Interesting Article on Big East Expansion

[BullFan98]

The article written by the Orlando Sentinel is obviously highly skewed toward UCF, but nontheless makes some very compelling arguments. 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-bianchi-ucf-big-east-villanova-20110412,0,3821874.column

[cygnus34]

Big East dealing with growing pains

Villanova’s balk doesn’t scuttle expansion plans

By Mark Blaudschun Globe Staff / April 13, 2011

If there is a master plan, it is still a few months away from having a final structure.  With the announcement Monday that Villanova’s plan to elevate its football program from the FCS level (formerly Division 1-AA) to the FBS level (formerly 1-A) will be put on hold, at least temporarily, the Big East, according to several league sources, will now focus on its next plan for increasing its football segment. It could grow to 10 or perhaps 12 teams, although that may happen only if Villanova comes back into the picture.

“We are looking at all our options,’’ said Big East commissioner John Marinatto, who made the first move last fall when TCU was added as the ninth school in football and the 17th in basketball, effective in 2012. “But it’s a very complicated process and it is going to take time.’’

In response to Villanova’s tabling of its vote on whether to move up, Marinatto issued a statement that allowed some wiggle room for both sides.

“We will continue with our due diligence process and work with Villanova to continue to share relevant information and materials,’’ said Marinatto. “The Big East Conference obviously very much values its longstanding relationship with Villanova and we are committed to continuing to work with them on this matter in an open and forthright manner. Until there is additional information to report, the conference plans no further comment.’’

A key factor is the television money in the new batch of contracts. The Big East is a distant sixth among the BCS conferences. The list is topped by the Big Ten’s deal for approximately $220 million per year, while the Southeastern Conference is just off that pace at $205 million. The Atlantic Coast Conference just signed a new deal that more than doubled its TV revenue, from $67 million to $155 million.

The Big East’s current deal, which extends through the 2013 season, pays approximately $33.3 million per year. Big East officials have been told by the television people — primarily ESPN — that the offer will increase, but how much could very well depend on who joins.

The Big East would like to get into the same neighborhood as the ACC. The question is how to get that done.

Getting to 10 teams by adding Central Florida would be a logical choice because it adds the Orlando television market and a Florida recruiting base. Although no one at UCF will talk officially about moving from Conference USA to the Big East, school officials are clearly ready to take the next step to a BCS conference.

But to go beyond 10?

Houston remains a possibility. Adding the Houston, Dallas, and Orlando markets would vastly increase the Big East television footprint. Memphis? East Carolina?

And how does Big East basketball absorb new schools? The answer is that it doesn’t.

Expansion would probably force the seven non-football basketball members of the Big East — DePaul, Marquette, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Villanova, Providence, and St. John’s — to consider breaking off into their own conference. According to sources within the conference, however, that would be a last resort.

The optimum move would be to level off at 18 schools in two divisions in basketball and 10 in football. One proposal that will get serious consideration will be to limit the invitations to the Big East basketball tournament in New York to 12 teams.

All such details have not even been discussed on a leaguewide basis yet. If the assumption is that Villanova does not make the leap to FBS, the Big East still needs a 10th team. And that becomes the main topic of discussion among the Big East presidents, with the hope of coming to a resolution within two to three months.

Central Florida, whose main opposition to a move is coming from South Florida, which does not want a Big East infringement on its Florida base, remains the most viable and logical choice. If things go smoothly, an announcement could come in July that UCF is joining TCU in the Big East for the 2012 football season.

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.

http://www.boston.com/sports/c..._growing_pains/

[Triple B]

Central Florida, whose main opposition to a move is coming from South Florida,

Not a shred of evidence anywhere but let's throw out a definitive statement like that.  :

[Guest nybullsfan]

The article written by the Orlando Sentinel is obviously highly skewed toward UCF, but nontheless makes some very compelling arguments. 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-bianchi-ucf-big-east-villanova-20110412,0,3821874.column

That article written by the Orlando Sentinel is a friggin joke (quoted below)

UCF needs the BE more than the BE needs UCF. UCF brings nothing to the BE it doesn't already have.

Adding another team for the sake of adding a team is stoopid. If the team isn't accretive to overall revenues, it won't get added.

If the Big East were serious about football, UCF would already be invited

UCF athletic director Keith Tribble, left, congratulating football coach George O'Leary after a victory in 2010, says the program is 'sitting on the sideline trying to monitor the situation.' ( Brett Davis/For the Sentinel / April 12, 2011)

Mike Bianchi

 

SPORTS COMMENTARY

6:02 p.m. EDT, April 12, 2011

os-bianchi-ucf-big-east-villanova-20110412

Still, UCF waits.

And waits …

And waits …

"We're sitting on the sideline trying to monitor the situation," UCF Athletic Director Keith Tribble says of the slow-moving Big East potentially inviting the Knights to become a member.

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VIDEO: UConn's Kemba Walker announce he will enter the NBA draft

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But the more this situation drags on, the more you wonder if the Big East is really just a big mess. Is this a league that truly wants to be great in football or is it a league that is trying to appease its traditional basketball power structure?

A few months ago, the Big East went halfway toward being taken seriously in football when it invited TCU to become a member. But if the Big East truly wanted to show it means business, it would have already finished the job and invited UCF to go along with TCU. Instead, the league is still contemplating this ridiculous notion of coaxing Villanova into making the monumental leap from Division I-AA to big-boy football.

Villanova, already a Big East basketball member, was supposed to announce its intentions earlier this week to upgrade and become a Big East football member in football, too. However, the decision was delayed because reportedly the serious football-playing schools in the league are essentially saying to Big East Commissioner John Marinatto: "VILLANOVA? ARE YOU KIDDING?"

And for good reason.

Villanova is a little private school that has no business playing big-time football. The Wildcats average about 8,000 fans per game at their teensy-weensy 12,500-seat, Division I-AA stadium. That stadium does not even meet the NCAA's minimum requirement (an average of at least 15,000 fans per game in actual attendance) for becoming a football bowl subdivision (big boy) program.

Do you know what Villanova's alternative stadium plan is?

Are you ready for this?

The Wildcats' plan is to play in an 18,500-seat soccer stadium in Chester, Pa. — nearly 20 miles from their campus. Ah, nothing says big-time college football like playing games in front of 5,000 fans in a soccer stadium.

Can you believe it? The Big East was actually going to sign off on this lunacy until presidents from football schools like Pitt and West Virginia reportedly started squawking about the embarrassment this would cause the league. Seriously, do you really think ESPN or some other network is going to ante up with a lucrative TV contract to televise games in a high school stadium?

It makes you wonder just who is calling the shots in the Big East — the roundball royalty who could give a flying flip about the league's football fortunes or the pigskin proletariat who are finally rising up in order to save the league's sinking reputation as a legitimate football conference.

Thankfully, it appears the football schools are gaining a toehold. They have let it be known that the idea of expansion is to enhance the league's football image. Adding Villanova only detracts from it.

Now it's time for the league's football advocates to take the next step and invite UCF — a Top 25 football program that has enormous resources and potential.

Even the brainless should be able to see that adding UCF to your league is a no-brainer. You're talking about the second-largest university in the nation; a university smack dab in the middle of a college football state and recruiting hotbed; a university in a top 20 TV market; a university that already has a built-in rivalry with Big East foe USF, which is located in a nearby but separate top 20 TV market; a university that has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in not only building an up-and-coming football program but in building a big-time athletic program.

UCF has a new on-campus football stadium that seats 45,000 and can easily be expanded to 60,000. It has the new Nicholson Indoor Practice Facility. It has a new basketball arena. It is the only school in the country to have its football, basketball, baseball, women's soccer, men's soccer and women's indoor track programs ranked at some point this season.

Yet the Big East is actually still considering Villanova, a tiny, financially-strapped private school in the middle of suburban Philadelphia — a pro sports town where college football gets about as much exposure as the WNBA draft.

And, so, the waiting game continues.

The UCF Knights wait for a potential invitation to a BCS conference.

The rest of us wait for the Big East to show it is truly serious about football.

mbianchi@tribune.com

[smazza]

villanova and orlando school are both terrible fits for big east

i would take  houston

or utep to give tcu a  close rival

[South_Florida_Flip]

villanova and orlando school are both terrible fits for big east

i would take  houston

or utep to give tcu a  close rival

UTEP would not be a close rival for TCU.

Houston would make the most sense.

[Guest nybullsfan]

SMU is a stronger rival for TCU than Houston is, but I have no idea how their non-football sports rank.

[South_Florida_Flip]

SMU is a stronger rival for TCU than Houston is, but I have no idea how their non-football sports rank.

Houston market is what they would be going after.

[Jihme]

add Kansas, Kansas State, and Mizzou., and drop depaul/marquette/other.

leave Nova alone.

done.

[South_Florida_Flip]

add Kansas, Kansas State, and Mizzou., and drop depaul/marquette/other.

leave Nova alone.

done.

With that deal that the Big 12 just signed with FOX yesterday, you can forget getting KU/KSU/MIZZOU