Everyone who is curious needs to be a bit curious as to why a group of schools would vote to disband and announce that they will announce how they will depart in a week.
If they could dissolve the conference they would have done so a couple of days ago. They want to leave and take everything with them but as they cannot (without the cooperation of a couple of those they would be taking from) they need to make it sound as if they have the ability to do something they really cannot do (leave in any fashion other than departing the BE en masse, leaving the spoils to the three remaining football members) in order to barter a better means of departing.
The problem I see is that the dissolving group does not need the cooperation of the the three football schools in any of the by laws. Thamel and Zagoria suggests otherwise, but there is nothing in the by laws to support their contention. So is there something we are not privy to that Thamel and Zagoria know. Or is this just another example of journalists who are not checking facts.
Assuming they are wrong, the optimist in me thinks the delay is just because someone whispered in the groups ears that they better seek counsel before taking the plunge to make sure they understand things and there is nothing nebulous to allow the three in the minority to have the ability to make claims. If that's the case the best the three football schools can hope for is a ten way split of past revenues and exit fees. The delay helps and hurts UConn. The longer the delay the better the odds there will be more CR and UConn lands in a power conference. On the other hand none of the three football schools can take steps to form their own conference until the Catholics finalize things less they forfeit the monies. The pessimist in me says the Catholics could be stalling with the hopes the three football schools feel forced to leave and allow for a seven way split of the monies. In other words the declaration puts a scare into the yet to join universities and UConn, Cinci and USF will be forced to act to create a conference before the Catholics officially announce the departure. That of course would result in a lawsuits, but the whisperers are probably lawyers.
My feeling is the three remaining football schools will have to decide the importance of those monies in the BE coffers. I don't have specific numbers other than the Thamel article but it sounds like each schools share can be $13 million. That's not huge, but not chump change either.
This is not an easy decision for UConn, Cincy, USF or any of the approached football schools. It also explains why Aresco hasn't sounded the death knell of the conference because he is aware of the ramifications for the various parties.