By LENN ROBBINS
Last Updated: 9:20 AM, December 12, 2012
Posted: 1:52 AM, December 12, 2012
Lenn Robbins
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, unless you’re a non-FBS-playing member of the Big East.
The Georgetowns, Villanovas and Providences of the world, are sitting here today doing a nuclear slow burn. All of the founding members of the Big East, are feeling like the woman scorned these days.
The Louisvilles and Pittsburghs and Rutgers of the world used you, used your good name and once unparalleled television exposure. They courted you, married you, and once they had established themselves, left you for the 21-year-old, long-legged blonde.
Quick, call Taylor Swift.
Surely she can pen a really nasty ditty that would capture the anger of the basketball schools, who are so ticked off it wouldn’t surprise anyone if they retained the nastiest, most cutthroat divorce attorney in the nation.
Remember, it was Rutgers and Pitt that led the charge more than a year ago to reject a lucrative extension from ESPN in favor to testing the open market. The Scarlet Knights are in litigation with the Big East over their impending move to the Big Ten, and the Panthers, headed to the ACC, recently settled with the league.
Yes, blood is boiling, palms are sweating. Just one thing: Before schools such as St. John’s and Seton Hall file for divorce, they need to know exactly what the ramifications of such a move will be. Never make an important decision in an emotional state.
To that end, The seven non-FBS schools — DePaul, Georgetown, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Marquette, Providence and Villanova — met on Sunday at St. John’s, said a Post source. The source described the meeting as one of information exchange — including splitting from the football schools — but it was not a “take action” meeting, although a six-month timeline was put in place.
The reality is on this date, 12-12-12, no one is sure if the clock will strike midnight for the Big East.
According to one report, the Big East can expect to get between $60 million and $80 million annually in its next deal. Based on the league’s revenue sharing structure, that means the seven member schools would receive a cut of about $1 million annually, not nearly enough to ensure financial security.
A source told The Post that Big East commissioner Mike Aresco, who attended the meeting on Sunday, believes he will secure a deal closer to $100 million, which would pay the seven hoops schools closer to $3 million. That number is not one the basketball schools could get on their own.
The idea of splitting and adding schools such as Butler, Dayton, Saint Louis and Xavier is appealing, especially to long-time Big East fans fed up with the chew-and-screw antics of the football money-grubbers. But they might be better off, financially, to resist the urge to leave their FBS football-playing brethren.
The Atlantic 10 is a great basketball league with some universities that also have terrific FCS programs. A-10 schools earn about $750,000 a year from their media deals. The attorneys that handle the Big East’s new deal probably will earn more money in fees.
There have been reports in the last 24 hours the Big East is leaning toward a split, that the Atlantic 10 is very interested in absorbing most of the Big East schools and creating a 21-school super hoops conference, and that programs such as Boise State, Houston and SMU are exploring exit strategies.
There is validity to all of this, but right now the climate is too volatile for any decision to be made. And no decision needs to be made.
The seven basketball schools — voting in unison — would have the power to dissolve the league, keep the Big East name and the right to play its postseason tournament at the Garden. They have that power until July 1, when the terms of the next TV deal will be known and a rational decision can be made.