After three months of speculation about the Big East’s future following the departures of Syracuse and Pittsburgh in September, the conference announced the addition of five new members on Wednesday.

Commissioner John Marinatto announced during a teleconference that Boise State, San Diego State, Central Florida, Southern Methodist and Houston will join the conference in 2013. This comes after the departures of four schools — Texas Christian and West Virginia being the other two — that put the future of the conference in question.

‘With these five new members, our conference will continue to have by far the single largest media footprint in intercollegiate athletics, spanning literally from coast to coast in football and all the major regions in between,’ Marinatto said during the teleconference, which included the presidents of all five schools. ‘In effect, the Big East conference will be the first truly national college football conference.’

Mountain West Conference members Boise State and San Diego State are set to become football-only members, while Houston, SMU and UCF are leaving Conference USA to join the Big East in all sports. The conference plans to split its members into East and West divisions. The five programs will move to the Big East, effective July 1, 2013.

Marinatto said the conference is still aiming to reach its goal of 12 teams and remains in discussions with ‘select additional institutions,’ but he would not comment specifically on those schools. The Big East has targeted Air Force and Navy to join for football only, according to ESPN.com. The commissioner also said he still hopes to create a football conference championship game in the future.

The Big East’s future was uncertain after Syracuse and Pittsburgh left for the Atlantic Coast Conference on Sept. 18, setting off a new wave of conference expansion. TCU later decided to join the Big 12 rather than the Big East, as it originally planned, and West Virginia also left for the Big 12.

Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia must wait 27 months in accordance with Big East bylaws, and will not be allowed to leave until 2014. Marinatto stressed that point following their departures and reiterated it again on Wednesday.

‘The additions that we’re making today have no impact whatsoever in regard to our commitment and our belief that our schools that are leaving would fulfill the 27-month requirement clause that’s currently in our bylaws,’ Marinatto said.

The five new schools give the Big East schools in all four time zones, but it will not change its name. With that geographic diversity, Marinatto said the conference now has the ability to have four games on the same day in different time slots, providing it with ‘a very powerful model as we move forward in our upcoming TV negotiations’ beginning with ESPN in eight months.

Marinatto added that the new model will be unlike any other in the NCAA and will boost TV households by more than 6 percent. For the incoming programs, the benefits and increased exposure that come with joining the Big East outweighed any drawbacks.

With the conference stretching across the nation, schools will travel longer distances to play games.

‘Right now, we travel as part of Conference USA,’ Houston Chancellor Renu Khator said. ‘With all we have to gain and we have to offer, I think we can manage the travel with no problem.’

The automatic Bowl Championship Series bid for the Big East also attracted the new programs. Marinatto said he feels the conference has made the necessary moves to solidify its BCS status and future.

For Boise State president Robert Kustra, the automatic BCS bid was a major draw. The Broncos have been left out of the BCS picture despite being a top program in recent years, and the Big East provides that opportunity.

Though the conference still has more details to clear up moving forward, Marinatto is excited for the future of the conference with its new members in place.

‘They provide us with the solid foundation we require to move forward confidently and boldly with our conference,’ Marinatto said. ‘We have ambitious plans, and this expansion is a great stride toward reaching them.’

rjgery@syr.edu

 

Published on December 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu