Barring a last-minute snag, the Big East is expected to make a formal announcement on Thursday that the Catholic 7 group of schools–DePaul, Marquette, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, Villanova and St. John’s will leave the conference, effective June 30th.
The Catholic 7 are expected to also announce that their new conference will be called the Big East (effective July 1) and they will immediately pursue plans to add additional members, who will join the conference and begin play next season.
A meeting among the Catholic 7 group in New York next week will focus on the names, with two Atlantic 10 members, Butler and Xavier, the most likely immediate additions.
The Big East also is ready to announce that Notre Dame will exercise an option to leave the conference a year early and join the ACC as a member in all sports but football, but that announcement could also come out of the ACC office in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Big East is also expected to announce that a new name for the conference is being discussed and will be revealed, with more details in the next few weeks, as well as announcement that a site for next year’s men’s basketball tournament is being discussed.
All of the details of this final break up of the “original” Big East have not yet been completed. The key issue discussed over the past several days was the dispensing of assets from a fund in excess of 100 million dollars the conference collected from exit fees from the 16 teams that have announced their departure from the conference in the last few years as well money earned in the NCAA basketball tournament by conference teams
Although the final total is closer to 110 million, the Big East does not have immediate access to all of that money since payoffs are still being made and the amount of some schools exit fees (Rutgers) is still being contested.
The tentative arrangement agreed to by the Big East schools was to give the Catholic 7 a payout of slightly less than $10 million and then divide another approximately 100 million dollars among the remaining schools in the conference.
A football group of three schools-Cincinnati, Connecticut and South Florida–will receive the bulk of the funds, but not in one payment. Those payments will be made installments, perhaps over a period of a few years.
The first step will be to officially announce the split with the Catholic 7 and that should be made with a simple statement on Thursday, barring some unexpected snag.
© Copyright 2013 Mark, All rights Reserved. Written For: A Jersey Guy
There will not be an announcement until this is completely settled. There are too many legal issues and too much money at stake for anyone to make an announcement with pending issues.
The new entrants have a huge say in all of this. If they are not satisfied, they will tie this up in litigation for a long time. I am not saying that they are in the right or have a legitimate case, however that is just the way the world works. So even though the C7 and the left overs have a deal, it is not done until the newbies agree. This is a divorce and sometimes people continue to live in the same house for a long time until the issues are settled.
A jersey guy with contacts and friends in every school in the C7 as well as with top brass in the BE says an announcement is coming tomorrow yet CluelessColumbo says otherwise, based on his vast experience watching reruns of Law and Order. OMG who should I believe?
This is a business and legal transaction. anyone who has ever concluded something like this understand that no announcements are made until the deal is done. I am not saying the deal is not done. I am saying that the deal will not be announced until it is actually done, that is my only disagreement with Mark. I recognize that Mark has connections that are deep. However there is a lot of shameless leaking going on in this process that has been done in an extremely self serving way by the leakers. Anyone with an ounce of experience can see through all of this. Bottom line is there is 110 million being fought over by 18 college presidents. That means there are also 18 ADS working on this and 18 sets of inhouse counsels working on this. So until 54 people are in complete agreement, nothing will happen.
It will get done today. Glad that the Catholic Schools are finally leaving especially Notre Dame which has used The Big East for years, and now will do so with the ACC. I look forward to the new conference and know that, as a Connecticut resident, my UCONN women will be awesome.
No announcement on Thursday, so a “snag” was indeed hit. Game, set, match to Mr. Columbo.