Add Gonzaga and St Mary's

[DudeAnon]

Obviously, Olympic sports are an issue, just do some dumb loophole to add them as basketball only and dare the NCAA to say no. Big East is the best conference for basketball first programs. We should add 2 of the best basketball only programs out there.

[billyjack]

Obviously, Olympic sports are an issue, just do some dumb loophole to add them as basketball only and dare the NCAA to say no. Big East is the best conference for basketball first programs. We should add 2 of the best basketball only programs out there.

Make it Gonzaga and San Francisco and i'm in... minutes from Golden State's arena.

Overlooked issue is longtime Big East veteran and friend Stu Jackson is commissioner of the WCC.

[redmen9194]

I'm a no on any expansion. There really is no need for it and after Gonzaga there is no one out there worth a look. Neither St. Mary's nor San Fran moves the needle in any way. I think we should stay at 11. It's tight, compact and full of talent and rivalries.

[MUBoxer]

I'm a no on any expansion. There really is no need for it and after Gonzaga there is no one out there worth a look. Neither St. Mary's nor San Fran moves the needle in any way. I think we should stay at 11. It's tight, compact and full of talent and rivalries.

San Fran adds a huge media market and historical prestige, for context there's currently four teams with championships in our conference, San Fran has the same as Marquette and Georgetown combines.

St Mary's right now has a better basketball brand than most the conference. Small market unfortunately but they have 7 NCAAT appearances (and two regular season conference titles where they didn't appear) to your 3 since 2010, I'm not sure I'd complain SMC doesn't move the needle given those numbers.

[Omaha1]

I’m torn on this. It’s fun to be newsworthy and make a splash by adding “name” schools. However, unless we are going to add maybe 4-6 schools and truly split into Midwest/west division opposite an East division, it doesn’t make sense to me. And I don’t think any of the Midwest schools are interested in traveling to both sides of the country.

[Xudash]

At the risk of being a broken record:

MEDIA AGREEMENT: What will the new media agreement payout per school look like for our existing 11 teams? The more it increases from where it presently stands, the fewer the number of schools that could come in and deliver that figure. It already is a small number. More to the point, it may only be a pool of one: Gonzaga. Now let’s really cut to the chase: our media partner will weigh in heavily on all of this, because they have all of the data required to support a good decision, and because they have the checkbook.


CONTENT: Is this even an issue, with respect to the BE being in position to offer enough content via an 11 team conference? I don’t have an answer for that, and I don’t even have a strong opinion on it. However, my gut reaction is that this should not be an issue, especially given some of the other conference realignment activity that has taken place this year

I remain focused on our next media deal and whatever it takes to increase the per school payout to an amount that provides good optics for the conference - a handsome pay raise.

Nova has delivered twice.

UCONN delivered this past season.

Xavier, Creighton, and Marquette have contributed. Providence and Seton Hall, too

St. Johns should wake up and make a very strong splash with Pitino at the helm.

And Georgetown hopefully is coming back to life.

Our viewership data are strong and trending in the right direction, especially given the composition of our conference.

May we get to $8 million or more per school, and may we ride that to the early to mid-30’s. So be it if that means our existing 11 schools or if it means adding Gonzaga, etc

[GreatDaneAttorney]

I'm not sure Gonzaga and St Mary's will be available for the Big East. I think there's a strong chance one of the other conferences out that way (Big XII, MWC, and now likely ACC as well) will add one or both of them.

If Stanford and Cal go to the ACC, they might need travel partners. And if Wazzu and OSU go to the MWC, Gonzaga and St Mary's might be interested in joining a stronger basketball conf in the MWC. And lastly the Big XII is looking like an elite basketball conf and has already been reported to be looking at at least Gonzaga as they try to cement their status as a Top 3 hoops league.

I'm just not sure the Big East can compete with offers against those other leagues.

[DudeAnon]

I’m torn on this. It’s fun to be newsworthy and make a splash by adding “name” schools. However, unless we are going to add maybe 4-6 schools and truly split into Midwest/west division opposite an East division, it doesn’t make sense to me. And I don’t think any of the Midwest schools are interested in traveling to both sides of the country.

I can only speak for myself but I would have no problem with Xavier being in the West pod that gets two games a year against Gonzaga and St. Mary's. Obviously there are issues with Olympic sports, travel etc. But if the Big East's identity is the collection of the best basketball only schools, they are the most logical and accomplished additions imo.

[Django]

Im still on the “let’s stick with who we have” (and maybe cast off the freeloaders and ingrates) bandwagon. I can’t wait to see Pitino turn The Johnnies into a power again. Still have hope for Butler, im only worried about De Paul. Until they get a president who cares about men’s basketball they will continue to drag the conference down.

[Bogg]

I mean, I get that they'd be "travel partners" relative to how far they are from everyone else, but Spokane to Moraga, CA is roughly the distance from UConn to DePaul. Honestly? If the Big East is serious about Gonzaga then they should be coordinating with Fox and the Mountain West on Washington State and Oregon State.

Something like Zags/OSU/WSU to the Big East, OSU/WSU to the MW as football affiliates, OSU/WSU get full shares from both conferences to offset travel, Fox extends both conferences to be the house band for Fox Sports.

That still probably doesn't make sense though, even though Pullman's genuinely a bus ride from Spokane, and it's probably best for the Big East to treat the Rockies as a hard border.