So Big East football is done?

[Edisto_Tiger]

Catholic 7: Schools to leave Big East on June 30, form new league - NCAA Basketball - Sporting News


Am I reading this right? The Catholic 7 will now be The Big East and a basketball only conference.

The Catholic 7 basketball schools and the Big East football schools finalized terms of their divorce Friday and announced that they will officially part ways June 30.

“I am pleased that this agreement has been reached,” Big East commissioner Mike Aresco said Friday in a statement. “With the long-term well-being of our outstanding institutions and their student-athletes of paramount importance, each group worked through a number of complex issues in an orderly, comprehensive and amicable manner marked by mutual respect.

“We part ways as friends and colleagues and look forward to the success of both conferences.”

The Catholic 7 -- DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's and Villanova -- will leave the league en masse on June 30 to form the new basketball-centric league and also negotiated to keep the Big East brand. The schools reportedly will pay $100 million in exit fees and to retain the name and for the contract to hold the conference tournament in Madison Square Garden.

The new basketball league also will reportedly include Butler and Xavier from the Atlantic 10 and could well include Creighton from the Missouri Valley in 2013-14 as well, but Creighton’s negotiations to exit the MVC are still ongoing. The new Big East already is exploring an expansion to 12 teams in 2014-15, most likely targeting Dayton and Saint Louis from the A-10 at that time.

“We are grateful to commissioner Michael Aresco for spearheading an agreement that truly represents the best path forward for each of our great institutions and the thousands of student-athletes who compete for our schools annually,” the Catholic 7 presidents said in a joint statement Friday. “It is a great credit to Mike, our colleagues, and all involved that we were able to work through a host of highly complex and time-sensitive issues in such a short period of time.

“We are pleased that we reached this amicable and mutually-beneficial separation by approaching each issue with a spirit of cooperation and shared respect.”

What remains of the old Big East -- it will be renamed, perhaps called the “America 12 Conference” -- will be a shell of itself. Leftovers Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, Temple and South Florida will be joined by newcomers Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and SMU in 2013-14 with Tulane joining in 2014-15.

In the summer of ’14, Louisville will leave for the ACC and Rutgers will join the Big Ten. Unlike the basketball-only schools, neither is able to move up their departure dates because scheduling for football is done so far in advance.

“We have not chosen a new conference name at this time and there are no favorites,” Aresco said Friday. “We are going through a thoughtful evaluation of potential names for our conference, and will select a name in a timely manner through a comprehensive and deliberate process that involves our presidents and athletic directors as well as constituents from inside and outside the conference.

“We are excited about the prospect of re-branding and look forward to working with our institutions and our fans as we engage in this process.”

Notre Dame has not made an official announcement of its plans. It reportedly is negotiating to leave the Big East this summer, too, accelerating its plan to join the ACC. If completed, the Irish would join soon-to-be ex-Big East clubs Pitt and Syracuse in their move to the ACC this summer. This would give the ACC 15 teams for the 2013-14 season and then 16 beginning in 2014-15 when Louisville joins the league as an all-sports member.

 

[TexasMan]

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

Ah, I see

What remains of the old Big East -- it will be renamed, perhaps called the America 12 Conference” -- will be a shell of itself. Leftovers Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, Temple and South Florida will be joined by newcomers Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and SMU in 2013-14 with Tulane joining in 2014-15.

 

[757Hokie83]

^ isnt Louisville coming to the ACC?

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

^ isnt Louisville coming to the ACC?

yup. 2014?

 

[757Hokie83]

i couldnt say when...its hard keeping up with all the conference shifting from week to week

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

It looks like that by the 2014 season we will have 15 schools and possibly 16 depending on Notre Dame.

 

[huskers1217]

below is from cbssports.com and all of it is "reported"...meaning probably true but if not

The league's lawyers have purchased the domain "America 12"; however, the conference may actually hold a Twitter contest to name the conference

 

[ACC_HOKIES]

below is from cbssports.com and all of it is "reported"...meaning probably true but if not

The league's lawyers have purchased the domain "America 12"; however, the conference may actually hold a Twitter contest to name the conference

Oh please let this be true! ...the possibilities

 

[HuskerInSecLand]

^ isnt Louisville coming to the ACC?

yup. 2014?

And Rutgers to the B1G