C7 Update

Just got this email from St. John's:

The BIG EAST Conference released a statement earlier today regarding the separation of its seven basketball-focused schools, of which St. John's is a part. Here is the statement in its entirety:

PROVIDENCE - Big East Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco today announced that after several weeks of cordial and professional discussions, a definitive agreement has been reached that will enable a mutually-beneficial separation of some of the league's current members and allow an orderly formation of a new conference by the seven basketball schools.  The separation will become effective on July 1, 2013.

The agreement, which remains subject to formal Board approval, contemplates continued cooperation and playing opportunities between the conferences.

"I am pleased that this agreement has been reached," said Aresco.  "With the long-term well-being of our outstanding institutions and their student-athletes of paramount importance, each group worked through a number of complex issues in an orderly, comprehensive and amicable manner marked by mutual respect.  We part ways as friends and colleagues and look forward to the success of both conferences."

The Presidents of the seven basketball universities released the following statement regarding their formal separation: "We are grateful to Commissioner Michael Aresco for spearheading an agreement that truly represents the best path forward for each of our great institutions and the thousands of student-athletes who compete for our schools annually.  It is a great credit to Mike, our colleagues, and all involved that we were able to work through a host of highly complex and time-sensitive issues in such a short period of time.  We are pleased that we reached this amicable and mutually-beneficial separation by approaching each issue with a spirit of cooperation and shared respect."

For the most up to date information please visit www.stjohns.edu/alumni.
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St. John's University | 8000 Utopia Pkwy | Queens, NY 11439 | www.stjohns.edu/alumni
 
Finally! This is good news indeed.

It is absolutely amazing the sour grapes being spouted by Pukon fans. Well, they have reaped what they have sown. Good-bye Pukon. Enjoy the "America 12" or whatever it will be called.
 
America 12 ... even though they won't have 12 teams until 2015 ... and by then, UConn and Cincinnati probably will have bolted. You'd think any new conference, especially one that's on wobbly legs to begin with, would stay away from the numbers game.
 
http://ajerseyguy.com/

Big East cost of business: $15 million in legal fees?
March 8, 2013 – 2:43 pm
Now that the Big East and Catholic 7 have officially filed their divorce papers, the logical question is: What’s next?
But before any speculation begins, it might be time to take a survey at the landscape. The biggest winners, as is in most domestic disputes, are the lawyers.
Source familiar with the discussions being held during the past three months, estimate that the Big East legal fees could top out at the $15 million range.
Which might explain why there was a money fight over distribution of the remaining funds. If you use the estimate of $100 million in available funds, and immediately take 10 million as compensation for the Catholic 7, $15 million in legal fees and then another $5 million to handle new operating costs which may occur you are down to 70 million to be distributed among the remaining members of the soon to be renamed football conference.
And that total includes money that still must be collected from departing schools such as Rutgers and Louisville. In any scenario, the payouts would not be in one lump sum, but over a period of 5 or 6 years.
Using that formula, even if schools such as UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida were given 30 million, spread over 6 years, a 5 million pay check is not exactly the same as winning the lottery for schools whose budgets are already dealing with increasing deficits.
But moving past the financial matters, the reality of life apart for both groups now looms.
Here’s the way it could unfold.
Let’s start with the Catholic 7 Seton Hall, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, Providence and St. John’s. They will move quickly–perhaps as soon as next week in New York– to invite Butler, and Xavier and Creighton, which will make 10 teams for the 2013-2014 season.
Discussions will be held on expanding to 12 teams within a year, with Saint Louis, Dayton and Richmond the primary schools of interest.
The key “inside the ropes” element will be to find a commissioner to put all of this together. And where will the conference offices be located. Right now the debate is between Providence–cheaper and easier to staff with people who know what they are doing, especially in regards to the Big East.-or Washington D.C.
If the Catholic 7 were wise they would focus their attention on former Big East Associate Commissioner Dan Gavitt, who is now running the NCAA basketball tournament.
Gavitt loves his job with the NCAA. But he also loves Providence, and the Big East–since his father Dave Gavitt created the conference. A move to call Gavitt home, with a huge bump in salary, might be a deal maker. Although Gavitt has only been with the NCAA for one season, the Catholic 7 group could make him a “Godfather” offer.
If they want to go into another direction, the next two names which jump out are West Coast Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich, who has Princeton and Georgetown connections and current George Mason athletic director Tom O’Connor. Both men could do good jobs. in either of those cases, the offices would probably be shifted to Washington D.C.
After that, the search turns murkier. There are qualified candidates, but finding them and matching them to the job, becomes more problematical.
Next, the football side. More complicated in many ways, less in others.
The first task will be to find a name for the conference since after July 1, the Big East name will no longer be available. The America 12 conference name was floated as a possibility and may be taken down because of so many shots against it which came from various places inside the league and outside the league.
I still like using the word “Metro”, which would fit all of the schools in the conference other than East Carolina. And I’m still offering Big Metro Athletic Conference (Big Mac) free of charge with the idea of teaming up with McDonald’s on promotional and sponsoring deals as a way to entice more of the twitter generation to games.
Whatever it is named the league will consist of 10 teams in football next season: Temple, Connecticut, South Florida, Cincinnati, SMU, Memphis, Houston, Central Florida, Rutgers and Louisville. Rutgers and Louisville will leave for the Big Ten and ACC in 2014 and be replaced by Tulane and East Carolina. Navy is expected to join the league in 2015, which would make 11 teams and a 12th team will be added, with Tulsa regarded as the main target.
Watch out for Navy though, which made its deal with the Big East as a BCS school with BCS guaranteed bowl money. Without that money, how attractive is this new league for Navy in football only since finding opponents is not a Navy problem.
In the aftermath of all of this, both sides came out on Friday with tentative statements, indicating that much work still had to be done.
The Catholic 7 issued a group statement, thanking Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco for his hard work and support during the talks.
Aresco, after congratulating the Catholic 7 schools and wishing them luck, talked about the name of his old, new conference. “”We have not chosen a new conference name at this time,” said Aresco in a statement and there are no favorites. “”We are going through a thoughtful evaluation of potential names in a timely manner through a comprehensive and deliberate process that involves our presidents and athletic directors as well as consultants from inside and outside the conference. We are excited about the prospects of re-branding and look forward to working with our institutions and our fans as we engage in this process.”
Aresco must also find a new home for his newly named conference, with a rotating series of sites the most likely scenario, with Hartford, Ct. or Memphis the most likely first stop.
The issue of distributing the nearly 100 million dollars in funds from exit fees and other sources of revenue will continue to be negotiated among the football schools.
 
Jerry Carino ‏@NJHoopsHaven
Between the Fox deal, getting the Big East name and the keeping the tourney at MSG, the C-7 hit a grand slam with two outs in the ninth.
Retweeted by Rumble in the Garden
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I suspect some games will still be scheduled with former members, both old and new per the news release:

"The agreement, which remains subject to formal Board approval, contemplates continued cooperation and playing opportunities between the conferences."
 
NY Times reporting 500 million over 12 yrs for 10 teams and if they go to 12 teams 600 million over 12 yrs. Thats over $4M per team Oh newsie :)
 
http://ajerseyguy.com/

In terms of leadership at the top. No direction yet, but St. John’s Director of Athletics Chris Monasch reportedly is working the circuit of power brokers. Monasch has experience as a commissioner (America East) and does know the Catholic 7 mentality.
 
http://ajerseyguy.com/

In terms of leadership at the top. No direction yet, but St. John’s Director of Athletics Chris Monasch reportedly is working the circuit of power brokers. Monasch has experience as a commissioner (America East) and does know the Catholic 7 mentality.
Click to expand...

This isn't one of those situations where the guy leading the search committee ends up giving himself the job, is it?
 
NY Times reporting 500 million over 12 yrs for 10 teams and if they go to 12 teams 600 million over 12 yrs. Thats over $4M per team Oh newsie :)
Click to expand...

More importantly, what will St. John's do with the cash. When they were flush with cash in the 80's in went into the general college fund for distribution according to needs. This arrangement differed with other private Big East Schools (UCONN, Syracuse) who invested athletic department earnings into the athletic department.
Some suggest that this method led to the continued athletic success of these schools and the demise of St. John's.
 
http://ajerseyguy.com/

In terms of leadership at the top. No direction yet, but St. John’s Director of Athletics Chris Monasch reportedly is working the circuit of power brokers. Monasch has experience as a commissioner (America East) and does know the Catholic 7 mentality.
Click to expand...

This isn't one of those situations where the guy leading the search committee ends up giving himself the job, is it?
Click to expand...

Monasch "does know the Catholic 7 mentality"? Oh really.

Was it the entire Catholic 7 mentality or just SJU's to ignore the basketball program? If that's the case, then Monasch needs to do a better job reading the minds of the other Catholic 6, in particular Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette. Those three made multiple NCAA's while SJU practiced deep breathing, mind exercises.

It isn't an over reaction to say Monacsh sould be kept far away from any role in the new conference.

If/when Fr. Harrington goes (yes there is another thread on that) and they fire all the paricipants in the fund raising scandal, Monasch should be first on the next group fired due to sheer incompetance.
 
If Monasch is selected to head up this conference it might not be that bad for us. It would give us the opportunity to get rid of him and find someone worthy of the position. Once it is found that Monasch sucks, then he will be ousted from the Big East for good.

We get rid of Harrington, We get rid of his entire staff that let this scandal happen, and Monasch all in one shot. I see this as a win win.
 
In today's New York Post, it stated that, Xavier, Dayton and Butler will join the C7 next season and that Creighton and ST. Louis will join the year after next.
 
I like Dayton because they are a decent team with one of the best crowds in college basketball, you need that atmosphere when building a new league. Agree about Creighton though, I just worry about their team without McDermott.
 
I can handle Dayton or Creighton, but having both just has me longing for more pizzazz.
Click to expand...

Going from 10 to 12 is not giving pizzaz ever. Its diluting. But adding $. Pick your poison.
 
I can handle Dayton or Creighton, but having both just has me longing for more pizzazz.
Click to expand...

Going from 10 to 12 is not giving pizzaz ever. Its diluting. But adding $. Pick your poison.
Click to expand...

I'd rather bring St. Louis in the first wave then and leave Dayton and Creighton home for now.
 
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