Big East puts together expansion plan

By Mark Blaudschun, Globe Staff, 9/23/2003

The official announcement can't and won't come until November, when the college presidents officially sign off on the arrangement, but according to sources at several Big East schools, the conference has put together an expansion package that will call for a 16-team league in basketball (in two eight-team divisions) and an eight- or nine-team league in football.

"We haven't voted on anything yet," said one official at a Big East school yesterday. "It's just a matter of how we make it work after we do it."

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese remained noncommital.

"It's going to get done sooner rather than later," said Tranghese. "Hopefully sooner, because we all want to get this thing done."

The added schools -- DePaul, Marquette, Cincinnati, and Louisville -- will come from Conference USA and join the Big East for the 2005 season. In football, Cincinnati and Louisville will replace Miami and Virginia Tech, who will join the ACC next fall. The University of Connecticut will become a member in football next season and Temple will leave after the 2004 season.

There is a possibility that South Florida or Central Florida will be invited as an associate ninth member in football only, which would give the Big East a valuable presence in the state of Florida.

There also has been discussion of allowing the football league to break away from the basketball league during the term of what is expected to be a multiyear contract. The basketball and football factions have been sniping at each other on various issues for the past decade, and they could go their own ways if the consensus is that a 16- or 17-team league is too large to control effectively.

In basketball, the only certainty is that the two divisions will not be divided into a football/basketball configuration. It is likely that the setup will be based on geography as much as anything. DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Villanova, and West Virginia could make up the Big East West, leaving the Big East East with Providence, Boston College, UConn, St. John's, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Rutgers, and Georgetown.

But other factors such as competitive balance and television appeal also would play into the equation.

Rivalries will be considered. Rutgers and Seton Hall will be in the same division, as will BC, Providence, and UConn. Syracuse and Georgetown almost certainly will be in the same division.

The plan in such an arrangement would be to invite the top six teams from each division to New York for the Big East tournament. For regular-season play the cross-divisional format hasn't been decided.

Scheduling matters and other logistics will be worked out over the next couple of months. Once that is done, the new teams will be invited, with a formal announcement due some time before Thanksgiving.

One lingering question for the Big East is the status of Boston College. There is still a strong feeling among some Big East schools that the Eagles will bolt to the ACC if invited.

But there is also a feeling in college football circles that the next BCS contract -- the current pact runs through the 2005 season -- still will include a guaranteed spot for the Big East as well as an additional BCS game, which would allow champions from the Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, and other leagues to gain access.

In that case, BC would be better off playing in a league without Virginia Tech, Miami, and Florida State.

This expansion by the Big East will cause a ripple effect throughout college athletics. Conference USA, which will lose four members, must regroup in basketball and rebuild in football.

Big East officials certainly criticized the ACC for its raid on their teams this year, but they contend these circumstances are different because everything will be done openly, with no back-room deals.

Whether that is a matter of semantics is open to debate. What is clear is that the Big East feels it has put together a plan that will make it arguably the best conference in basketball and a competitive, BCS-worthy one in football.