The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Per Brett McMurphy ‏@McMurphyESPN
...Big East 7 basketball schools met Sunday in New York; considering splitting from football schools, sources told @espn

...If Big East gets $80M TV deal, hoop schools would get less $ than currently do

...Source told @ESPNAndyKatz MSG may get out of Big East tourney deal if league continues changing membership

...Big East source: "Basketball schools not thrilled w/Tulane & what they will do to lRPI. They would have fallen off ledge if we added ECU"

CBS Article: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...-breakaway

Gee, who could have seen this coming?

OH NO!!! The BOug east is sooomuch better!!! Bawhahahahahah poo pn you bigleast, POO ON YOU!

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/...ic-schools

If they don't vote to dissolve the BE and pull out, then the basketball-only teams will find it much tougher to get at-large bids. Aresco might try to appease the basketball-only schools by letting them play each other and maybe Cincinnati or Memphis home and home so they can boost their RPIs and only have them face UCF, Tulane, SMU, and Houston once per year.

Still, if I were the basketball only schools and had the power to do so, I would dissolve and add some programs like Butler, Xavier, etc. and build a powerhouse basketball league that would fetch a decent TV deal in and of itself.

RLMAO. Agree Band Dad. How long have we been saying this?

Well, if this happens and the "band gets back together," we better not hope we (and Southern Miss) aren't left out.

Who didnt see this one coming?

Would love to see this happen, but if money is the driving force, which it has been at every step, then they won't break off. While they may make less than they get now in the new Big East, it is still going to be more than a basketball only conference will get from TV

I don't know about basketball but I think all this conference/TV/realignment BS is eventually gonna collapse under its own weight. Like another thread talked about, fb ticket prices are stupid and while advertising is driven the TV contracts, people can't just keep paying more and more for something that is a entertainment expense. And then when my favorite team is playing all their "conference games" in Timbuktu and Moscow, maybe I'll just find something better to do with my time than watch.

Big East Basketball schools believe their brand of Basketball is being deluded by the admission of C-USA basketball teams.
Now you know that is very funny and you would not believe it if it was made up.
The Big East Basketball schools see money = Basketball and the Big East Football playing schools see money= Football.
The truth is money = Football and Basketball, if you can put a decent product on the floor like the Big East had when it was considered a super conference, featuring both good basketball and football money followed, but when the product was watered down in both sports, it becomes a buyers market, where the market dictates the value of the product.
Memphis, UCF, SMU, Tulane and Houstons value did not change by going to the Big East, the move devalued the ( existing big east product ) by adding what the buyers perceived ( C-USA ) as being inferior products when compared to what once was the Big East. So the Buyer, pay what the market allows, and that is comparing apples in the Big East to Apples in C-USA,

This is a power play by the Big East basketball schools. They are aiming for an increased share of the pie or they will force the addition of quality basketball teams. They cannot break off because they will not get an auto-bid for x number of years. It is one of the reasons why the MWC and CUSA merger never happened (in addition to losing a bid).

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketba...basketball

(12-11-2012 09:37 AM)Uncle BLAZER Wrote:  I don't know about basketball but I think all this conference/TV/realignment BS is eventually gonna collapse under its own weight. Like another thread talked about, fb ticket prices are stupid and while advertising is driven the TV contracts, people can't just keep paying more and more for something that is a entertainment expense. And then when my favorite team is playing all their "conference games" in Timbuktu and Moscow, maybe I'll just find something better to do with my time than watch.

While it is true that the ticket costs (tix + premium plan) are rising, it is important that one remembers that a school is only trying to sell about 100,000 tickets (or less) for each game in a "season ticket" package. The pacesetters (Bama, ND, AU, FL, TX, TX A&M, OK, USC, OKSU, etc.) in this business have the financial backing to do that every year. These fans have the means to go wherever the team goes to play. This is not true of about 75% of all D1 programs, but they are not the ones "driving the bus".

(12-11-2012 12:31 PM)uab278 Wrote:  This is a power play by the Big East basketball schools. They are aiming for an increased share of the pie or they will force the addition of quality basketball teams. They cannot break off because they will not get an auto-bid for x number of years. It is one of the reasons why the MWC and CUSA merger never happened (in addition to losing a bid).

The auto-bid might be moot, and we'll see the formation of the first mega-conference... The Atlantic 20. A 20 team conference that is the 14 schools of the A-10 and the 6 schools of the Big East. The Big East votes to dissolve along the party line, NCAA credits default to the teams, and you see 4 divisions of 5 with 16 division games (4 home/home = 8, 1 permanent cross rival home/home = 2, 3 home rotating 3 away rotating).

You could also see the 6 Big East schools take basketball-first schools like UConn, Cinci, Memphis, and Temple + some of the A-10 schools to form an Olympic sports conference and their football forms some sort of Northeast regional conference.
UConn - UMass - Temple- Cinci - Memphis - Navy? - Charlotte? - ODU?

BE Football Schedule by Mileage
http://www.sbnation.com/2012/12/11/37550...l-schedule

A-10 considering plan to add Big East basketball only schools.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketba...nce-source

Quote:The A-10 would sell to the seven Catholic schools that it could join a stable conference with like-minded institutions from Xavier, Dayton, Saint Louis and Richmond as well as powers VCU and Butler in major media markets on the East Coast, industrial Midwest and the heartland.

The source said the seven Catholic schools don't have to rush into a decision due to the legal mess of trying to leave. The source said the A-10 "is in a position of strength with the current 14 and would absolutely be open to going to 21."

Here are some answers to some of your questions about the Big East
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...-questions

"And what about fans of Houston, SMU, Memphis and UCF? They waited so long to become a part of a power-conference, and now this power-conference is diminished and on the verge of collapsing before they even arrive. What should those fans do?

Cross their fingers.

Hope.

Maybe even pray.

Because a split would be devastating for them. "

(12-11-2012 03:11 PM)blazerjay Wrote:  A-10 considering plan to add Big East basketball only schools.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketba...nce-source

Quote:The A-10 would sell to the seven Catholic schools that it could join a stable conference with like-minded institutions from Xavier, Dayton, Saint Louis and Richmond as well as powers VCU and Butler in major media markets on the East Coast, industrial Midwest and the heartland.

The source said the seven Catholic schools don't have to rush into a decision due to the legal mess of trying to leave. The source said the A-10 "is in a position of strength with the current 14 and would absolutely be open to going to 21."

I'm envious! Without football, UAB could have been part of this.