Post by socialsdsu on Dec 21, 2012 9:42:14 GMT -8
eyes UNLV, Fresno State and maybe BYU
The Big East, in an attempt to strengthen its new Western base, is in preliminary discussions with UNLV and Fresno State about joining the conference, sources confirmed to the Daily News on Thursday.
Commissioner Mike Aresco has also spoken to BYU, according to a story on CBSSports.com, although that school’s entry seems like more of a longshot.
UNLV is a founding member of the Mountain West Conference. Fresno State joined that conference this year. BYU left the Mountain West in 2011 to go independent in football and play basketball in the West Coast Conference. The additions of two or more of those schools would likely silence speculation that Boise State and San Diego State, which are supposed to begin play in the Big East this fall, might go back to the Mountain West.
The Big East currently has 12 teams — UConn, Cincinnati, South Florida, Temple, Memphis, SMU, Houston, Boise State, San Diego State, Central Florida, Tulane and East Carolina — set to play football in 2013. Rutgers, which is joining the Big Ten, and Louisville, which is leaving for the ACC, are likely to participate as all-sports members before moving on in 2014.
With the seven Catholic schools that do not play major football — Villanova, St. John’s, Georgetown, DePaul, Marquette, Providence and Seton Hall — leaving the conference to form their own league, Big East basketball likely will consist of Memphis, SMU, Houston, Tulane, UConn, Cincinnati, Temple, South Florida and Central Florida. Adding UNLV and BYU as full-time members would bolster the basketball league.
BYU would have to get out of an eight-year contract with ESPN to join the Big East. BYU’s deal with ESPN is worth nearly $4 million a year through 2018, with an option for 2019.
Read more: www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/big-east-eyes-unlv-fresno-st-byu-article-1.1224947#ixzz2Fi2uUeSt
The Big East, in an attempt to strengthen its new Western base, is in preliminary discussions with UNLV and Fresno State about joining the conference, sources confirmed to the Daily News on Thursday.
Commissioner Mike Aresco has also spoken to BYU, according to a story on CBSSports.com, although that school’s entry seems like more of a longshot.
UNLV is a founding member of the Mountain West Conference. Fresno State joined that conference this year. BYU left the Mountain West in 2011 to go independent in football and play basketball in the West Coast Conference. The additions of two or more of those schools would likely silence speculation that Boise State and San Diego State, which are supposed to begin play in the Big East this fall, might go back to the Mountain West.
The Big East currently has 12 teams — UConn, Cincinnati, South Florida, Temple, Memphis, SMU, Houston, Boise State, San Diego State, Central Florida, Tulane and East Carolina — set to play football in 2013. Rutgers, which is joining the Big Ten, and Louisville, which is leaving for the ACC, are likely to participate as all-sports members before moving on in 2014.
With the seven Catholic schools that do not play major football — Villanova, St. John’s, Georgetown, DePaul, Marquette, Providence and Seton Hall — leaving the conference to form their own league, Big East basketball likely will consist of Memphis, SMU, Houston, Tulane, UConn, Cincinnati, Temple, South Florida and Central Florida. Adding UNLV and BYU as full-time members would bolster the basketball league.
BYU would have to get out of an eight-year contract with ESPN to join the Big East. BYU’s deal with ESPN is worth nearly $4 million a year through 2018, with an option for 2019.
Read more: www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/big-east-eyes-unlv-fresno-st-byu-article-1.1224947#ixzz2Fi2uUeSt
