WVU BE settlement rumors starting to surface....

Really? That's just silly. Syracuse and Pitt have no problem with it. The legal minds in WV must be far superior to those in New York and Pennsylvania. If WVU is allowed to leave, its because the BE has no backbone or because it benefits the BE in some way. It is certainly not because WVU "should" be allowed to just up and walk out whenever they want.

As I've said before, WVU and UL fans continue to act like the Big East has never done a thing for them, when reality is both would be drowning in the same pool of piss Memphis is without the Big East.

If the rumored stipulation of the buyout that the B12 cannot take another BE team is true, that's actually a very good deal for the BE, if you want to see it survive. You let a team that's already going to leave go a couple of years early, get some extra money, and a signed deal saying you won't lose another team to them. More money and a bit more stability in exchange for two less years for WVU.

Another potential upside is if the Big 12 is shut off from BE teams, they may look toward those ACC teams mentioned as potential candidates, meaning the ACC would have open spots to fill, and we'd likely be one of the first schools they look at taking.

The downside I see of this is if SU and Pitt go for the same deal, the Big East of course would require the ACC to agree to the same no more taking Big East teams deal, which would be a major ro for us.

If you are Uconn's president (or RU's or Lville'sm etc), how do you let the BE put a clause like that into any settlement? Not one school would look to limit their options particularly if one the remaining big 4 moves to either the B1G or ACC (Uconn, RU, Lville and Cinci). You need the ability to move to the best available home as soon as you can and not be limited by some back ass stipulation just because the 'Eers want out early. And if you are the Big 12, no way you would sign that either because if TX bolts, you want to add someone fast and Lville seems to fit that slot real fast. That rumored stipulation is just internet BS.

Oh stop it. If it's that ridiculous, why did WVU and every other member agree not to leave without 27 months notice prior to the end of a conference year. You may ultimately be right, but we know you are an idiot.

You sign an agreement that I can use your brand for promotion of my product and will give me 27 months notice before you end the agreement, I expend funds to set up my business with use of your brand, we all agree that money damages wouldn't be enough that I can get an injuction to keep using your brand; and you don't think that is an agreement that the courts would support? Seems very similar to the BE agreement, not your girlfriend example.

I don't care if WV wins the BE next year (if Uconn doesn't), I don't care if WV bad mouths the BE, I don't care if WV refuses to play any of the scheduled games. All I want is the agreement to be enforced and the injunction/penalty/payments to be as agreed. WV, Pitt and Syracuse are important collegate sports brands and agreed to particpate in BE sports and have the BE benefit from the use of their brands (and their brands benefit from being in the BE).

Not sure if even an injuction can force WV to play sport in the BE (if WV can handle the daily fines), pretty sure it can preclude them from playing elsewhere for 27 months as no other league is going to want the legal costs of that.

it's not ridiculous to keep WVU here for a little while longer because if we let them leave we'll also have to let Pitt and Cuse leave, and we'd be setting precedent for when Louisville, Cinci, or even we want to leave. letting WVU walk easily will open a floodgates out of the conference and i don't think the Big East can handle that shock right now. the BE needs to keep things civil and orderly so they can transition in the new teams. personally i don't want to see WVU here past next year, and i think letting them settle that gets them out one year early will be the ultimate result

The whole thing will get real interesting soon. The big 12, by what I can find online, has contract stipulations with their broadcasting rights and revenue, such that the football schedule for fall needs to be out on February 1st. I don't know if they've worked to extend that or not, but it's more than safe to say, that the longer this mess drags out for the big 12, the more money they stand to lose.

At this point in time, there is no legal grounds I'm aware of that would allow the Big 12 to publish a schedule with West Virginia on it, without opening themselves to major, major litigation. Lawyers.....correct me if I'm wrong.

I've read rumors that the big 12 is pursuing other programs to join the conference for 2012, which isn't too far fetched given the circumstance they find theselves in and standing to be in breach of their media contracts due to having too few games to schedule. Allowing Missouri to leave so quickly without having WVU on board 100% was plain stupidity.

If those rumors are true, that they're pursuing other colleges, they'd be completely idiotic to go after another big east program, but that doesn't preclude the possibility, see previous paragraph about stupidity.

It' also the case as of 48 hours ago, that the exit fee from the big east is now $10million.

Now as for the big east, the big east has every legal right to publish schedules or fall sports schedules with West Virginia included, and I anticipate that the schedules will be out to public by the end of February, as normal, with WVU included, unless something drastic happens in the next few weeks.

THe only thing that can happen, is that WVU agrees to buy themselves out, and they very well might, because I don't see legally how an injunction in RI would ever be enforced in WV, and I think that the chances of a WV court ruling in favor of an injunction, even though a judge should rule in favor - is slim. JMO. Again...lawyers....correct me if I'm wrong.

IF , in the next few weeks, they manage to get the big east to agree to a buyout, the payoff is going to be unprecedented. I don't see how the big east would agree to allow WVU out, without a HUGE base settlement fee, and then withholding the B-Ball money and futures they are owed, and THEN....this is the kicker - tacking on the expenses that the Big East footbal programs will incur to fill the schedules with the hole that WVU would leave.

We're alking settlement fees here that could very well approach $40-$50 million on rough estimate.

What Luck and Neinas have done is so stupid, that it makes Flipper's foot in mouth act about ESPN and the ACC and Swofford look like grade school.

Our big east leadership is not dumb folks, they've just been misguided for a long while. We are on the right track now.

If the B12 invited WVU, UConn, Cincy, Rutgers and Ville would that solve the problem?

Would they invite UConn in that scenario or would they prefer USF?

I can't believe that this rumor regarding the Big East not allowing the Big XII to take more BE schools is part of a settlement between the BE and WVU. The league would be settling with a school, not another league so I don't see how WVU can be negotiating terms that directly affect a third party not named in the suit.

The BE can settle with a school and allow the school its independence, and that school could then go to another league on its own free will, but to tell another league how it can act when that other league is not even a party in this suit seems a little far-fetched. Perhaps if I'm mistaken someone like BL could correct me, but I don't really see how that term could be included in a settlement between a league and a school.

Please folks. Stop it w/ this crap. The big 12 is up sh*ts creek, and WVU is holdingthe paddle. They are going to try anything to give the appearance of a viable, stable confernce. They are NOT.

I know that the ESPN empire has done nothing to talk about what has happened this week with Big East football, but the fact that the Naval Academy just gave up independence to join the Big East for football, is GINORMOUS.

THe exit fee from the big east now for any football program is $10mill. The league stands to have a full slate of membership of 12 teams, with legal rigth to WVU's scheduling through 2013, with two divisions east/west and a championship game in New York City.

If WVU manages to buy out, it will put multiple millions of dollars into the big east programs pockets, and there will be room to fill on the schedule for a year.

THe league on Tue, made it clear that expansion is not over.

Big East football programs are going nowhere anymore, and the big east is going to get stronger than ever, and that conference that Notre Dame would/will eventually end up in? Just became much more likely to be the Big East. ESPN isn't going to want anyone to grasp that.

I don't know how else to say it. The leadership at the Naval Academy is not going to agree to join a conference - ANY conference, unless they have done their homework, and done it well. The Naval Academy and the big east have been looking at joining for longer than UConn has been playing 1-A football.

The concept that Navy would eventually join a conference for football is not new, they've been looking at it for a long time. The fact they chose the big east for their football home speaks volumes - the most important is that theyv'e got confidence that the leadership will put top value on football, and if the Naval Academy think the big east finally gets the importance of football - thn you know what ...

EVERYBODY knows that the big east FINALLY gets the importance of football. We've got some of the best leadership inthe country in this athletic conference, and they're finally in line where tey need to be with priorities. We're goign to be just fine mving forward.

WVU, Cuse and Pitt made their beds. They're not going to want to lay there when this is all done, but you live with what you do.

They are simple questions Carl. If the B12 can legally collapse the Big East then they may need to. If they can't, then it isn't an option. I am not being irrational or dramatic, just simply asking if it would do the trick. Do you know?

I personally don't want to go to the B12 and I am quietly optimistic about the NBE. However, if the B12 is desperate for a solution and the above is a solution, you can't rule it out.

Chuck Neinas isn't just upset with the BE! He's now venting publicly about his disdain for Missouri...and how THEY caused this mess!! Too funny! Sounds to be a bit desperate, if you ask me.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/34582716

Do you seriously think that Notre Dame would allow the collapse of the Big East conference by the Big 12 conference leadership? Or that the leadership at the U.S. Naval Academy would at this point in time? THat they're capable of finding a way to engineer the desturction of the big east? Not happening, especially not, if the opinions I've gotten from trusted people regarding the strength of the legal actions that have been taken on the part of WVU,and how the exit of Missouri and A&M were handled are any indication of what the Big 12 is capable of doing.

Look, here's my opinion, the only people out there that are/were legitimately capable of the destruction of the big east are,in no particular order - Delany, the people out on the west coast, and our leadership right there in Providence, and it could have easily been done in September 2011.

Hell, we wanted out. I've advocated for a split from the big east of football schools for at least 10 years, based on the single fact that the priorities were out of whack in Providence. If the priorities were to change, I'd be all for remaining in the hybrid big east. I believe, whole heartedly that they have, and I have no doubt the Big East is going to thrive now.

Don't you think that if Swofford, or the SEC or the Big 12 were capable they would have done it by now? The big east was never weaker than where it was in 2003, and they couldn't do it then, and the couldn't do it now.

Delaney anbd the big 10, and the guys out west? More than capable of it, but what the hell interest do they have in that? None.

Well, 1994 and 2003, toss up between which year was closer to the breakup of the big east along football/basketball lines.

I'll bite.

As unprepared as Britain and France may have seemed at the time ... the Germans left the Siegfried line pretty thin while pummelling Poland. The time to strike was early, fast, and hard ... the best opportunity they would have for 6 years if they could have comprehended the need for speedy decisions.