Breaking News: PC, Six Others Officially Decide To Leave Big East

Breaking News: PC, Six Others Officially Decide To Leave Big East

In the end, there was no hesitation.

The presidents of Providence College, Georgetown, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, Marquette and DePaul held a conference call Saturday morning where they unanimously voted to leave the Big East Conference to pursue a new conference devoid of FBS football.

A joint statement was released announcing the vote.  It reads as follows: "Earlier today we voted unanimously to pursue an orderly evolution to a foundation of basketball schools that honors the history and tradition on which the Big East was established.  Under the current context of conference realignment, we believe pursuing a new basketball framework that builds on this tradition of excellence and competition is the best way forward."

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Big East commissioner Mike Aresco and the league also issued a statement Saturday.  “The basketball institutions have notified us that they plan to withdraw from the Big East Conference. The membership recognizes their contributions over the long distinguished history of the Big East. The 13 members of the Conference are confident and united regarding our collective future. We have a strong Conference with respected national universities, and are working together to forge the future. We have a variety of options, and are looking forward with great partnership, collegiality and optimism.”
 

The seven schools are currently committed to the Big East until June 30, 2015.  However, that timetable could be expedited as were the departures of other schools that have left the conference in recent years.

Left in limbo are the University of Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida, all of whom play FBS football.  However, the Big East is scheduled to field a 12-team conference in that sport in the fall of 2013 which will involve some newly recruited schools such as Boise State, San Diego State, Temple, Memphis, Houston, Central Florida and SMU.  At the moment, departing schools like Louisville and Rutgers are also scheduled to compete in the Big East Football Conference next fall with Syracuse and Pittsburgh on their way to the ACC.

Much is to be decided in the coming weeks and months for the "Basketball Seven" including which schools to invite into their new conference.

There continues to be strong speculation that Xavier, Dayton and Butler are the top three choices with St. Louis, Creighton,St. Joe's, Virginia Commonwealth and others also being mentioned.  It would seem that they would like to add 3 to 5 teams to become either a 10 or 12-team conference.

But that's not the only thing that needs to be hammered out.

Because the "Basketball Seven" is leaving the Big East, they will not be allowed to claim the name "Big East" for their new conference, nor will they have new commissioner Mike Aresco as their leader.

According to Big East byaws, the Big East name will stay with those who elect to stay in the conference and Aresco will lead those schools.

However, like everything in life, those things are negotiable.

Also negotiable is how much money each of the departing seven schools will receive from past NCAA tournaments, paid exit fees and other revenues acrued by the league.  They will not have to pay exit fees themselves because of a bylaw that relates to a group of schools leaving together.

There are rumors that the "Basketball Seven" may try to lure former Big East commissioner Mike Traghese out of retirement to help launch their new league.  That remains to be seen.

Also up for debate will be the home of the new conference's postseason tournament.  The Big East men's basketball tournament is currently held at Madison Square Garden in New York where it has been held for many years.  While the Big East does have a contract with MSG, it is doubtful that a widespread conference would draw fans to New York the way the old Big East once did.  For that reason, both the Big East and MSG may look for a way to terminate that deal in the coming years leaving open the possibility of the "Basketball Seven" and their new conference to step right in.

The presidents of the "Basketball Seven" have scheduled a news conference for 4:30pm today.