Conf. Realigment the Basketball version

[Lobot]

mark blaudschun @blauds

Big East Catholic schools held meeting in New York to discuss possibly breaking away on their own. http://ajerseyguy.com

[1977 BearCat]

And the hits keep on coming........

[longtimefan]

It wasn't secret, and Aresco was there.

https://twitter.com/SIPeteThamel/sta...54079095345152

[longtimefan]

Just a question, do all the Big East schools ever get together in the same room for anything? If so, how do they possibly know who to trust?

[righthook]

Just a question, do all the Big East schools ever get together in the same room for anything? If so, how do they possibly know who to trust?

I would guess at this point there is no trust.

[GoCats1994]

Can anyone blame them? They have to be looking at long-term viability. If the rumors are true (new TV deal to be less than expected), they are wise to consder their options.

If these 7 schools could pull in a few others (Dayton? Xavier? whomever)... It may be in their best interest to dissolve the BE.

[RedRocker]

To steal a line from former Reds 2B-SS Pokey Reese describing Jim Bowden, Pokey said to a reporter after being traded, "you know Jim Bowden is lying when his lips are moving".

Kind of appropriate for this whole conference realignment shuffle.

[cpawstoney]

Big East Catholic schools held meeting in New York to discuss possibly breaking away on their own.

Does this mean we won't have to pay the exit fee when we go to the ACC or the Big-whatever?

[bearcatn8]

My guess, the league stays together, but the basketball only schools negotiate for (and get) some sort of out clause that let's them break away if there are any more defections. That would make the most sense, no? Who would vote against that? In the short term, UC/UCONN get to keep their football home while they polish up their realignment resumes. Basketball schools get to maximize their t.v. $$. If UC/UCONN leave, remaining schools have freedom to break away at that point.

[cpawstoney]

Big East fate vexes Catholic schools

Check out this article by Andy Katz at ESPN:

The seven Big East Catholic, non-FBS schools met with Big East commissioner Mike Aresco on Sunday to express their concerns for the direction of the conference, multiple Big East sources confirmed to ESPN.com on Monday.

At issue is whether the Big East basketball-only schools have the power to dissolve the league, and retain all the assets and brand name. A source with knowledge of the situation said that until July 1, the seven have the majority votes and the necessary three-fourths to have controlling power. There are only three remaining football members -- Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida.

Last week, CBSSports.com reported the Big East's media rights deal is expected to bring between $60 million and $80 million, which would actually provide the basketball schools less revenue than the current deal. Based on those figures, the basketball schools would earn only $1.06 million (based on the $60 million estimate) or $1.41 million (based on the $80 million estimate). They currently annually receive $1.5 million from the league's media rights deal.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...tholic-schools

[CincyEngGrad02]

A-10 looking at 7 catholic BEast schools

[98bearcat]

Check out this article by Andy Katz at ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...tholic-schools

This information is incorrect as the basketball schools do not have 3/4 power. Temples contract states that their vote does count and so the Basketball powers no longer can dissolve the conference. All they can do is leave and pay the exit fees.. the 4 remaining schools would be very wealthy for one year if all the schools backed out.

[bearcatbret]

From the original article:
"But if they do decide to leave as a group, they will not have to pay an exit fee. A rule that was put in place almost a decade ago when the Big East lost Virginia Tech, Miami and then Boston College to the ACC, stipulates that should the football or basketball segments of the league want to break away as a group no exit fees will be imposed. Schools leaving the Big East on an individual basis have had to pay between $5 and $17 million."
This may be good news because if they do dissolve the Big East, UC would no longer have to pay an exit fee.

[cpawstoney]

Here are some answers to some of your questions about the Big East

Here is CBS Sport's take on it:

So when will a decision be made?

Probably not for months. The first step is to let Aresco finalize the best television contract he can finalize, then see where everything sits. My understanding is that the non-football-playing members would like to decide something one way or another before Memphis, SMU, Houston and UCF officially join the Big East on July 1 but not without first seeing what kind of TV deal Aresco finalizes, and not without gauging the interest of other basketball-first schools that might be willing to join a new league with them. Simply put, this is all incredibly complicated. And it's also worth noting that other shifts in realignment could change things. It's possible the non-football-playing members could decide they're OK staying in a Big East with Cincinnati and Connecticut but then decide they have no interest in staying if Cincinnati and/or Connecticut jump to the Big 12 and/or ACC. So keep your eye on the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, too. Any moves by them could lead to more moves within the Big East, which could lead to, well, you get the point.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...t-the-big-east

[bearcatbret]

No mention of the BEast non-football taking Dayton and Xavior in that CBSSports article. Interesting. As said before though, if the 7 non-football schools leave, I do not think that UC has to pay the exit fee.