BE/C-USA merger

[Nacho]

I'll see what else I can find on this. My guess is that they are talking about a regional northeastern conference or at least something close to it.

<A HREF="http://www.gopirates.com/article.asp?id=596" TARGET=_blank>http://www.gopirates.com/article.asp?id=596</A>

[Nacho]

Some speculation about the merger:

<A HREF="http://eastcarolina.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1324&tid=19606637&sid=&style=2" TARGET=_blank>http://eastcarolina.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1324&tid=19606637&sid=&style=2</A>

[Nacho]

I don't see the BE/C-USA merger coming to pass. The distances are much too great. There is no VT or Miami out there anyway. It's not just the football teams that must travel. The basketball teams are in there also. And then all the olympic sports have to travel. This is the very reason that Tulane lost $7 million last year. I can see the BE going after a couple of schools to go to 8 or possibly 9 but to form a 12 team conference they would have to spread over the entire eastern half of the country. The ACC didn't even want to go to Boston. The BE/C-USA merger is nothing more than wishful thinking by some fans who don't understand economics.

[SMUstang]

Nacho, I hope you're right. Do you think the BE will add Louisville and Cinci before the Aug 1 cutoff?

[Charleston Pony]

I wouldn't rule out something like this happening. The Big East is desperately trying to hold on to their place at the BCS table, and expanding to a 12 member football conference by inviting the top eastern teams from CUSA (Louisville, Cincy, ECU & S.Fla) and either inviting Army/Navy (for national appeal) or UCF & Marshall (for additional strength) might just do the trick.

Admittedly, bball would be a challenge and revenue sharing will ultimately decide whether this concept is viable. Do the 6 remaining bball only Big East members simply join this group (sans Army/Navy) for a 16 member Big East bball conference? Or, do they expand to 18 by inviting two schools from among UNCC, Xavier, Marquette, DePaul & Dayton?

It would be nice to see things move quickly, but future changes will probably be driven by the Big East and something this massive is likely to take several months to put together.