Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 19, 1994 TAG: 9402190050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Ask Connecticut. The Huskies have six days to decide.
If the 10-member Big East Conference and the eight-school Big East Football Conference are to become one big family - it probably won't be a happy one, at least at first - UConn is likely to cast the deciding vote. At least, that's what insiders say, the same insiders who seem to think expansion is likely.
A five-year, $72 million agreement the Big East football players got from CBS Sports this week is forcing the issue. If prospective ESPN dollars discussed are added, plus the kind of money the Big East earns now from its basketball tournament and TV, the five-year pot would be in excess of $100 million - and that doesn't include bowl appearances.
Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said this week that the presidents and athletic directors of the 10 Big East basketball schools would meet at a "secret" place and date to determine whether to invite the Hokies, Rutgers, Temple and West Virginia for more than football.
The meeting is Friday in Boston. A Connecticut newspaper revealed that. An announcement is expected within 10 days. The Hartford Courant also reported this week that UConn's athletic director, Lew Perkins, and basketball coach, Jim Calhoun, didn't know the CBS agreement was a done deal until after it was done.
Yes, the Big East beast is now football. And if the hoopheads don't like it, well, they can keep the conference's name and Tranghese - whose contract states that he stays with the founding fathers if the football schools break away. It will take seven of 10 votes for expansion.
It's obvious that Syracuse, Miami, Boston College and Pitt will vote for expansion. They play football and basketball in the league. They'd like to keep enjoying the best of both worlds. So, who among UConn, St. John's, Seton Hall, Providence, Villanova and Georgetown will vote with the football players?
A network source with close ties to the league says Providence and Villanova will vote yes. The Friars, who have the Big East office in their city, don't want to lose BC as a conference rival. Villanova, a Division I-AA football power, has thoughts of playing I-A football again someday, with the other eight.
St. John's, Georgetown and Seton Hall apparently aren't buying the football sales pitch. That leaves UConn. The Huskies have been making noise about moving from I-AA to I-A in football, and that would have been more likely had the NFL's New England Patriots moved from Foxboro, Mass., to a new stadium in Hartford. That won't happen.
UConn wanted to take its time and study its potential football future. It has six days. The notion is that UConn is likely to vote for expansion because then it would be positioned for football growth and if it doesn't happen, well, the longtime Big East basketballers still could break away later.
Connecticut's president, Harry Hartley, isn't tipping the Huskies' paw. Quoted in the Hartford newspaper, Hartley said that if the basketball schools went their own way, they could add Notre Dame, DePaul, St. Louis and Marquette. He said there also has been some discussion of Louisville. Hartley said he has talked with the Massachusetts administration, too.
Calhoun wasn't as diplomatic as Hartley after learning that the CBS deal - even for basketball - was with the football schools alone.
"It's very difficult for me to imagine Virginia Tech having more say in the Big East than Georgetown and St. John's," Calhoun told the Hartford paper. "If I were Frank Rienzo [Georgetown's athletic director] or one of the other people who helped the Big East become what it is, I think it would have been a very emotional day."
There's little question CBS wants a 14-team Big East. The New York market strength of St. John's and Seton Hall is significant, particularly in advertising sales. Even with 14 members, the league wants Notre Dame and DePaul down the road, too.
Whatever the Big East vote, Virginia Tech may have to pay the Metro Conference at least $500,000 and perhaps as much as $750,000 to leave, according to the five-year membership commitment made in June 1991. The Hokies will play their last Metro basketball season next winter, four years after the Metro seven signed to stay.
If that sounds like a costly proposition, it isn't. Tech would more than recoup that in one year of revenue sharing in its new conference, whether Connecticut decides that will be the Big East or not.
by CNB