Villanova Looks Like It May Be Big East Bound For Football

[cygnus34]

Talk about it in 'Nova Nation

Latest on the Villanova Football Upgrade Decision

As reported by VUSports on Friday and updated on Saturday, the Big East football schools met Sunday to consider Villanova's potential membership in the Big East for football.

The Big East decided to ask Villanova for more clarity on the proposed stadium solution included in the upgrade plan. Fr. Peter Donahue sent out an email to Villanovans indicating that the decision to move up will be postponed indefintely pending additional planning and fact-finding by the league and Villanova.

PPL Park, as currently configured, only seats 18,500. The stadium has standing room and temporary seating that can be used in the current configration to up the seating to the 20,000-21,00 range.

That may be acceptable to the Big East during the transition phase as Villanova ramps up to full Big East football membership. However, several Big East football member schools are not satisfied with PPL as a solution. Especially if Villanova can't present a definitized plan and timeline that demonstrate how the eventual expansion of the stadium to a 30-35K capacity would be orchestrated and funded.

The Villanova Board of Trustees was prepared to announce a move up to play Big East football this Tuesday had the Big East accepted all aspects of the Villanova upgrade plan.

The biggest hurdle now is that Villanova does not control it's own destiny in regards to PPL. The University has to work with the Philadelphia Union and the government entities that control PPL Park to craft a stadium expansion plan that is acceptable to all parties. Funding vehicles for the project must also be identified.

If this hurdle cannot be cleared then the only ray of hope for Villanova's upgrade chances is that other aspects of the proposal such as entry fees, away game appearance fees, revenue sharing, etc. can be negotiated to satisfy the schools that are currently against Villanova's move up under the current plan (believed to be Rutgers, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and one other) and Villanova.

Other stadium options are limited. Radnor Township balks at any attempt to increase the capacity of Villanova's on campus venue, Franklin Field is a dated stadium that is owned by the University of Pennsylvania, Lincoln Financial Field is run by the Philadelphia Eagles and Temple University currently has an agreement/lease that runs through 2017, and Citizens Bank Park (The Philadelphia Phillies Stadium) would most likely only be made available in November and December after completion of the World Series.

Just when it appeared that an announcement may finally be made the drama continues. 'Nova Nation continues to ride the emotional rollercoaster as the process runs it's course.

In the Southeast, football is king. In the Northeast, basketball brings more positive press to the Big East Conference than does football. At the end of the day will the basketball and the football members of the Big East come to the realization that the long-term success of the league and it's members is best served by balancing the football and basketball "products"?

[Mama_Bull]

Big East issued a statement today:

“The Big East Conference and Villanova University have worked closely with each other over the past several months regarding potential football membership," Marinatto said in the statement. "We will continue with our due diligence process and work with Villanova to continue to share relevant information and materials. The Big East Conference obviously very much values its long-standing relationship with Villanova and we are committed to continuing to work with them on this matter in an open and forthright manner. Until there is additional information to report, the conference plans no further comment.â€

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/19155/big-east-statement-on-villanova#comments

[commbull]

Looks now as though Villanova may NOT be Big East Bound for football, at least not soon. 

[813knight]

(6) From the sound of things, three schools seem in favor of Villanova joining (at least in terms of providing a "yes" vote).  Those teams are Cincy, USF, and UConn.  Nova's stadium situation would take some slack off Cincy's situation in terms of stadium size.  USF sounds pretty determined to not allow UCF in the conference and that Nova's acceptance would stop that for the time being.  Not sure on UConn, but it could be a situation of them coming up this same path and wanting to see another long-time basketball school move up to joining the football schools.

(7) The other schools apparently are against it in some capacity.  I think many saw their invitation to apply for membership as a football playing member as something that would not happen because of Nova overall financial situation (i.e., small endowment), being a smaller private school, and the lack of facilities to even move up to the minimal FBS levels.  They wanted TCU to get an invite as it strengthens the conference by adding a currently good team in football and also helps to gain some additional market area in Texas.  TCU was also willing to and had plans to spend capital to upgrade their facilities as part of the process in this move.  Not sure these schools however saw any benefit in adding Nova except for BE HQ in Providence wanting it to happen since they were already a BE non-football playing member.  The lackluster road map put together by Nova including the PPL Park plan has caused more of this dissent to come out in public to the point where Nova's President released a statement that they no longer have a "clear and formal invitation" to join the BE as a full sports member.

you all must be proud of your president, a true sign of character....there are several sources saying the same thing.

[cubuffsdoug]

Looks now as though Villanova may NOT be Big East Bound for football, at least not soon. 

For one of the few times the football schools flexed their muscles to the idiots in R.I.  Too often the BE idiot crew force the football schools to do things that are not in their best interest.  If adding Nova to the BE helped the profile of the conference, then the votes would be there, but Nova actually takes away from the BE in the eyes of BCS and the rest of the Big 6 conferences.  The BE is fighting for their respect and to keep the blood suckers from going after their BCS membership based on mostly hate.  Nova is a solid FCS school with a trip to the championship game recently ('09), but that doesn't help the imagine of the BE right now.  

[Triple B]

(6) From the sound of things, three schools seem in favor of Villanova joining (at least in terms of providing a "yes" vote).  Those teams are Cincy, USF, and UConn.  Nova's stadium situation would take some slack off Cincy's situation in terms of stadium size.  USF sounds pretty determined to not allow UCF in the conference and that Nova's acceptance would stop that for the time being.  Not sure on UConn, but it could be a situation of them coming up this same path and wanting to see another long-time basketball school move up to joining the football schools.

(7) The other schools apparently are against it in some capacity.  I think many saw their invitation to apply for membership as a football playing member as something that would not happen because of Nova overall financial situation (i.e., small endowment), being a smaller private school, and the lack of facilities to even move up to the minimal FBS levels.  They wanted TCU to get an invite as it strengthens the conference by adding a currently good team in football and also helps to gain some additional market area in Texas.  TCU was also willing to and had plans to spend capital to upgrade their facilities as part of the process in this move.  Not sure these schools however saw any benefit in adding Nova except for BE HQ in Providence wanting it to happen since they were already a BE non-football playing member.  The lackluster road map put together by Nova including the PPL Park plan has caused more of this dissent to come out in public to the point where Nova's President released a statement that they no longer have a "clear and formal invitation" to join the BE as a full sports member.

you all must be proud of your president, a true sign of character.... 

LOL ... What does that have to do with JG's character?? You're beginning to be as whiny a little ***** as K_L ... That came off an Internet message board with the lead in of "It sounds like this is how it all went down". Just another self appointed "expert" who's just throwing crap against the wall.

there are several sources saying the same thing.

And I'm sure those "sources" are just reliable as that one ... :

[Mama_Bull]

(6) From the sound of things, three schools seem in favor of Villanova joining (at least in terms of providing a "yes" vote).  Those teams are Cincy, USF, and UConn.  Nova's stadium situation would take some slack off Cincy's situation in terms of stadium size.  USF sounds pretty determined to not allow UCF in the conference and that Nova's acceptance would stop that for the time being.  Not sure on UConn, but it could be a situation of them coming up this same path and wanting to see another long-time basketball school move up to joining the football schools.

(7) The other schools apparently are against it in some capacity.  I think many saw their invitation to apply for membership as a football playing member as something that would not happen because of Nova overall financial situation (i.e., small endowment), being a smaller private school, and the lack of facilities to even move up to the minimal FBS levels.  They wanted TCU to get an invite as it strengthens the conference by adding a currently good team in football and also helps to gain some additional market area in Texas.  TCU was also willing to and had plans to spend capital to upgrade their facilities as part of the process in this move.  Not sure these schools however saw any benefit in adding Nova except for BE HQ in Providence wanting it to happen since they were already a BE non-football playing member.  The lackluster road map put together by Nova including the PPL Park plan has caused more of this dissent to come out in public to the point where Nova's President released a statement that they no longer have a "clear and formal invitation" to join the BE as a full sports member.

you all must be proud of your president, a true sign of character.... 

LOL ... What does that have to do with JG's character?? You're beginning to be as whiny a little ***** as K_L ... That came off an Internet message board with the lead in of "It sounds like this is how it all went down". Just another self appointed "expert" who's just throwing crap against the wall.

there are several sources saying the same thing.

And I'm sure those "sources" are just reliable as that one ... :

The funny thing is that post was by a Pitt fan, on a WVU board in  response to a UCF blog.

pittengineer75 

667 posts this site

Posted: Yesterday 2:54 PM

Re: Found this from UCF blog re: Villanova football

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It sounds like this is how it all went down:

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=159&f=2508&t=7415193&p=1

I don't know for a fact that the USF Prez is determined not to let UCF into the Big East. However, I certainly wouldn't blame her if that is the case. I'd expect that the UCF Prez would take the same position if the situation was reversed, because that's the way the game is played. WVU doesn't want Marshall, TCU doesn't want Houston and Pitt and RU don't want Villanova, in order to protect their own territory. 

[South_Florida_Flip]

(6) From the sound of things, three schools seem in favor of Villanova joining (at least in terms of providing a "yes" vote).  Those teams are Cincy, USF, and UConn.  Nova's stadium situation would take some slack off Cincy's situation in terms of stadium size.  USF sounds pretty determined to not allow UCF in the conference and that Nova's acceptance would stop that for the time being.  Not sure on UConn, but it could be a situation of them coming up this same path and wanting to see another long-time basketball school move up to joining the football schools.

(7) The other schools apparently are against it in some capacity.  I think many saw their invitation to apply for membership as a football playing member as something that would not happen because of Nova overall financial situation (i.e., small endowment), being a smaller private school, and the lack of facilities to even move up to the minimal FBS levels.  They wanted TCU to get an invite as it strengthens the conference by adding a currently good team in football and also helps to gain some additional market area in Texas.  TCU was also willing to and had plans to spend capital to upgrade their facilities as part of the process in this move.  Not sure these schools however saw any benefit in adding Nova except for BE HQ in Providence wanting it to happen since they were already a BE non-football playing member.  The lackluster road map put together by Nova including the PPL Park plan has caused more of this dissent to come out in public to the point where Nova's President released a statement that they no longer have a "clear and formal invitation" to join the BE as a full sports member.

you all must be proud of your president, a true sign of character....there are several sources saying the same thing.

Funny how you bolded information from a post that said "this is how it all sound like it went down". I haven't seen one "source" of any significance to say the same thing.

You were one of a couple of UCF posters who I could respect, but it just seems like you're just another of the many whiny fans of UCF.

[CPR]

(6) From the sound of things, three schools seem in favor of Villanova joining (at least in terms of providing a "yes" vote).  Those teams are Cincy, USF, and UConn.  Nova's stadium situation would take some slack off Cincy's situation in terms of stadium size.  USF sounds pretty determined to not allow UCF in the conference and that Nova's acceptance would stop that for the time being.  Not sure on UConn, but it could be a situation of them coming up this same path and wanting to see another long-time basketball school move up to joining the football schools.

(7) The other schools apparently are against it in some capacity.  I think many saw their invitation to apply for membership as a football playing member as something that would not happen because of Nova overall financial situation (i.e., small endowment), being a smaller private school, and the lack of facilities to even move up to the minimal FBS levels.  They wanted TCU to get an invite as it strengthens the conference by adding a currently good team in football and also helps to gain some additional market area in Texas.  TCU was also willing to and had plans to spend capital to upgrade their facilities as part of the process in this move.  Not sure these schools however saw any benefit in adding Nova except for BE HQ in Providence wanting it to happen since they were already a BE non-football playing member.  The lackluster road map put together by Nova including the PPL Park plan has caused more of this dissent to come out in public to the point where Nova's President released a statement that they no longer have a "clear and formal invitation" to join the BE as a full sports member.

you all must be proud of your president, a true sign of character....there are several sources saying the same thing.

Even though there aren't any sources anywhere backing up your whining, I'd be perfectly content knowing she was doing her best to keep UCF out. That's what I'd want, but in the end, she doesn't have the leverage to keep you out. So, if UCF is really an asset to the BE and if you'd strengthen the conference (which I still don't buy), then you'll be in.

[crambone]

Talk about it in 'Nova Nation

Latest on the Villanova Football Upgrade Decision

As reported by VUSports on Friday and updated on Saturday, the Big East football schools met Sunday to consider Villanova's potential membership in the Big East for football.

The Big East decided to ask Villanova for more clarity on the proposed stadium solution included in the upgrade plan. Fr. Peter Donahue sent out an email to Villanovans indicating that the decision to move up will be postponed indefintely pending additional planning and fact-finding by the league and Villanova.

PPL Park, as currently configured, only seats 18,500. The stadium has standing room and temporary seating that can be used in the current configration to up the seating to the 20,000-21,00 range.

That may be acceptable to the Big East during the transition phase as Villanova ramps up to full Big East football membership. However, several Big East football member schools are not satisfied with PPL as a solution. Especially if Villanova can't present a definitized plan and timeline that demonstrate how the eventual expansion of the stadium to a 30-35K capacity would be orchestrated and funded.

The Villanova Board of Trustees was prepared to announce a move up to play Big East football this Tuesday had the Big East accepted all aspects of the Villanova upgrade plan.

The biggest hurdle now is that Villanova does not control it's own destiny in regards to PPL. The University has to work with the Philadelphia Union and the government entities that control PPL Park to craft a stadium expansion plan that is acceptable to all parties. Funding vehicles for the project must also be identified.

If this hurdle cannot be cleared then the only ray of hope for Villanova's upgrade chances is that other aspects of the proposal such as entry fees, away game appearance fees, revenue sharing, etc. can be negotiated to satisfy the schools that are currently against Villanova's move up under the current plan (believed to be Rutgers, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and one other) and Villanova.

Other stadium options are limited. Radnor Township balks at any attempt to increase the capacity of Villanova's on campus venue, Franklin Field is a dated stadium that is owned by the University of Pennsylvania, Lincoln Financial Field is run by the Philadelphia Eagles and Temple University currently has an agreement/lease that runs through 2017, and Citizens Bank Park (The Philadelphia Phillies Stadium) would most likely only be made available in November and December after completion of the World Series.

Just when it appeared that an announcement may finally be made the drama continues. 'Nova Nation continues to ride the emotional rollercoaster as the process runs it's course.

In the Southeast, football is king. In the Northeast, basketball brings more positive press to the Big East Conference than does football. At the end of the day will the basketball and the football members of the Big East come to the realization that the long-term success of the league and it's members is best served by balancing the football and basketball "products"?

Link for this?