Providence article on conference changes....

[gister]

I tried to post this earlier, but it did not go through. I found this on the cusa-talk board. I don't know the source or have a link, but it may have been written a few days ago. It is interesting in that it discusses some of the many issues facing the Big East and SLU and many other schools involved.

BY KEVIN McNAMARA

Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE -- A few weeks after suffering the worst defeat in conference history, the powers within the Big East are preparing for what could be a similar showdown.

After a tumultuous experience that ended with Miami and Virginia Tech leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big East is in the process of regrouping and planning its future. Only a month ago, members seemed willing to embrace a confederation-style setup with the football and basketball schools each adding a few new members and going forward with as many as 16 schools. But in meetings last week in New Jersey, the presidents and athletic directors of the six remaining football members reportedly came to an agreement that separating from the basketball-only schools would be their best course of action.

But various sources involved in the conference told The Journal this week that the move isn't as simple as it sounds. A tangled web of discussions focused on contracts, tens of millions of dollars, loyalty and, yes, more lawsuits, are only now beginning. While the six football schools may want an easy split, that does not appear possible.

"We have three constituencies," said commissioner Mike Tranghese. "The football schools, the basketball schools and Notre Dame. Whether they act individually or collectively is obviously a very big question. We are nowhere near an answer on that right now."

Here are some key points:

If either faction wants to split from the other, a vote must be taken. The football schools outnumber the basketball schools, 6-5. Notre Dame sits as the critical swing vote and is the key to deciding the majority.

If Notre Dame sides with the basketball schools, all of whom share a Catholic school backround, the vote stands at 6-6. If the football schools choose to leave without a majority, the six each must pay a $1 million exit fee to the conference and also forfeit the units they've built up through the NCAA basketball tournament. (A team earns a unit for making the tournament field and for any victory up to the Final Four. For example, if PC makes the tourney and wins one game, it is worth two units for the Big East. All conference teams then share these units.) The Big East currently owns 74 units that are worth approximately $40 million. Those stakes are likely too high, so if the Irish side with the basketball schools, the conference would instead explore ways to remain together.

The football schools clearly are hoping Notre Dame sides with them, a move that would allow the Irish to play all sports but keep its independent status in football. If the vote is 7-5 for a split (or if ND chooses to abstain), the football schools would retain their basketball units and the conference's automatic bids into various NCAA tournaments. They'd also lay claim to the Big East name, although the status of that trademark could end up in court.

If the basketball schools are outvoted, the damage is severe. Under NCAA rules, the five schools would lose their automatic bids to national tournaments no matter which schools they choose to partner with. The group would also face greatly reduced marketability and TV deals. Those three factors could hinder any plans to add high-profile new partners such as Marquette, Xavier, Dayton and DePaul.

While reports have swirled for months that some Atlantic 10 schools would be cherry-picked by the Big East, the A-10 has other ideas. Sources said that conference would entertain the option of adding some (or all) of the five Big East basketball schools, as well as C-USA schools such as Marquette, Charlotte and DePaul.

The time frame for any Big East decisions remains vague. A meeting of the presidents and athletic directors of 12 Big East schools (Miami and Virginia Tech won't attend) is being planned for August. Tranghese announced last week that there will be no membership changes until 2005-06, meaning Big East basketball will play with 14 teams this season and 12 in 2004-05.

"The ACC's timing in waiting until the last possible moment to expand and take two of our schools restricts us in replacing Miami and Virginia Tech without causing total disarray in college athletics," said Tranghese.

Notre Dame has not let on which way it would lean if a need for a vote arises. As one conference insider said, "We're not sure Notre Dame knows how important it is in all this." The Irish may not want to play in a conference with only the basketball schools, but a vote on their side could be a move simply to keep the conference's present membership together. ND is the dominant Big East school in "minor" sports such as soccer, baseball, swimming and golf, and had 12 of its teams nationally ranked last year. The football schools have deeper pockets to fund minor sports, although most of those schools have enjoyed only spotty Olympic sports success over the last 10 years. Most of the basketball schools offer programs that aren't funded as well as those at the football schools, but they do enjoy some success, such as PC's nationally known cross-country teams and St. John's soccer.

A potential split between the football and basketball factions has been discussed for several years, but the groups always came to see the value of remaining together. That remains the focus of the basketball schools, which are quickly realizing the negatives associated with a split. Ironically, when it appeared that the Big East might lose three schools (Miami, BC, Syracuse) to the ACC, the basketball schools held the voting edge in any split but never threatened to leave. But because the ACC only grabbed two new members, the football schools now have the advantage.

"Until the presidents of all 12 schools get together and discuss all the issues, no conclusions can be made," said PC athletic director Bob Driscoll. "I really don't believe we'll get to (a split)."

Any thought that the basketball schools would be better off without the football schools needs a full understanding of the consequences. For one, the group's TV dollars would nose-dive. The Big East just ended a contract with ESPN worth $10 million per year. A group with a core of St. John's, Georgetown and Villanova offers top markets but not nearly the depth of the current Big East, and might merit a deal more in line with the Atlantic 10. The A-10's ESPN deal offers a fraction of the appearances the Big East enjoys and less than $2 million annually.

The lack of an automatic berth into the NCAA's would hurt as well. If the group hopes to entice the likes of Marquette, DePaul, Xavier and Dayton, it could be hindered by the lack of an automatic berth, an unknown TV contract and the loss of representation on powerful NCAA committees.

"It's very hard to start a new conference from scratch, especially without football," said one conference source. "There are a lot of hurdles that might not be appealing to people."

The football schools need to add two new members by 2005 and may even choose to add four to play out of a 10-team configuration. That would mean a 16-team conference, including the basketball schools and Notre Dame, if no split occurs. The new football candidates include top choices Louisville and Cincinnati, with South Florida, Central Florida, Memphis, Marshall and East Carolina also on the radar screen.

If Louisville and Cincinnati leave Conference USA, its basketball-only members (Marquette, DePaul, Charlotte, St. Louis) would certainly be looking for safer ground. But at this time in college athletics in the East, it appears that safe ground is in short supply.

[gister]

Here is the link:

http://www.projo.com/college/content/projo...plit.20f85.html

[Basketbill]

IT appears to me that much of the jockeying regarding timing of additions of teams,exit fees, entrance fees and the number of continuous teams needed to maintain BCS and automatic tourney berths will determine the timeline.

I think in the end (i hope) CUSA and the Big east with work out a timeline in which the football big east expands enough to keep their BCS conference spot, and CUSA admits enough teams to remain with 8 continuous members (the actual name of this conference though may be Big East USA)

I think the A10 will stay intact.