big east

[kcbill]

is there still a chance the big east will split sooner rather than later? there are 5 bb schools and 5 football schools and notre dame.if the irish would side with the bb schools all would be well. we could have a new big east with two divisions that would resemble the much discussed papal conference.

[xu95]

The basketball schools don't want to split. They have been riding on the coattails of the football schools for years. The football schools have probably made 75% of that 40 mill sitting in the BE coffers right now.

xu95

[SLU8592]

The separation you note is exactly what I think people here anticipate at some point. As XU 95 notes, the BB schools may not be in a hurry to separate if it's the FB schools that are sharing the wealth. Problems will continue, though. If the BE needs 12 FB schools for a tournament and potential BCS bid, these additions would seem to necessitate divesting itself of the BB schools. Query who keeps the Big East name and auto bid? This question and more will cause future ugliness. Perhaps it's worth the money for Depaul and Marquette in the short term to jump to the Big East, but they may end up in the middle of the football/ basketball fight. No one knows what will happen, but there are sure to be more legal fees involved.

It would be nice to have Marquette and Depaul join SLU and Charlotte in a new A10 west division with Xavier and Dayton. Well, maybe Charlotte can be in the Eastern division.

[kwyjibo]

The conference play-off (ESPN/ABC payoff) and BCS money (Bowl/ABC money) are two different issues. BCS money would also be like 10 times as much (conference playoffs make money but not the gobs of money BCS doles out).