At the earliest Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC will be in time for the 2012 season. We will see how negotiations go. As Troy Nunes points out, it is in Pitt and Syracuse’s interests that the Big East move quickly on their expansion — no matter how stupid or short-term their choices may be. Of course never underestimate the stupidity and false sense of importance of the basketball schools helping Pitt and Syracuse leave before the 27 month waiting period.
This could be a negotiating tactic, or he could be serious, but in either case several member schools just want the two schools gone.
There is a feeling in the basketball programs at some member schools that the eventual departure of Pitt and Syracuse will provide some breathing room, that the league had become too great for its own good.
There was room for a record 11 teams to earn NCAA Tournament bids last season, but the presence of Hall of Fame coaches Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun at the top of the league and the heavy concentration of elite teams has made it difficult for many league members to gain the necessary media attention to improve their programs through recruiting.
Oh, please, please, please, please, please be true. Hell if I’m in the Big East offices, after I peel myself off the ceiling, is to let my paranoia run wild that this is a planted story from the ACC or Pitt/Syracuse.
At it’s best it undermines the negotiating position of the Big East in getting more financial considerations from the departing programs. At worst it reveals such a crack in the Big East members faith in Marinatto on all sides.
Just hope it is true.
Texas wanted Pitt in the Big 12, though for the life of me I have no idea why. The ACC wanted to prevent Texas from having that option, but also knew they could destabilize the BE by stealing Pitt and SU. This would hopefully implode the BE, forcing ND into their waiting arms. Everyone knows ND is loath to join the B1G, as Dan Wetzel pointed out.
Going to 14 teams makes no sense without this logic. They want ND, and they have one more slot to play with to get them. If the BE somehow survives this defection, they’ll take the next biggest fish that meets their profile. The BE won’t survive that.
The BE has to face reality. There will be no big TV contract now. Football members need to be part of an entity with their needs in mind, not those of Providence. The hoops-playing schools need to be kicked down to the A-10 level they deserve. They have no right to a seat at the big kids table, nor revenue above what they should earn as small schools with limited followings.
As I have posted previously, I believe the ACC will not go to 16 unless it is assured that ND or PSU are not interested. On the surface, it would seem a long shot but I keep reading that ND may have more interest in the ACC than the B10, and there are sound reasons for PSU to consider a change (though the odds are still against it.)
Otherwise, I think UConn and Rutgers will be the next 2 BE teams to be invited by the ACC
Less likely, one of them wins the BE football this year or next, again, probably not likely, but the egg on the face of the BE sending Pitt or Syracuse to the Orange or Sugar Bowl???
Why even take a chance?? We don’t want to be there, they don’t want us, just handle it.
If they keep us, would be sweet to see Pitt win the tourney at MSG!! ha ha Hell, even Syracuse!!
Hey, gotta give him credit, Boeheim lashed back at all of them, and just told the truth!!!
One has to be UConn for hoops, and another strong, northern football school.
My first choice would be PSU, second would be Notre Dame (moreso PSU, it would just be cool to have the ACC be the official conference of the eastern U.S., and I know that both are pipe dreams).
If neither of them wants to join, I say bring the Hoopies. Sue me. They’ve had football and basketball success recently. I know this sounds blasphemous as a Pitt die hard, but they really don’t deserve to be stuck in the same boat as the likes of Cincy. Plus, they could keep their rivalry with Pitt, while renewing their rivalry with VT.
They stink in basketball, had like 2 good years in football with Ray Rice, and nobody in the coveted NYC market cares about them.
See yinz’all there.
Maybe I’m underestimating the Pgh TV market
wbb – although not the first criteria, I think academics are important to several of the ACC schools. WVU is hurt not only by their low rankings (which most administrators acknowledge are a flawed measurement), but by the recent degree scandal. It’s not every day that a school is found to have given a degree to the Governor’s daughter, who also happens to be an executive at a major donor, even though she never completed any coursework. Also, right or wrong, I don’t think WVU’s reputation is helped by the fact that their fans’ behavior reinforces the view that they are out of control – throwing items at opposing teams/fans, group chanting of expletives that make it onto national tv, burning furniture, etc.
Anyone else not at all looking forward to Saturdays game?? Its been quite some time since I hoped that Pitt did not play a game for another month. Tino scares the hell out of me and that pass defense is pathetic.
Is Tom Bradley still available???
All it would take to shut down BE is for Ucon to get an offer. The BB would be crushed and the 3 schoools could band together and stop any expansion (5-3 vote). This would effectively force the BE to give immediate release(we would pay their silly $5M-donors like me would pony up) and we would be sitting pretty.
So hopefully they can get Navy or whoever else they want that is available, and soon. So we can move on.
the latest WVU incident is wearning obscene T-shirts. Now get this!! The Student council is actually offering to buy these T-shirts from the students so they will not wear them on national TV Saturday, and embarass the University .. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP
I also emailed the link that Steve provided about Hitler being the commissioner of the BE to my Ex who is a WVU alum. She responded back that WVU deserves more respect because of football.
I reminded her about the couch burning, the coins tossed at asst basketball coaches, the MBA incident and now the T-shirts … haven’t heard from her since. (The last time I got the silent email treatment was during the MBA incident when I said I still believed that her degree was valid — didn’t appreciate my sarcasm)
Also, right or wrong, I don’t think WVU’s reputation is helped by the fact that their fans’ behavior reinforces the view that they are out of control – throwing items at opposing teams/fans, group chanting of expletives that make it onto national tv, burning furniture, etc.
That sounds exactly like College Park every time the Terps face Duke (maybe minus throwing things at opponents).
All of this conference intrigue has garnered my attention more than the Steelers season or the Penguins preseason.
The first time a better offer, like the sweetheart deal the BE gave them, comes a round they will bolt.
Afterall, they were looking out for the rest of the BE, right?
Again gents, this has NOTHING to do with basketball. Basketball does not create much revenue.
LMAO. It’s about what kind of VALUE a school brings in regards to new FOOTBALL TV contracts. And to a small extent the school, at least in the case of the ACC, must be an academic fit.
Pittsburgh is the 20th or so TV market in the USA and that is virgin territory for the ACC. As is the upstate New York and to a slight degree the NYC TV market.
You have to look at this whole conference realignment agenda, as a CEO of a company or the CFO, not as a fan. Surely the rumors of the LIG being seriously interested in Rutgers would convince you this even has nothing to do with the quality of athletic teams.
The got BC, most importantly for the Boston TV market.
Miami was for a bigger TV football contract and South Florida TV market.
VT was only because UVA caused a fuss. But it did add to a bigger TV football contract.
Pitt was for the Pittsburgh TV market and a bigger football TV contract. Same for Cuse.
The fact that these schools are all good academically was a bonus and the fact that some have had great football and/or great basketball at various times is just another added bonus.
Do you seriously believe Kentucky would leave the SEC, where they get more money and are one the SEC powers in basketball?
ACC said 10 schools applied to them for admission.
How many schools in the BigEast for football, eight right. That means the whole BigEast conference more than likely applied for admission. haha
And who knows TCU might have as well.
Or the 9th & 10th could have been KU & KSU since they’re tethered together, acting as hedge if the Big 12 imploded. Or it could have been TCU & Mizzou. But 8 of the 10 were most assuredly Pitt, WVU, Cuse, Uconn, Rutgers, USF, Cincy & L-Ville . (no wonder L’ville’s AD Jurich was caught on video dissing Pitt, we had just been selected over his employer)
Like I posted yesterday, ESPN can step in and tell Marinatto to waive the 27 months if ESPN wants it that way.
The BigEast’s TV contract is up for renewal in 2012 and the ACC has to renegotiate their TV contract.
And Big Daddy ESPN is the one handing out the ‘Spending money’. So they are the ones who can make it happen very easily.
Funny, the initial story on the BigEast Tuesday nite meeting made no mention of UCONN, NOT EVEN Attending the meeting. haha
Pittsburgh still has several Fortune 500 companies and one of the largest hospital networks in America. That being the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the area’s, Largest Employer.
Which is why I suggested several weeks ago UPMC buy the cable TV operations and not allow the Big 10 network in Pittsburgh. lol
And I would love developing the training plan for the Telephone reps in how to deal with irate Nitter fans. lol
The schools have to bring value with them, financially or something extraordinary.
Adding another team, adds another ‘mouth to feed’.
And these conferences are not into Social Welfare.
And women’s basketball? (too funny)
OU got it’s wish, Don Beebe was fired today as B12 Commissioner. He was supposedly in Texas’s hip pocket.
More Providence shit on the wall.
Sunseri’s best game to date was last year @ Syracuse
The city derives its name from Siracusa, a city on the eastern coast of the Italian island of Sicily.
Sunseri’s real first name is Santino, as the TV announcers explained last year, he was named after
Santino (Sonny) Corleone, the James Caan fictional character in the classic movie
‘The Godfather’. Of course the Corleone’s were from Sicily, as any ‘made’ member of the Mafia has to be.
All this talk about Notre Dame joining the ACC was started by Notre Dame! The ACC should be smart enough to figure out that Notre Dame is doing this to preserve the Big East by not having the ACC further raid the Big East. If the ACC wants to stand pat at fourteen, that is fine. They should not do that solely for the reason on what Notre Dame states publicly!
I hope Ray Graham has a TD type day against the Golden Domers on Saturday! Hail To Pitt.
Exactly I could care less who the BigEast gets, they could add Duquesne & CMU as far as I care.
@Frank….yea I know Navy isn’t in yet, I was just saying why would they even be considering the BE.
They have their own bowl deal as long they finish .500 or better. Which is pretty much a given the last 10 years.
Tonight I am.
ya that makes sense.
Men are so stupid these days. Diamonds do not buy love, they only show how desperate you are.
Anyway, thank God for all this ACC talk. Keeps my mind off Saturday’s game.
Rumors on CFT.com is that the Big 12 is seriously considering TCU.
Goodbye Big East.
DaveD
Honestly, if the ACC picked up ND and WVU miraculously too, I think it would be a perfect conference for us. then maybe drop NC state… Maybe if it is driven by football they’d even be able to improve WV education to fit the mold!
I also think that ND is finally coming to the conference crossroads, mainly with the specific network coverage going up… (BTN, et cetera) It will be a drive for money in the next few years, but it will come. That is of course if the ND network doesn’t take off, but that’s a limited market as seen by execs.
On an unrelated note…I have two extra tickets for the Notre Dame game on Saturday, they are in the front row of the club section (235) on the 50 yard line. I can be reached at jeffrealtor@hotmail.com . Notre Dame trolls need not apply. Oh, and I am selling them for face value $40.00 per ticket.