What happens now?

[NovaBall]

If UConn wants to affiliate with us with football in the MAC, so be it. I would welcome them back, even if they had eyes on greener pastures. We have already shown that we are quality without UConn. Adding them for what might be 5 years, or might be 15 years, or might be 30 years, would be fine with me.

Although I do agree that UConn needs the Big East much more than the Big East needs UConn. We are in a good spot with or without UConn. UConn is in a terrible spot. No geographic rivalries and such a poor conference, both athletically and academically.

[NJRedman]

If UConn wants to affiliate with us with football in the MAC, so be it. I would welcome them back, even if they had eyes on greener pastures. We have already shown that we are quality without UConn. Adding them for what might be 5 years, or might be 15 years, or might be 30 years, would be fine with me.

Although I do agree that UConn needs the Big East much more than the Big East needs UConn. We are in a good spot with or without UConn. UConn is in a terrible spot. No geographic rivalries and such a poor conference, both athletically and academically.

I don't think the MAC wants partial members anymore. They gave UMass an ultimatum of all in or all out, I don't see them changing that quite so soon after.

[NovaBall]

UConn is a much bigger national brand than say Temple or UMass. Even for football. They may relax that requirement if it meant UConn would give them 5 basketball games per year.

[NJRedman]

UConn is a much bigger national brand than say Temple or UMass. Even for football. They may relax that requirement if it meant UConn would give them 5 basketball games per year.

Thats possible but it's also just as likely if not more so that they stand by the all in or all out policy.

[Xudash]

UConn is a much bigger national brand than say Temple or UMass. Even for football. They may relax that requirement if it meant UConn would give them 5 basketball games per year.

The inverted Notre Dame of the MAC.

[admin]

This is probably the best possible result for the Big East.

How so? I just don't see how it affected the Big East one way or the other.

I will start by saying that I do not think the Big East is currently entertaining the idea of expansion nor do I believe any schools are looking elsewhere. Therefore, I am of the belief that the only thing possibly having a negative impact on the Big East is the unlikely pursuit of a 4x16 model. Namely, how that would impact college basketball and the NCAA tournament. This decision to allow 10 team leagues to have a conference championship game eliminates the one factor that I think may have eventually given rise to such a model.

[GoldenWarrior11]

The music stops playing.

[Xudash]

This is probably the best possible result for the Big East.

How so? I just don't see how it affected the Big East one way or the other.

I will start by saying that I do not think the Big East is currently entertaining the idea of expansion nor do I believe any schools are looking elsewhere. Therefore, I am of the belief that the only thing possibly having a negative impact on the Big East is the unlikely pursuit of a 4x16 model. Namely, how that would impact college basketball and the NCAA tournament. This decision to allow 10 team leagues to have a conference championship game eliminates the one factor that I think may have eventually given rise to such a model.

+1

And the musical chairs probably have stopped for a while, with UCONN and UC, in particular, coming in as the biggest losers.

The P5 have their playoff structure in place now, and it appears to be working. Given what it takes to make it into the top 4, every week is key in a program's schedule, which makes each week of college football at that level interesting, as most every weekend has a few key match-ups worth watching. The the conference championship games that do take place add to the stress and fun just prior to the final 4 being settled.

What happens now? The Big East moves forward as structured and very comfortable in its own skin.

The P5 "as-is" having already shrugged their collective shoulders over the recent announcement, move forward as they have been moving forward, and I absolutely believe you're correct that decisions are now more than ever being made based firstly on what is good for any of those particular conferences.

The AAC? Perhaps nothing more than a marriage of convenience with certain programs that will try to do the best they can with the limited dollars they receive relative to the P5.

[gosports1]

Nebraska just spent about $20 million to move to the Big 10, and after four years are on the verge of getting their full cut of the take - about $25millions per year. Yeah, there likely to go back to the dumpster fire Big 12 with Texasss and its minions Why would Rutgers or Maryland leave the Big Ten to join those teams? That isn't remotely logical.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ is why. that why i asked how much would it cost. Maybe Nebraska grows tired of playing Minnesota, Maryland and Rutgers. The dumpster fire that is the B12 is doing ok for itself in both major sports

[xusandy]

The 4x16 model looks unlikely now, and there are multiple (insurmountable?) schedule balancing and rivalry building issues in lots of sports (football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, etc.) with any number of schools over about 12 (and 10 probably works best.) I think that perpetual bottom dwellers in both major sports in a 14+ team conference are going to start losing fans and any semblance of national relevance. (Are you listening BC and Virginia Tech and Rutgers and Mizzou and Northwestern -- what if all the $$ you're spending just to stay perpetually in the middle of the pack in a big conference don't work??)

So maybe, just maybe, we're now going to see a couple of members of the ACC or Big 10 or SEC exit their current homes (involuntarily perhaps, but voluntarily if the $$S make sense (though it's hard to believe any of the Big 10 schools would find more $$S elsewhere.) How about this scenario: FOX, desperate for big time sports programming, pays an arm and a leg to get Cincy, UConn, 2-3 Big Ten Schools, 2-3 ACC schools, and a couple of others (Houston, Memphis, an SEC school?) to band together in a new power conference, and we wind up right back where we were before re-alignment mania started, with 6 football-driven "power" conferences -- except of course that we would also then have a true non-football power conference in the BEAST? That end result would probably be better for the schools/conferences than the current framework, and maybe no worse for the media, than what we have now.

So how likely is this scenario? Probably not very likely, but the media drives the bus with their $$S, and they are notoriously fickle in their strategies, and anyway it's a hoot to think about this rather logical end result after all the angst that re-alignment to date has created.