If it did come down and the league excluded publics and wanted a true Catholic league, Butler would be excluded. If not there could be a league of 12 that are among the top 80 in attendance:

6. Creighton 16,665
13. Marquette 15,138
28. Dayton 12,154
35. Georgetown 11,283
39. Xavier 10,155
44. Villanova 8,923
54. St. John's 8,428
63. Providence 7,883
66. Saint Louis 7,757
67. DePaul 7,740
76. Seton Hall 6,941
78. Butler 6,599

Guys the Big East basketball schools are almost worthless by themselves.

1) The media deal of the 7 Catholic schools would be worth no more than 1 million dollars per school. In the Big East with heavyweights like UConn, UC, Memphis and Temple attached to the product its worth 2 million.

2) The Big East exit fee is 10 million. For a school without football operating a 20 million dollar athletic budget that is an enormous sum. Villanova and Georgetown could probably swallow it but Seton Hall and Providence College I don't think so.

3) The ability to collect exit and entrance fees sitting in the Big East. Why pay the money when you can sit and collect? I think that is a major reason why Marshall is sticking around in CUSA because each departing school has to give up their share of the TV contract for the life of its remaining years (4 million).

The 6 remaining CUSA schools then are splitting 22 million in exit fees from SMU, Houston, Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, ECU plus collecting 1 million a piece in entrance fees for each school entering CUSA.

4) The Big East distributed 23 million to its members from the NCAA tourney in 2009-10. That is equal to 1.4 million per basketball school and almost as large as their TV money. They would definitely not split and give this large pool of money up.

(11-30-2012 02:45 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  The simpler course of action would be for the Catholic schools to find a way to kick out UConn,

And why would you kick out 2x NCAA-M champion and 5(?)x NCAA-W champion?

(12-01-2012 03:39 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(11-30-2012 02:45 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  The simpler course of action would be for the Catholic schools to find a way to kick out UConn,

And why would you kick out 2x NCAA-M champion and 5(?)x NCAA-W champion?

You know better than to cut up posts and throw back little snippets with no context included. Kicking out UConn, Temple, and the CUSA-7 would be a simpler course of action than dissolving the Big East and creating an entirely new conference -- if the Catholics are inclined to do something so drastic -- but I'm sure you're aware of that already as a football\basketball split is an old topic at this point in time. UConn has three men's titles, by the way.

(12-03-2012 12:30 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  

(12-01-2012 03:39 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(11-30-2012 02:45 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  The simpler course of action would be for the Catholic schools to find a way to kick out UConn,

And why would you kick out 2x NCAA-M champion and 5(?)x NCAA-W champion?

You know better than to cut up posts and throw back little snippets with no context included. Kicking out UConn, Temple, and the CUSA-7 would be a simpler course of action than dissolving the Big East and creating an entirely new conference -- if the Catholics are inclined to do something so drastic --

Sure, but why conspire against UConn? That would be nuts.

I think they'd try to keep UConn around, regardless.

(11-30-2012 01:20 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(11-30-2012 01:10 PM)ouvan59 Wrote:  Would love to see all the basketball only schools break off from the Big East (or boot everyone else). What they should do is rescind the rule that conferences need to have twelve teams to have a championship. Then conferences can still make their money and stop the insanity of these super conferences which robs everyone of their identity.

Reading that letter I assume everything is 'on the table'.

Needless to say, if the BE attempt to vote and dissolve ala the USSR in 1991 that is a huge deal, it is a very complicated legal deal, and would involve distributing conference assets, brand rights, television rights, etc. and then trying to reorganize a new conference.

Lawyers will have a field day!!

I can see the lawsuits "Old" Big East vs. "New" Big East as members of the existing Big East not invited to join the "New" Big East sue the old Big East members.

There would be more action in court than on the playing field.

Worst case: They won't dissolve they will just stop sponsoring football and prevent the nbe football only schools from coming in if possible. They may also try to block Tulane but I imagine they would still be happy with Temple, UCF, and Memphis.

was this statement before or after the Columbia loss

(12-03-2012 12:33 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  Sure, but why conspire against UConn? That would be nuts.

I think they'd try to keep UConn around, regardless.

The original question was would the Catholics dissolve the Big East and form a new basketball conference? My response was if they wanted to do that it would be simpler to kick out UConn, Temple, and the CUSA-7. Why dissolve the league, lose the Big East name, and start over again? It makes no sense.

(12-03-2012 03:15 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 12:33 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  Sure, but why conspire against UConn? That would be nuts.

I think they'd try to keep UConn around, regardless.

The original question was would the Catholics dissolve the Big East and form a new basketball conference? My response was if they wanted to do that it would be simpler to kick out UConn, Temple, and the CUSA-7. Why dissolve the league, lose the Big East name, and start over again? It makes no sense.

I don't think you kick out UConn or Temple or Memphis... Why kick out good schools? every conference has an institutional outlier or two the BE problem is no shared vision for the future of the conference.

Drop FB but let the "traditional" BE only schools stay in for everything else. Maybe let UCF stay in as they are pretty good.

The conundrum that Villanova finds itself in has everything to do with football. It's driving the $ and, like it or not, if you play at FCS level like Villanova does your going to get left behind. Period. Days are gone where schools or leagues can get by basketball only. Never going to happen.

(12-03-2012 07:46 PM)staupitz Wrote:  The conundrum that Villanova finds itself in has everything to do with football. It's driving the $ and, like it or not, if you play at FCS level like Villanova does your going to get left behind. Period. Days are gone where schools or leagues can get by basketball only. Never going to happen.

Yea that darn A10 is dead dead dead... And the South Eastern, MVC, and WCC who are all ranked at or above the MAC, SBC, and CUSA...

(12-03-2012 07:22 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  I don't think you kick out UConn or Temple or Memphis... Why kick out good schools? every conference has an institutional outlier or two the BE problem is no shared vision for the future of the conference.

Drop FB but let the "traditional" BE only schools stay in for everything else. Maybe let UCF stay in as they are pretty good.

You, too, are missing the caveat. Pay attention to everything, not just what you want to answer. The question I was responding to was the basketball schools getting fed up, dissolving the Big East, and starting their own hoops league with a new name while grabbing non-football schools from the A-10.

My response was why lose the Big East name and history? An easier solution would be to kick out UConn, Temple, and the CUSA-7 ... if the other option is to dissolve the Big East and start over again ... not as an action to take on its own. FBS rules do not allow for football-only conferences, by the way.

UConn, Temple, and Cincinnati, unless they get a lifeline from the ACC, are now tied to the six new CUSA schools, and ECU, for football. They can either stay in the Big East or split to start their own league, possibly with a push from the hoops side, but a football-only conference isn't allowed at this time.

(12-04-2012 06:40 AM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  UConn, Temple, and Cincinnati, unless they get a lifeline from the ACC, are now tied to the six new CUSA schools, and ECU, for football. They can either stay in the Big East or split to start their own league, possibly with a push from the hoops side, but a football-only conference isn't allowed at this time.

Those three schools could easily find a football only home in the MAC, CUSA, or SBC.

I am just saying that (1) dissolution is not going to happen. Big East football might be something of a punch line but the brand name for hoops is gold. and (2) that so long as they are a hybrid conference in marquee sports they will struggle.