Big 12 & Big East Expansion: Will West Virginia Departure Trigger Loss Of Notre Dame?
by CardiacHill on Oct 30, 2011 9:00 AM EDT
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I haven't covered the whole West Virginia to Big 12 thing. I've been following the Big East expansion stuff even after Pitt left, but the longer this whole thing drags on, one thing becomes more and more evident - this ain't ending anytime soon.
The Big East has been rumored to add teams for some time now, but are moving at the same pace that caused Pitt and Syracuse to bolt at the first opportunity. That said, I found this nugget a few days ago from the New York post interesting: Notre Dame's non-football sports could be leaving the Big East.
Sure, we've all heard that they could join the ACC or the Big Ten. But the report mentions something even different than that - the Irish could leave and move its non-football programs to the Big 12:
West Virginia might have been the last straw -- for Notre Dame.
The Mountaineers' decision to join the Big 12, as reported in yesterday's Post, has placed greater pressure than ever on Notre Dame to retain its status as an independent in football, because the battered Big East Conference might no longer be a home for its non-revenue sports, several sources told The Post.
If the Big East, which is now down to five FBS members, can't reconstitute with new members, the Irish will have to face the choice they have rued: Surrender their football independence and join the Big Ten or the ACC, or retain their independence while joining the Big 12 for all other sports.
Cliff notes version: With the loss of West Virginia, Notre Dame feels the Big East would no longer be viable for even its non-football programs.
Not many people care all that much about what Notre Dame does for volleyball - it's football that matters. ACC or Big Ten? I get that. But even though there's a bit of a geographic fit, I'm curious as to why the Big 12 is viable.
Looking closer to home, though, what does this mean for the Big East? Well, obviously besides losing those programs, you've got to wonder if the move would have an effect on their tie-in with the conference for the Champs Sports Bowl. Big East fans (including myself, at times) have been frustrated with the tie-ins, but the truth is that the conference has more leverage by including Notre Dame when trying to secure bowl games. Without the Irish (and without the status as a BCS AQ conference), the already meager bowl lineup will get that much worse.
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Olympic Sports matter to Notre Dame
Notre Dame cares about its volleyball, and I’m sure would prefer finding a good home for it (and all of its Olympic sports). ND has a lot of sports teams, and they need a home somewhere.
If the “Catholic League” (the seven non-FBS Big East schools + ND) formed, ND might not have a home for all of its sports. Of that group of eight, only three sponsor at least 22 sports (the three that have football – G-town, Nova and ND). The others sponsor a maximum of 16 sports each.
The football Big East schools helped Notre Dame with its non-football sports because they brought enough teams to have competition in those Olympic sports. If the football schools all leave, the Big East might sponsor fewer sports and therefore may be non-viable as a home for Notre Dame Olympic sports.
The Big 12 will probably survive, although it is a cultural mismatch for ND. The ACC is a better cultural fit and the Big Ten is a better geographic fit.
The Big 12 is only a possible viable option for Notre Dame because the Big 12 is the only BCS conference that might be dumb enough to give Notre Dame the option of having a separate FBS program while the Big 12 has its own football league. The ACC and the Big Ten won’t do it (which is the smart thing to do).
My guess is that the Big 12 is trying to get some sort of deal so that if the Irish join the Big 12 as a non-football member but later decide to bring their football program into a conference, ND must join the Big 12 for football. I’m not convinced ND will join them if that is one of the conditions. It should be interesting to watch.
The big question for Notre Dame is whether or not football independence is worth having their Olympic sports in a lousy conference. The Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 would all provide high levels of competition for their Olympic sports (and are all stronger than the Big East in that regard).
Assumption is the mother of all @#%-ups.
ND
The football Big East schools helped Notre Dame with its non-football sports because they brought enough teams to have competition in those Olympic sports. If the football schools all leave, the Big East might sponsor fewer sports and therefore may be non-viable as a home for Notre Dame Olympic sports.
That’s actually a fair point -
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by CardiacHill on Oct 30, 2011 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions
N.D. has been no help anyway !
I think Notre Dame has been a huge Big East MISCALCULATION from the beginning ! It has not had any influence on any of the Big East departures. Instead it has served as a constant reminder that N.D. doesn’t think that Big East football is worthy of them ! They have all but said if they were going to join a conference it wouldn’t be the Big East ! Why have they been allowed to hang around as some form of false messiah who won’t lift a finger to help ? Bootem out !
by Lancaster O's Fan on Oct 30, 2011 10:55 AM EDT reply actions
Agree completely
If anything, ND has sortof weakened the BE from a stature standpoint, because the partial sports inclusion is viewed as a sign of weakness nationally. The same thing will happen to the Big 12 if they go there. This is why the ACC was smart in saying to Notre Dame that it’s all or nothing,.
by PittGuy on Oct 31, 2011 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Big East Bylaws
Anyone know if ND subject to the same Big East Bylaws that full members are? In other words, do they have to pay $5 million and remain for 27 months?
From what I've heard, no
And this article seems to back that up.
Manager of Cardiac Hill - SB Nation's Pitt Panthers blog
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by CardiacHill on Oct 31, 2011 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions
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