Big East Conference

[Upstate]

Did we love or hate Seth Davis before this?...

SethDavisHoops Seth davis

I hope Big East is able to force Pitt, Syracuse and West Va to stay in the league until the last possible hour. Hey Marinatto: Screw 'em.

 

[DomeStranger]

Thanks all ... not the news I wanted but it's coming out of Marianato's mouth so I don't believe half of it anyway.

 

[arbitragegls]

...this is going to be a crap shoot...find it difficult from a legal perspective to hold teams to a contract if the conference does not allow teams to continue to a)vote and b)have say in schedule etc. How can new teams be added without the three leaving and held in detention not vote on their approval...big mistake.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

Did we love or hate Seth Davis before this?...

SethDavisHoops Seth davis

I hope Big East is able to force Pitt, Syracuse and West Va to stay in the league until the last possible hour. Hey Marinatto: Screw 'em.

It would serve this hole right if Syracuse, Pitt and West Virginia finish 1-2-3 in Big East basketball for the next two years. I hope the Dome and the Pete are fully decked out in ACC signs and banners beginning ASAP. Chants of "ACC" need to be a feature of all televised games until they release us. MSG will be an international advertisement for the ACC come tourney time. Couldn't happen to nicer people.

 

[jordoo]

I agree on the voting thing. If we are simply not participating thats one thing but if the conference is not allowing us to participate then hwo can they hold us for 27 months. Plus either way we should not have to play any new member that is added after we give notice. LOL imagine those conference schedules? LOL

 

[Orangello]

Marinatto says it was a unanimous 13-0 vote to add "specific institutions." Cuse, PItt and WVU no longer allowed to vote.

Could WV use this as an out as well, if any of those new teams come before June 30, 2014? Same goes for SU and Pitt? If they insist on us staying, we should insist that new teams not be allowed in before then. If according to the bylaws we are BE members until then, then we should have a say in any and all matters that effect us during that time. How can the BE say we aren't allowed to vote, when any new school added has a direct impact on our schedule? We never agreed to be in a conference with Boise, SMU, etc. Wouldn't this be a breach? I am not a lawyer, but common sense says there is no way the BE should be allowed to do this. If they want those schools early that 2014, then they need to let us go.

So let me get this right. The Marionette adds six FB schools to the 5 remainders and the three hostages for FB beginning next season. That's 14 teams. You are now going to make SU, Pitt and WVU cancel one or more OOC games they scheduled (and have scheduled for years) in 2013 and 2014 in order to force them to play one or more of the six johnny come latelies in additional conference games or better yet, you make SU play UCF and SMU in each of those year instead of WVU and Pitt and we suffer a revenue loss or higher travel costs as a result ? Who's on the hook for those losses/cancellation fees/increased travel costs Moronetto ? Good luck with that.

 

[Upstate]

schadjoe Joe Schad

Look for UCF, Houston and SMU to be the first group to walk through the door to the new Big East

 

[kingottoiii]

...this is going to be a crap shoot...find it difficult from a legal perspective to hold teams to a contract if the conference does not allow teams to continue to a)vote and b)have say in schedule etc. How can new teams be added without the three leaving and held in detention not vote on their approval...big mistake.

Agree. If we don't want to send our Volleyball team to Dallas and Houston, we shouldn't have to. We should have a say in adding teams since it has an impact on our travel costs for all sports. We agree to be in a 9 team FB, 17 BBall conference. If the BE goes beyond either, it is an expansion and not a replacement. So as long as we are here, we should have a say in who comes and when.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

2012 Schedule: Home: UCONN, Pitt, Louisville, Navy; AWAY: Boise State, Houston, SMU, Air Force, UCF

 

[Upstate]

AdamZagoria Adam Zagoria

Marinatto says he wouldn't rule out further expansion on the basketball side down the road.

 

[raf4488]

The best argument for SU/Pitt/WVU leaving early may be that the entire purpose of the 27 month clause is to allow the league to replace defecting schools. Once this purpose has been satisfied, there is no real reason for these schools to stay as the league no longer needs them to maintain a viable number of football playing schools. The "new" BE, which SU/Pitt/WVU will be forced to participate in, will look substantially different than it did when the exit contract was drafted.

 

[jkm54]

You know that feeling when you're listening to someone talk, and they're taking forever to say what they want to say, but you've already figured out what they're getting at, but they just continue to speak at this maddeningly slow pace and it gets so bad that you want to reach down their throats and pull the words out screaming "I GET IT!!!!!" the whole time?

That's what it's like watching the Big East expansion process unfold.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Fun fact/question: we announced going to the ACC 9/17 (USC game). While the BE could contractually keep us for this season and the next 2 for football, BE conference play in hoops in 2013 won't start until 27 1/2 months after we announced. Therefore, even being held to 27 months, hoops shouldnt be able to be held past the next 2 seasons. Am I correct in thinking this?

 

[JOC44]

You guys are saying things like "they can't keep us in if we don't get to vote," but that's not really true. If the bylaws say $5M/27 months and that once a school gives notice it can't vote on anything, then that's probably enforceable. It might not seem fair, but if you agreed to it, the courts generally will hold you to your deal.

The one opening expansion creates, though, is that if the new schools are able to join right away, it's a plausible argument that the entire character of the Big East has changed such that it's no longer a mostly eastern conference and it can't have been the contracting intent to be able to force schools to massively increase their travel expenses by creating a national conference when the Big East was designed as an eastern conference with just a couple of western outposts. Basically, an argument similar to what WVU is saying EXCEPT that the changes WVU is complaining about (SU and Pitt leaving) won't actually happen until WVU's 27-month waiting period has ended, while Pitt, SU, and WVU would be forced to suffer these new changes while still a member, all the while being denied a vote. Still not sure that's a winner, but I bet it would create enough risk to force a settlement.

Also, is there any reason that we wouldn't put "ACC" on our court this year? Might ruffle some of the more proper people on this board, but if not prohgibited by the conference bylaws, I'd do it and say we're just getting ready for the change (like the Big East is adding teams to get ready for the change).

EDIT: It occurred to me that the ACC might not want its logo put on a court while we are a member of another conference, and might prefer SU and Pitt wait rather than litgate. They are more genteel than the Big 12.

 

[JOC44]

Fun fact/question: we announced going to the ACC 9/17 (USC game). While the BE could contractually keep us for this season and the next 2 for football, BE conference play in hoops in 2013 won't start until 27 1/2 months after we announced. Therefore, even being held to 27 months, hoops shouldnt be able to be held past the next 2 seasons. Am I correct in thinking this?

Depends on what the bylaws actually say. I bet they are worded so you have to wait 27 months and then can leave in the next June that come up past that date. They don't want schools like Syracuse leaving in the middle of a season.

 

[All4SU]

IF (note big IF) the BE proceeds with adding teams, there is no way that SU, WVU or Pitt should be required to play ANY of those teams in BE play. The second one of those teams is on the schedule, the departing teams should be off of the schedule.

 

[All4SU]

Also, is there any reason that we wouldn't put "ACC" on our court this year?

If we can't put "ACC" on our court this year, can we put "Marrinato is an idiot" on the court?

 

[Blood Orange]

The AP is reporting what most have thought. All sports for UCF, Houston, and SMU. Football only for Boise State, Navy, and Air Force.

 

[arbitragegls]

6 plus 8 make 14...if all accept...two can leave...

 

[ImperialOrange]

Depends on what the bylaws actually say. I bet they are worded so you have to wait 27 months and then can leave in the next June that come up past that date. They don't want schools like Syracuse leaving in the middle of a season.

So if the bylaws dictate that we stay with our given conference affiliation until after that current season begins, and we just decline to schedule games but rather "exhibitions" up until that 12/17 date, would our hoops season have technically began?

 

[kingottoiii]

You guys are saying things like "they can't keep us in if we don't get to vote," but that's not really true. If the bylaws say $5M/27 months and that once a school gives notice it can't vote on anything, then that's probably enforceable. It might not seem fair, but if you agreed to it, the courts generally will hold you to your deal.

It is not "they can't keep us in if we don't get to vote," but "they can't expand if we don't vote." And that is what the BE is doing, expanding not replacing. They are going from a 9 team FB conference to a 14. That is drastically different. If they just replaced TCU to go to 9 teams then we wouldn't have a beef.

I agree that if the bylaw says what I highlighted above, then we have much less of a case. But that would assume that 1. the FB schools were dumb enough to accept that, and 2. the BE was smart enough to have it added in the first place.

 

[kingottoiii]

6 plus 8 make 14...if all accept...two can leave...

Wouldn't it be funny if the BE rewarded SU and Pitt for playing nice, but kept WV?