The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

[filbert]

It's official.

New York Daily News article.

[zooropa]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Seems appropriate.

Do you realize that the Big East basically dismantled the WAC?

The Big East pulled two teams out of the MWC (Boise State & San Diego State), and four teams out of C-USA (Memphis, SMU, Houston and UCF).

The MWC responded by pulling Utah State & San Jose State out of the WAC, and C-USA pulled the three transitioning Texas schools and Louisiana Tech out of the WAC, basically destroying the WAC.

So, I can't say that I'm too upset that the result of this little conclave is the destruction of the Big East.

[filbert]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Seems appropriate.

Do you realize that the Big East basically dismantled the WAC?

The Big East pulled two teams out of the MWC (Boise State & San Diego State), and four teams out of C-USA (Memphis, SMU, Houston and UCF).

The MWC responded by pulling Utah State & San Jose State out of the WAC, and C-USA pulled the three transitioning Texas schools and Louisiana Tech out of the WAC, basically destroying the WAC.

So, I can't say that I'm too upset that the result of this little conclave is the destruction of the Big East.

I have similar feelings towards the Big East.

I'm actually quite pleased to see a group of colleges stand up and say "no, we're not staying at this crazy football-obsessed party any more."

[zooropa]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

I have similar feelings towards the Big East.

I'm actually quite pleased to see a group of colleges stand up and say "no, we're not staying at this crazy football-obsessed party any more."

We're not done either. There are still several unstable conferences remaining (Big East, A10, C-USA, WAC, MWC, Big Sky)

I'm surprised that it took this long for the BB schools to ditch the BE. I figured they would've packed up their things and left after the SMU/Houston/UCF/Memphis addition.

[zooropa]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Also, the lament about the death of traditional rivalries and the pursuit of money in big time college athletics reminds me of that line in "Sympathy for the Devil":

"I shouted out, 'Who killed the Kennedys?' when after all, it was you and me."

Where's all this money coming from? It's coming from us. We did this.

[filbert]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Also, the lament about the death of traditional rivalries and the pursuit of money in big time college athletics reminds me of that line in "Sympathy for the Devil":

"I shouted out, 'Who killed the Kennedys?' when after all, it was you and me."

Where's all this money coming from? It's coming from us. We did this.

Agree--in part, at least.

It's to the point where I'm not sure big-time athletics (or, for that matter, big-money research) is healthy for institutions that call themselves "higher education" any more. "Money! Money changes everything!"

(You do Rolling Stones, I do Cyndi Lauper. Hmm.)

[Nidaros]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

I once went to a DePaul game when they played on campus in their gym that rivaled Frost in size, and aging Ray Meyer was coaching still. Since then they moved to the Rosemont and filled that for every home game. I imagine, the Roman Catholic Church should get a cut of their revenue for use of the name Catholic Seven. On second thought, catholic is such a universal word, they might not have to pay up.

[zooropa]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Agree--in part, at least.

It's to the point where I'm not sure big-time athletics (or, for that matter, big-money research) is healthy for institutions that call themselves "higher education" any more. "Money! Money changes everything!"

(You do Rolling Stones, I do Cyndi Lauper. Hmm.)

Another factor: the cable TV pricing model, whereby you pay for every channel you receive, regardless of whether you want it or watch it. Estimates are that about half of the programming charges on the typical cable bill go toward sports networks

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...fix-it/265814/

[Nidaros]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Agree--in part, at least.

It's to the point where I'm not sure big-time athletics (or, for that matter, big-money research) is healthy for institutions that call themselves "higher education" any more. "Money! Money changes everything!"

(You do Rolling Stones, I do Cyndi Lauper. Hmm.)

Whats ironic is that they are affliated with the Roman Catholic Church, and this affliation does not mean big revenue from the church itself, quite the contrary. I suspect they are much like the Lutheran schools and get less than 50 thousand a year in support. None of this goes into the athletic budget. I havent checked recently but I suspect that is what Augustana gets in from the ELCA(Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).
Most of the private schools are tuition driven. And that is why the Augustana Advantage costs a bunch of bucks.

Money does change everything. The more dollars involved, the temptation for corruption grows greater.

[jack43]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Will this affect our future home conference? The rumor that seems to be picking up some speed here in Omaha is that Creighton is considering leaving the MVC and joining these catholic basketball schools. It would leave the MVC in a position to expand IMO.

[Nidaros]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Will this affect our future home conference? The rumor that seems to be picking up some speed here in Omaha is that Creighton is considering leaving the MVC and joining these catholic basketball schools. It would leave the MVC in a position to expand IMO.

I believe TV mentioned his chat on 12/18/2012, that it might take more than Creighton to leave before those in the Summit are affected, like Evansville leaving the MVC. Where would they go? I suspect they have options which they are looking at. If Creighton goes to the Catholic League, it seems on the surface to be a good fit, I wonder how a new league picks up where it left off in revenue sharing from the Big Dance? How does a new league automatically qualify for the Big Dance? They have to be around 10 years or so and I believe this was a killer for the NCC moving up in mass. There are always waivers with NCAA big boys.

[OldHare]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

It would seem that the SD schools should be interested in the health of the Summit with SF hosting the BB tourney(A bit of a crown jewel for the conference). With NDSU having notions of BCS football, one can only expect they may need to keep the rest of the sports here. Should the Summit continue to have some stability in the Midwest(eg adding Denver), I would hope that the Summit may be a destination for some schools that are established rather than a transitional spot for those moving to DI. At this time, the commissioner and members seem to be moving in a positive direction.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

On second thought, catholic is such a universal word, they might not have to pay up.

Funny. Universal and catholic are synonyms for each other.

[Rabbit74]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Funny. Universal and catholic are synonyms for each other.

Only for catholic, not for Catholic.

[Nidaros]

Re: The Catholic Seven leave the Big East

Only for catholic, not for Catholic.

Correct. The name of the conference should be the Roman Catholic Seven.