The final issues should be hammered out on Wednesday, some of the financial numbers still need to be worked on, but at the end of the day the deal should be signed and the divorce between the Big East football and Catholic 7 will be official.
Both sides can make their announcements on Thursday.
And then what?
If I am Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco, who has worked his butt off for the past six months to make things work, this is what I would do.
1. Announce that Big East football is moving on and the Catholic 7 group is also moving on and that you wish them well.
2. Turn next week’s Big East tournament–the last model off the original line which was created 34 years ago, into an Irish Wake. Tell stories, shake hands, laugh and promote a good week of basketball for a great conference taking its last bow on Broadway.
Celebrate the Big East as it was. As it is. And as it can be. Embrace the Catholic 7 group and wish them well and mean it.
3. Gather the new troops together–UConn, Cincinnati, South Florida, Temple, Memphis, Houston, Tulane, SMU, East Carolina, Central Florida, and Navy. Give a wink to Tulsa and say, be patient
Tell them they can be the best of the rest–meaning the WAC, the Mountain West, Conference USA, the Sun Belt and all the others who aren’t part of the BCS 5. And that in any given year, they can have one or two or three teams in football or basketball which can look anyone in the eye and play on a big stage.
4. Give the name of Big East to the Catholic 7 with your blessing and baptize a new league which will include the characteristics and profile of its members.
Start with the name Metro–as in the once fledgling and ambitious Metro Conference, which passed away 18 years ago. Look at the schools and the cities. Cincinnati, Tampa, Philadelphia, Memphis, Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Washington-Baltimore (Navy), Orlando, Hartford (UConn). Only East Carolina is Metro stretch.
Go beyond that. Keep the Big Name. Call it an Athletic Conference. BMAC.
People will call it the Big Mac, which works. Go beyond that and quickly sign up McDonald’s as a sponsor and partner. That brings in money and recognition and a younger target audience. Have BMAC t-shirts available at McDonald’s. BMAC mugs.
If you want to go basic, Call it the Metro 10, 11 or 12 to match the number of schools in the league–but that can be risky. It should be noted that Louisville won a pair of national championships as a Metro Conference member. Memphis made it to the Final Four as a Metro Conference team.
5. Take the Basketball tournament and make it a moveable feast. Start it in Hartford for symbolism sake. But then move it to Memphis, Cincinnati, into Texas, into Florida, New Orleans, Philadelphia and even New York.
6. Promote the hell out of Memphis, Temple, UConn and Cincinnati at the start in basketball and hope that SMU and Houston revive their programs to some previous glory days. Push the upgrades at Tulane.
Talk about success of South Florida and Central Florida in basketball and how it is a work in progress.
In football, increase non-conference games prime time games. Use the new ESPN forum to stage games that people will watch. Promote the hell out of Central Florida and South Florida and talk about creating the next FSU-Florida or Miami-Florida State rival in a talent rich area.
And then step back and wait. Maybe it will work. Maybe it won’t. Maybe the conference raids will continue and UConn and Cincinnati will take the first bus out-of-town. But with millions of dollars of Big East money in their pockets they might think about their next move.
But it will be fun. People will have a good time doing it, hoping it works.
And if doesn’t, at least you can say you gave it your best effort.
© Copyright 2013 Mark, All rights Reserved. Written For: A Jersey Guy
Mark, I am glad to see you pushing the Metro brand. There is no shame in that name. The Metro Conference during the 1980s was one of the top men’s basketball conferences in the country. Louisville won two national titles in the Metro. Memphis went to a Final Four and three Sweet 16′s in the Metro. The “Metro” name is the best way to describe these schools. All but ECU are located in or near large metropolitian areas. It would be far better than some goof-ball dream-up like “Conference USA” was by Mike Slive.
Also, as far as the conference tournament for next year, having it in Hartford the first time is fine. After that, it needs to rotate, but I wouldn’t rotate it too much. Once you get outside of Memphis, Cincinnati and Philadelphia, you are playing with fire because of weak fan support for hoops at these other schools.
Have you been drinking?
Big Metro conference will have the initial money to stay relevant. The key is to to close the deal. There are plenty of dollars here for everyone to be happy. Having Big Metro embracing the new Big East is smart too, as there will be plenty of good non conference rivalries in basketball (Cincinnati/Xavier, Cincinnati/Memphis, Temple/Villanova, Georgetown/ U Conn to name a few) Football will take a long time, but if the conference is promoted right, there are several natural rivalries in place that will make it fun. Basically Big Metro is a conference of opportunity. If a school can put together a track record of success over an extended time period , a bigger conference will reward them..They have 6 years to make their case to the networks as well. Also remember, U Conn is a crown jewel school. With their new young coach, they may be competing for basketball titles again soon. The future will bright for everyone if they can rebound.
I honestly think ChrisColumbo, previous name MikeinManilla, fell down and hit his head somewhere. Are you seriously suggesting your sales pitch is “come join our conference and get good and then some other conference will want you”? That might be the dumbest post in the history of the internet. I take it back, Chris is not MikeinManilla his last name is either Aresco, Marianatto or Tranghese. It has to be because he is as braindead as those 3 were.
Metro Conference? Holy moly that’s totally awful.
Please UConn get out of this flaming pile of crap.
a pig with lipstick is still a pig. LOL
i think it hard to hold together a conference where once a member finds some success, they leave for a bigger name conference.
As for UCONN, drop football to DII and join the Catholic 7. Focus on being consistently really good in basketball and/or hockey
UConn’s football is not a problem. It is more successful in its short tenure than many, and it also has winning records against the 3 who just departed to the ACC.
The worst thing UConn could do now is forever join the schools that will be shut out from competing in basketball by the BCS conferences in a few short years.
What?! You are not a very smart person. One way or another, C7 is going to be left out of the party when all is said and done – guaranteed.
I am all for it. At the same time, since the Big East is taking a hardline on the ridiculous sanctions against UConn, UConn will not be at this little event at MSG. So should an invite come, adios. We look forward to it.
First, Cincy, USF and UConn will not be the first schools invited for promotion. All of them are in markets where the ACC, SEC, Big 10 or Big 12 will already have teams (so no television benefit) or do not want teams (the Big 12 is staying South of Mason-Dixon going forward). Those three teams will be the orphans in future realignment, as they have very low television potential. There is a reason why they were left behind in the last round, and those reasons still exist.
Second, Metro Conference is horrible as a name. I can offer at least five more that are better: (1) Eastern Athletic Conference; (2) United Athletic Conference; (3) American Athletic Conference; (4) Big 14 Conference; and (5) Conference America.
Third, if the conference wants to survive after the ACC implosion everyone expects, it better add some teams and get to 16. If the ACC takes 4-6 teams, the “whatever it will be called” conference needs to have 8-10 teams left so it can survive by only adding 2-4 more for a championship game. This realignment stuff is not done, so the only way to guarantee success is to be big.
Not sure I agree with your first point. Who will be invited first Pony? SMU? Houston? Memphis? Yeah right.
Second point, I totally agree. There are better names out there.
Third point, no way the conference can afford to add 2-4 more teams under the crappy TV contract. Maybe scope out and recruit 2-4 schools in the event your ACC depletion scenario happens. Kind of like that crappy Tulane/ECU pick up. Those schools were waiting in the wings. Man that Tulane pick still hurts.
Tulsa, UMass, USM, Rice are all there for the picking if the Big MAC Joke Conference loses teams. Those chodes aren’t going anywhere.
Here’s the problem Mark, enough with this Irish Wake crap. The problem for the last 10 years has been too much focusing on glory days and REACTING to others moves and not enough planning and ACTING. When is this conference, can’t call it the Big East anymore, going to get a leader with the nerve and foresight to think big and think ahead? When? When!!! It needs a bold move with a re-focused emphasis on major TV markets. Does Jim Delaney have a twin brother? Hell, does he have a retarded sister he could lend to the cause? TV markets, up and down the East coast from Boston to Miami, with tiny offshoots elsewhere for major teams (Cincy) as well as Texas because of prior agreements (Houston, SMU). Shitcan Tulane and possibly Navy if you have to. Don’t answer the phone if you see a Tulsa area code (which might be the worst addition I’ve ever heard)
UMass
UConn
Temple
Cincy
Richmond/Old Dominion
Navy/Delaware (rather have Delaware)
East Carolina
Memphis
UCF
USF
SMU
Houston
Build it up, capture those eyeballs in those major markets and the next TV contract will be a home run. Can’t live in the past of 3 Final Four teams, can’t even go back 2 years and accept that monster TV contract. Start over and be bold!!
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