After months of speculation, the Big East conference formally announced its intent to increase the number of schools that play Big East football from eight to 10. At its annual Board of Directors meeting two weeks ago, the 16 Big East school presidents unanimously approved a proposal to establish a framework to admit more football members.
“[O]ur Board of Directors affirmed a set of key strategic initiatives, including expansion, designed to enhance membership stability and maximize our value,” Commissioner John Marinatto said in a press release following the meeting.
In other words, the Big East presidents realize the viability of its football conference is in jeopardy, and something must be done to fix it.
Football has always held a tenuous position in the Big East’s history. Founded as a basketball-focused conference in 1979 by Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s and Syracuse, the Big East did not even begin to sponsor football until 1991. Even with some successes since then, Big East football has faced a number of junctions in which its future existence was not assured, including the one it faces today.
The first major threat came when Miami and Virginia Tech in 2004 and Boston College in 2005 left the Big East to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. In order to keep football alive, the Big East added Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida. With Connecticut upgrading to Division I-A (now the Football Bowl Subdivision), the conference maintained eight football schools – the minimum necessary to preserve its Bowl Championship Series membership and any shred of credibility.
Once again this summer, Big East football faced an existential threat, this time from possible Big Ten expansion, as Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse and West Virginia were all on that conference’s radar. Fortunately for the Big East, the Big Ten eventually turned its attention to Nebraska for its 12th member, removing the possibility of future upheaval in the Big East for the time being.
Even after dodging that bullet this summer, Big East football remains in trouble. The conference is not as good team-for-team as the other five BCS conferences, and it draws far less attention and revenue than its counterparts. In addition, the threat of other conferences luring its members away will not cease, at least not until the Big East gives its members a reason to stay.
That is why the Big East is seriously considering expansion. Adding any football member schools would give the conference some assurance for the future, as it would guarantee that it could lose one school and still survive. And if the conference could add a school that has a strong football program, perhaps the Big East’s stock would even rise.
The two schools considered the favorites to be added for football are Villanova and Texas Christian University (commonly known as TCU), according to ESPN.
As a current Big East school that plays in the Football Championship Subdivision, Villanova makes a lot of sense if it is willing to make the investments necessary to jump to the next level. The Wildcats won the FCS title last season and were already mulling an offer to play Big East football before the conference’s recently announced intention to expand.
TCU would add instant credibility to the conference as a national championship contender, but admitting the Horned Frogs creates another set of challenges for the Big East.
First, while the inclusion of TCU would doubtless increase conference TV ratings in the Dallas market, having a team from Texas does not fit geographically with the rest of the conference. Second, as it is not a Big East school, the conference would have to decide if TCU – and potentially other schools – could be admitted as a football-only school, or whether they would be incorporated into all of the conference’s athletic leagues.
That answer to that second question could have dramatic ramifications for Big East basketball, as it could result in an expansion of the conference to 18 members and a disruption of the current regular season and conference tournament formats. Adding a football school like TCU or Central Florida would also water down the Big East’s strong basketball reputation.
The Big East should consider its mission during this expansion process. While the days of a northeastern, Catholic basketball conference are over, is it feasible to keep expanding geographically? With schools across the league eliminating different sports due to costs, is it fair to require schools to spend more on travel, perhaps at the expense of other sports?
Of course, it should be noted that aside from Villanova, Georgetown is the only other Big East school to play football at a lower level. If Georgetown were remotely serious about investing in its football program, it would make perfect sense to add those two schools, increasing the conference’s football membership without disrupting basketball.
Over the next few years, the Big East will be confronted with questions in the midst of a changing dynamic in college sports; a conference founded upon basketball, it too has discovered that the big money is in football.
Perhaps to be viable, the Big East will have to expand its football membership. But in doing so, the Big East should remember that it was basketball that made it one of the best conferences in the country – even before the birth of Big East football.
Nick Macri is a senior in the College. THE BIG PICTURE appears in every third issue of HOYA SPORTS.
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