In September 2010, the Big East informally offered Villanova another chance (previous one came in the 1990s) to move up to FBS and play Big East football.
https://www.vuhoops.com/2010/09/10/footb...o-big-east
The Big East had done this before with UConn, so this was serious and Villanova took it seriously.
In November 2010, Blaudschun wrote the Big East would likely expand football from 8 to at least 10.
http://archive.boston.com/sports/college...st_agenda/
Notre Dame, TCU, Villanova and UCF were mentioned publicly as candidates in the article. Later articles would mention Houston (as a travel partner for TCU), Navy and East Carolina as possibilities.
Of course, Villanova already had an informal offer. And TCU was invited in December 2010 as an all sports member. UCF and the rest were never offered.
Villanova drug their heels on the Big East offer, studying where to play. They set a vote for April 12, 2011.
https://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2...rence-news
However, right before the vote (when it looked like Villanova would say "Yes"), several Big East members got cold feet. They were particularly concerned about Villanova's plan to play 18 miles off campus at PPL Park (now Talen Energy Stadium), a MLS venue with a capacity of 18K (Nova would expand it to 30K).
https://www.vuhoops.com/2011/4/11/210359...te-delayed
The next article makes clear the three opposed to Villanova were Pitt, Rutgers and West Va. Nova needed six out of eight football votes for an invitation, and only had five.
http://archive.boston.com/sports/college...s_leading/
The Big East rejected the ESPN offer several weeks later in May 2011 after the blockbuster Pac 12 deal was announced on May 4.
If the Big East had wanted to add UCF, Navy, ECU or Houston and accept the ESPN offer, it could have. It didn't. I guess if you looked at it through rose-colored glasses, you could say any one of those four schools could have been "worth" $11M per year as a part of that ESPN offer -- had the Big East pulled the trigger.
However, as we all know, the reason leagues get X per year is not because of the least attractive school. It's because of the top several most attractive schools.
At some point, ESPN began working with the ACC, Pitt and Syracuse to coordinate that move, which happened to the rest of the Big East's utter shock and dismay, four months later in September 2011.
One wonders if that move was being worked on before the Big East rejected the ESPN deal, or as a result of the deal's rejection.