General Sports Water Cooler

is the old thread gone forever as I would love to go back and see all the predictions, NOLA musings, etc....

I think the BE would continue to try and remain a patchwork conference. At this point I'm not sure who exactly they could attract but they can still hold Pitt/Cuse/WVU/Louisville for two more seasons and they still have their BCS bid for two more seasons as well.

The houston chronicle is reporting that the university of houston received an offer last night. It's so the report from last week that the offer is contingent might be in error.

Getting an offer from the Big East now is like going to your 20-year high school reunion and discovering that the Prom Queen has gained 150 lbs, has 5 kids and diabetes.

Officials at Houston and SMU have both been contacted by Big East commissioner John Marinatto and have been told the league wants to discuss with them further about joining the league, sources told CBSSports.com.

The Houston Chronicle reported Monday night that Houston had been extended an invitation. However, league sources said no official invitations have been extended to any teams. The Big East also released a statement Saturday that no invitations have been extended.

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On Monday night, the Big East’s presidents and chancellors voted unanimously to increase the league’s exit fee to $10 million, but the increased fee is contingent on Navy and Air Force joining the league as football only members, sources told CBSSports.com.

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Navy, Air Force and Boise State are interested to joining the Big East because of the league's automatic qualifying BCS status, but wanted a bigger financial commitment from the remaining members (Cincinnati, UConn, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida and West Virginia).

Sources said Houston and SMU – along with UCF – are prepared to accept an invitation to join the Big East as all sports members once an official invitation is extended.

Thanks, I was hoping to see this pic again.

AdamZagoria

John Marinatto: "When the dust settles we will emerge stronger than ever."

McMurphyCBS

Marinatto: "Just one team needs to agree and exit fee agrees." That means Navy or Air Force on board, fee goes to $10M

If they use the Meadowlands that's in NJ where the #3 team in the country resides.

i wonder what the damages are if Pitt and Syracuse basically tells the BE to screw off and they leave early anyway.... Can the BE show that they lost revenue as a conference because of the early exit? Not likely.

@PeteThamelNYT
Air Force in no rush. AD Hans Mueh just told me, "There’s not real impetus to do anything but sit back and watch."

Toteboard:

that leaves UC,RU,UConn,USF...

..plus maybe UCF, UH, SMU , Boise, and AFA (ie: the BE expansion targets right now).

BB wise, you'd have GU, VU, SJU and Marquette as solid programs.

I think that's barely enough for ND to stay but at that point the conference is looking a bit conference USA-ish.

In my mind, it could really go either way at the end of their TV deal. They'd put up with a slightly BoD bb conference to keep indy status (and depending on what plans NBC-Comcast has for them when contract time comes up). It may also depend on how well they do as a fb team too.

I'm sure you'll get some people here who say that there's no way that ND stays in that hypothetical conference and I can't argue too much with that.