"Big East" football schools may not exist on July 1, 2013

[Coach Bill Lewis]

What’s the next move for the Big East Catholic schools who are weighing the options of breaking completely away from the conference?

Several sources say it is a complicated process with numerous details that must be worked out.

But if they do decide to leave as a group, they will not have to pay an exit fee. A rule that was put in place almost a decade ago when the Big East lost Virginia Tech, Miami and then Boston College to the ACC, stipulates that should the football or basketball segments of the league want to break away as a group no exit fees will be imposed. Schools leaving the Big East on an individual basis have had to pay between $5 and $17 million.

With the seven Catholic schools talking about leaving the Big East as a group, the no exit fee clause would apply.

In addition, the Catholic schools would most likely be able to retain the Big East name as a conference, they would also be likely to retain the automatic NCAA tournament bid given to the Big East since they would be a group of schools who have established a long history of competition against each other.

And this “”new”" group would most likely still be able to collect the financially valuable units the NCAA gives to conference schools who perform well in the NCAA tournament.

Everyone involved concedes it is a complicated process, involving not only configuration, but revenue distribution.

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