The Pittsburgh Panthers and Syracuse Orange are tied to the Big East for 27 months (well, more like 26 by now) and were supposed to have to pay $5 million in exit fees in order to join the ACC. The West Virginia Mountaineers were looking at the same deal, now that they're on their way to the Big 12 at some point.
But according to Patrick Southern of BlueGoldNews.com, both Pitt and WVU could be looking to pay four times that in order to leave early. Southern reports a $21 million exit fee payment would allow the two schools to leave the Big East well before that 27-month period ends.
No word on if Cuse can expect the same deal, but that'd be pretty dumb if they couldn't, if this is all accurate.
If this is the Big East's plan, it could be one of the few smart moves they've made. They'd get to unload some schools that don't want to stay, add some that do, pick up some cash and completely re-brand during one offseason, instead of morphing over a quarter of a decade into something entirely different.
For more on the Mountaineers, visit West Virginia blog The Smoking Musket. And stay tuned here for more conference realignment news.
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