firm also registered other variations of America 12 this week, including America12Conference.com, America12Sports.com, American12.org, American12conference.com, AmericaTwelve.com and TheAmerica12Conference.com.
How did this metamorphosis come about so quickly? Money, and a lot of it. A pool in excess of $100 million has accumulated from the paying of exit fees (from Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and TCU, for example) by departing schools and the addition of NCAA Tournament revenue shares from post-season play. The Catholic 7 schools have waived their rights to most of this money pool, in order to expedite their departure rather than wait another year or two. Who gets what, however, has been a sticking point and part of the reason behind the delay in any announcement. USA Today reported Thursday a committee of six athletic directors – three from the "original" Big East members UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida and three from newcomers SMU, Memphis and Central Florida – will make a recommendation to the league's presidents on how to split the remaining revenue.
It is expected the holdovers (UConn, USF and Cincinnati) will get a significantly larger share of that pot, but the exact amounts still have not been determined. That money will be distributed over a five-to-seven year period, with the first installments being paid before July 1st, 2013. Final decisions on those amounts will speed up once the settlements with the Catholic 7, as well as Notre Dame, are completed. Notre Dame is expected to expedite its departure from the Big East to the ACC a year earlier than scheduled, and join the league this summer in all sports except for football.
Schools that are committed to the old Big East for one more season, like Rutgers and Louisville, will have the distinction of playing in three different leagues in one calendar year. Rutgers is scheduled to join the Big 10 and Louisville the ACC on July 1, 2014...but will remain as part of a renamed conference for the coming academic year.
The "old Big East" offices will apparently remain in Providence for at least a couple of years, according to sources, even though Providence College is departing. Additionally, the "new Big East" is also likely to headquarter in Providence, before considering other options.
“I am pleased that this agreement has been reached,” Commissioner Mike Aresco said. “With the long-term well-being of our outstanding institutions and their student-athletes of paramount importance, each group worked through a number of complex issues in an orderly, comprehensive and amicable manner marked by mutual respect. We part ways as friends and colleagues and look forward to the success of both conferences.”
The Presidents of the seven basketball universities released the following statement regarding their formal separation: “We are grateful to Commissioner Michael Aresco for spearheading an agreement that truly represents the best path forward for each of our great institutions and the thousands of student-athletes who compete for our schools annually. It is a great credit to Mike, our colleagues, and all involved that we were able to work through a host of highly complex and time-sensitive issues in such a short period of time. We are pleased that we reached this amicable and mutually-beneficial separation by approaching each issue with a spirit of cooperation and shared respect.”
