How Ditching Football Saved Big East Basketball (WSJ)

[Drew]

How Ditching Football Saved Big East Basketball

"Maybe so, but those consortiums are also cash cows, powered by gargantuan football revenues. The Big East is gambling that its hoops successes will pay dividends outstripping the football revenues the schools left behind.

“Frankly, because we don’t have football and all that brings in terms of distractions and the resources that go into it, we can focus on basketball,” said Val Ackerman, the Big East commissioner.

For now, the schools say they don’t feel they are at a disadvantage. Even though the big football schools have fatter athletic budgets, said Creighton head coach Greg McDermott, those schools tend to spend most of their football revenue on football."

 

[shizzle787]

How Ditching Football Saved Big East Basketball

"Maybe so, but those consortiums are also cash cows, powered by gargantuan football revenues. The Big East is gambling that its hoops successes will pay dividends outstripping the football revenues the schools left behind.

“Frankly, because we don’t have football and all that brings in terms of distractions and the resources that go into it, we can focus on basketball,” said Val Ackerman, the Big East commissioner.

For now, the schools say they don’t feel they are at a disadvantage. Even though the big football schools have fatter athletic budgets, said Creighton head coach Greg McDermott, those schools tend to spend most of their football revenue on football."

Regardless, we can't ditch or even downgrade football. The only way we can go to the NBE is if we stay AAC for football. It's plausible, but we may be forced into staying in the AAC until the Big 12 thing shakes out.