In what may be seen as a last-ditch effort to salvage its longterm viability as a BCS conference, the Big East's chancellors and presidents decided against dramatically raising the exit fee at the league's Oct. 2 meeting, according to documents obtained by CBSSports.com. The proposal would have made leaving the conference considerably more expensive, raising the fee to an estimated $17 million to $20 million. The exit fee for the league is currently $5 million with 27 months of notice.
By deciding against the increased fee, many university leaders seem to be keeping the door open for their own departure from the league that has lost Syracuse and Pittsburgh. Shortly after the meeting, the league also learned that TCU would be joining the Big 12 instead of the Big East.
In an email to the university leaders, obtained by CBSSports.com, Big East commissioner John Marinatto made this pitch:
"The most important issue for us to focus on, however, is the future of the Conference and specifically how we can stabilize our situation in order to convey a level of comfort and security to any potential new members and provide them some assurances about their future with us."
For more on the travails of the Big East, be sure to check out Big East Coast Bias.
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It is over...
The BE has proven over the last week- actually , over the last year , that they are completely ineffective. I think the BE is really on its death bed. The lack of committment from the current BE gang is a clear sign that they all want out. Now, they are putting their hopes on lawsuits? Who would go into this league?
I hope UCF, Houston, SMU, Temple, AF, etc. don’t come to the BE. They are probably now starting to see the danger in leaving, not to mention b/c of CUSA rules, they couldn’t join until 2014 – after the AQ is done. No coincidence that MWC and CUSA are aggressively meeting in TX today to get something done. Let the BE fail, then the MWC (that already has Boise and AF) unite with CUSA (UCF, Houston, SMU, ECU) – who should invite Temple and maybe USF- fight like hell for the BCS AQ. I believe UL and WVU will get offers, so will UCONN and Rutgers. The BE is done…
by okdude on Oct 12, 2011 4:53 PM EDT reply actions
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