NY Times: BIG EAST EYEING ARMY, NAVY DEAL

[TyBull]

BIG EAST EYEING ARMY, NAVY DEAL

By LENN ROBBINS

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07282008/spo...121965.htm

July 28, 2008 --

NEWPORT, R.I. - It has taken five years for the aftershocks of the ACC's raid on the Big East to subside. Now the league that commissioner Mike Tranghese rebuilt seems rock solid.

West Virginia, South Florida and Rutgers are in the preseason Top 25 in many publications. And last week's announcement that the league had signed a five-year deal with SNY guaranteeing weekly coverage in the world's largest media market gives the Big East (which also has an ESPN deal) a formidable TV package.

So what's next for the league? Expansion.

The Post has learned that the Big East has explored deals with Army and Navy in football. The concept is for each of the service academies to play four Big East opponents each season on a rotating basis.

For example, in a given year, Army would play Connecticut, Cincinnati, Louisville and Pittsburgh. Navy would face Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse and West Virginia.

"It's easy to say you want to expand just like it's easy for people say they want to change the BCS system," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "There are a lot of factors that have to be looked at. If there are schools out there are a good fit for the league I think we should look at it because scheduling is getting harder and more costly than ever."

Rutgers knows this firsthand. When Buffalo pulled out of a scheduled game for this season, Rutgers had to go scrambling to find an opponent. It finally landed Morgan State, a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) school, to the tune of $300,000.

A lot of schools are scrambling for opponents for two reasons. After a couple of years of testing the waters, regular season schedules are up to 12 games. And the improvement of FCS schools (anyone remember Appalachian State winning a game at the school in Ann Arbor?) has upped the ante.

A ninth member, even limited partners such as Army and Navy (both have a significant TV following) would give league members eight league games. That would allow the flexibility of four non-conference games so teams could pursue non-conference rivals such as Pittsburgh and Penn State.

Army and Navy (both play Rutgers this season) initially rejected the idea of a Big East association but because both are independents, that could change. Notre Dame, of course, would be the Golden Goose for the Big East, but the Irish aren't going to walk away from their golden television deal with NBC. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said there's nothing from the league's presidents pressing the issue. But Rutgers athletic director Bob Mulcahy said heading into this week's media week that nothing would surprise him.

"You look at how the landscape has changed in college football and once you get in the [conference] you never know for certain what will come up," he said. "If [expansion] makes sense for Rutgers and if it makes sense for the league, we'll listen."

[Bull Martin]

Cue idiots from UCF and ECU talking about how much better 4 game splits with them would have been.

[Sunil]

It'd be great to even out the scheduling issues that currently exist...but Army and Navy don't do much to excite (with the exception of television viewership). Neither does much to boost the perceived overall depth of the conference. I wonder how much Notre Dame's recent renewal with NBC had to do with the timing of this? Wish the BE was past basing every decision on television ratings...

[Jamie]

Navy's pretty good (just ask Pittsburgh), but Army is awful.

And would this mean either one of those teams get dibs on our already pathetic bowl situation?

[smazza]

it would be a disaster and step back to bring in service academies

[TheBullies]

might be a good building block just for tv audience

tho they are usually horrible... the other teams in the BE are def picking up the slack

[BleacherBull]

Army's already beaten us once.  Navy could beat us also (but maybe not this year).

[Bullpride08]

it would be a disaster and step back to bring in service academies

READING IS FUNDAMENTAL.

This has been in the works for over a year.  As I've been screaming for years there is no expansion in sight, it's not happening.  No one in the BE wants it, per se...rather what is available, with Memphis, ECU, Marshall, and UCF basically pawing all over themselves to get in, has excited no one inside the Big East.  ZERO Interest. The hoops schools will never approve an expansion unless it was a profoundly important new member.  Someone of that magnitude would be a BC, PSU, ND, or a combination, coming back to the fold.  That's not happening for now.

SO,the biggest issue for expansion is scheduling.  Tranghese has done a great job shoring that up completely.  It wasn't fair that ND got a bite of our bowl apple but wasn't forced to play BE teams, but on the flip they didn't want in a conference for football.  Now The BE  has a three game per year agreement with them starting in 2010...it's fair for us, and fair for them.  The Army and Navy has been in the works for a while...it's great for scheduling.  For all the arse holes that hate FIU on the schedule, or want every team to be a BCS program, well the service academies are quasi-BCS entities that carry power and prestige, and a boost in attendance and tv ratings.  It's a win, win.

If USF has a schedule say starting in 2012, and they can guarantee Miami as one game, Army/Navy as another...and then 7 BE teams.  That gives us a 9 game locked in schedule and allows us to be far more picky with our three other games.  Now we're not shopping for 5 OOC games...teams carry leverage, no one wants to come to Tampa.  It doesn't give a school like UT much, and the likelihood of an arse whooping has just increased 10 fold.  Now we can be more selective and shop more and settle for less WKU's, and Ball State deals.

This is great, and this deal will strengthen the BE for the long haul, or at least for the next 7-8 years, or until the next conference shake-up comes around (they usually seem to happen every 10-12 years, 1992 with the BE and ACC additions, 1984 the Big 8, SWC, etc.).  I am hoping by then facilities are done, Leavitt has 4-5 conference championships and BCS wins under his belt, and hoops has shot itself back to respectability.