Big East CEOs OK commish to pursue expansion

[Section205]

Per Yahoo Sports...Not a novel written here.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-bigeastpresidents

WASHINGTON (AP)—The presidents and chancellors of the 14 remaining Big East members and TCU have authorized Commissioner John Marinatto to “aggressively pursue discussions” with certain schools interested in joining the league.
The league released a statement after Sunday’s meeting at Georgetown University in Washington. The meeting had been scheduled before Syracuse and Pittsburgh announced last month they will leave the conference to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The original purpose of the meeting was to discuss the conference’s upcoming television rights negotiations, but the defections forced expansion onto the agenda.
The Big East says the presidents also are “actively considering changes to the conference’s governing bylaws to further solidify the membership of the conference.”

 

[CTBballfan243]

So you're telling me that the conference Presidents, all highly educated people, voted to let a Dunce like Marinatto decide their athletic future. I find that hard to believe.

 

[Section205]

So you're telling me that the conference Presidents, all highly educated people, voted to let a Dunce like Marinatto decide their athletic future. I find that hard to believe.

Ummm....Yup.

http://hoopsblog.projo.com/2011/10/big-east-meets.html

Line 'em up!!!

 

[Adios]

So you're telling me that the conference Presidents, all highly educated people, voted to let a Dunce like Marinatto decide their athletic future. I find that hard to believe.

They haven't learned their lessons. Either way, I see UCF and Houston being added, at the very least.

 

[ctchamps]

It looks like ND didn't vote. It also appears that Herbst's proclamations did not impact the conference from going in a direction. No surprise here.

So they add some combination of ECU, UCF, Temple, and Houston for all sports, and some combo of Air Force, Army and Navy for football only. If they take all seven they have a 14/20 conference. More than likely they will go to a 10/18 conference or a 12/20 conference.

Marinatto will negotiate with universities. Big Deal. The presidents will decide who to take and when to take them. This isn't rocket science because the options are limited. I'm hoping someone is in contact with the media heads for input on how contracts would be considered with various teams. I can't imagine any contract would be better than currently exists. This is a sideways conference in football at best and a big drop in bb. This would be an ugly conference. The best hope is a couple of new teams become relevant in football, WVU improves, TCU stays relevant and one of the other remaining BE football teams improves significantly. This can work.

One thing I wouldn't do if some configuration like this takes place. I would not lock the conference into a long term contract. Let it prove itself and then go for a long term contract. The conference has to believe in itself and not settle if this is the pathway the BE teams follow.

With that said, I don't see this conference accomplishing the task of bringing in teams and stabilizing itself. Too many other players in a state of flux that will impact things before they get finalized.