The reports of the death of the Big East have been greatly exaggerated. While the departure of several of the most-storied programs makes the future of the conference look bleak, the Big East has several options to remain competitive in this fluid college sports landscape.
The conference has shown interest in Boise State, Air Force and Navy as football-only members and Houston, SMU and Central Florida to compete in all sports. The additions of all six schools would bring the total football members up to 11, with West Virginia leaving for the Big 12 and Syracuse and Pittsburgh going to the ACC. If invited, both Air Force and Navy would likely lobby for Army to be the 12th member, while the western schools could target BYU to join as a football-only addition.
Former SEC commissioner Dr. Harvey Schiller thinks the plan would work, and the conference could keep their BCS status.
“I like the plan, but the key to me is having Air Force, Army and Navy all in the same conference,” Schiller said. “They have a true national following. If you then add Boise State, a perennial top-25 program, with the up-and-coming teams like SMU, Houston and Central Florida, you have a good mix. Rutgers, South Florida, Cincinnati, Louisville and Connecticut remain a solid base.”
But Schiller reiterated that having all three academies in one conference is critical.
Another option for the Big East is to be the anchor member of a super conference. The Big East members could join the teams from the Mountain West and Conference USA. The new mega conference would have as many as 32 team, spanning five time zones from New York to Honolulu and four separate divisions — the Big East, Central, Mountain and West. There would be playoffs between the winners of the four divisions leading up to a championship game.
Bill Squadron, a high-ranking executive at the global sports marking firm IMG before becoming the head of Bloomberg Sports, favors the Big East going the super conference route.
“When you analyze it from a schools-as-stocks perspective, you want to have the strongest possible portfolio and a reasonable platform from which to grow once the dust settles from all of the turbulence in college sports — which may take years,” Squadron said. ” In that analysis, being the leader of a super conference probably has the most to offer because it creates significant critical mass, a broad TV base and access to the most football dollars.”
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
