Big East stronger to emerge stronger then ever

[bearcat jeff]

Despite losing Syracuse, Pittsburgh and TCU in recent weeks, Big East Commissioner John Marinatto says the league will once again reinvent itself moving forward. “When the dust settles, we will emerge stronger than ever,” Marinatto said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. As part of a comprehensive realignment effort, the Big East unanimously voted to double its exit fee from $5 million to $10 million for football members and move forward toward an expansion plan that allows for 12 football playing members. The increase in exit fee will be triggered as progress is made in signing new members. Any current schools that opt to leave — UConn, Louisville and West Virginia are among those that have been mentioned — would have to pay the million exit fee. Marinatto said he envisioned a football championship game in New York City similar to the Big East basketball tournament held each year at Madison Square Garden. “Ultimately, that’s where we would want to go,” he said of the football championship game. Marinatto declined to discuss specific target schools, but it has been widely reported that the league has focused on Air Force, Boise State and Navy as football-only members and Houston, SMU and Central Florida for all sports. Marinatto effectively denied a Houston Chronicle report indicating Houston had already been extended an invitation to join the Big East. “No invitations have gone out,” he said. Marinatto said there was no timeframe on adding the new schools. “Stay tuned,” he said. “We’re working diligently. We’re not going to rush ourselves to meet anyone’ s deadline. We have a lot to offer, and we’re going to get this done right.” Marinatto said he would hold Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the 27 -month exit timeline despite the expansion plan, meaning the schools would have to remain through the 2013 football season and the 2013-14 basketball season before jumping to the ACC. Asked if the league might allow those schools to leave early, he said, “No, we will not.” He s