O fim do Big East
Enviado: Sex Dez 14, 2012 11:44 am
ou ao menos da conferencia tal conhecemos.
The Big East’s seven basketball-only schools—DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova—plan to leave the conference, according to multiple reports.
The only things to be determined are when and how, according to ESPN and USA Today.
The presidents of the seven Catholic schools have called a second conference call for Saturday and could make an official declaration then, according to ESPN.com.
The presidents of the seven Catholic schools, none of which play Division I-A football, held a conference call with Big East commissioner Mike Aresco on Thursday to deliver the news. This call came on the heels of a face-to-face meeting Sunday in New York.
Aresco held a conference call with the athletic directors of the remaining and incoming Big East schools on Thursday as well, according to ESPN. On the call, Aresco said he expects that the seven schools will leave, but are weighing their options on how to do so, a source told ESPN. Aresco also told those on the call that he had not officially heard that the schools were leaving.
Several reports indicated that the seven Catholic schools told Aresco in the morning conference call that they were leaving.
USA Today reports that Aresco is not giving up hope on holding the league together. He’s been attempting to negotiate a new TV contract, including football, but one that would make the basketball schools content (i.e., generate more revenue that the basketball schools could get on their own).
"Clearly there is a movement by the presidents to explore and look into the various possibilities when it comes to this conference realignment," St. John's basketball coach Steve Lavin said. "Their objective is to look out for the best interests of the original remaining Big East members and those presidents have met and had dialogue to chart the best course."
Sports Illustrated reports that the divorce is less about revenue -- as long as it’s close to even -- so much as it is about the Big East Conference no longer having the basketball schools’ best interests in mind.
"What's football going to look like in 15 years?" Marquette athletics director Larry Williams told WAUK-AM this week. "They may not be in the power position they are in today. How do we as an elite basketball program fit into the landscape of this football dominated environment? I don't have a complete answer for you, but that's the question."
If the seven Catholic schools stick together, they can keep their automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament under NCAA rules.
The remaining Big East schools would probably get to retain their automatic bid as well after going through an NCAA process, according to NCAA vice president Dan Gavitt, via ESPN. This would mean the automatic bids for the NCAA Tournament would increase from 31 to 32.
Providence and Georgetown will be among the schools leaving the Big East. (AP Photo)
A source told ESPN that the hoops schools can not dissolve the league, but could leave as a group without paying exit fees under a league clause that eliminates the exit fee for a collective departure. The group would have to honor the Big East's requirement to provide 27 months notice in that case, according to ESPN.
Adam Zagoria of SportsNet New York reported via Twitter that a Big East source said the Catholic schools can't dissolve the league because "at least two football and two basketball members must vote to dissolve." ESPN also confirmed that as well.
Initially it was believed that the seven Catholic schools could dissolve the league with a vote of league members by a two-third majority, according to ESPN. The seven basketball schools currently have that majority, with only Cincinnati, UConn and South Florida capable of adding a vote. Temple, as a football-only member, has some voting rights but cannot vote on the dissolution of the league, according to ESPN.
The conference and the schools have some issues to sort through as a source told ESPN.com that were lots of interpretations on exit fees, the waiting period for the schools to leave, who gets the Big East name and who gets to use Madison Square Garden for a conference tournament.
This exodus certainly further hinders the Big East’s media rights negotiations. Last week, CBS Sports projected the value of the conference’s media rights at between $60 and $80 million annually. An industry source told ESPN that the figure would likely is closer to $50 million.
The Big East's media-rights deal for basketball expires after the 2012-13 season, and the football contract for the league expires after the 2013-14 season.
The Big East has been desperately trying to keep the league together for football purposes by adding several schools to full and football-only memberships. Houston, SMU, Memphis, Central Florida and Tulane are set to join as full Big East members. Boise State, San Diego State, East Carolina and Navy are set to join as football-only members.
It is unknown how a potential basketball exodus would affect those schools with plans to join the Big East in coming seasons.
As for the seven Big East basketball schools, a source close to the situation told Sporting News on Thursday that the Big East Seven have not begun reaching out to potential future league partners.
The Big East Seven are expected to form their own league and not accept the Atlantic 10’s offer to join that conference. Instead, the Big East Seven likely would seek out three or five top-flight basketball-dominant athletics programs to join them.
The primary targets would be Butler, Xavier and Dayton from the Atlantic 10. Saint Louis of the Atlantic 10 and Creighton of the Missouri Valley also could be viable but only if the league wanted 12 members instead of 10. VCU of the Atlantic 10 and George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association would be longshots. Despite major geographic challenges, Gonzaga athletics director Mike Roth said this week that his school would be interested in joining the Big East Seven in a new league, too.
“Gonzaga is paying attention and we have and will continue to monitor what’s going on in college athletics and what it means for Gonzaga in all aspects,” Roth told The Spokesman-Review. “Beyond that, Gonzaga doesn’t have a crystal ball to say what’s going to happen, but we want to pay attention and be able to position ourselves best for the future.”