I think you need to come to terms with the fact nd is never gonna join as a full football member, they would rather join the big 10 or just create a catholic league if push came to shove. The max i could see them playing is 4 games but they are probably only interested in playing pitt,rutgers,syracuse,Uconn, than maybe l'ville and W.Virg once in awhile. Yet, maybe the big east could expand to 9 football teams, than strike a deal with ND,Army, and Navy where they each play 3 rotated teams per year. Than again, alot of these games would happen regardless of ND and a big east tie in, ie say ND left to form a catholic league, ND,army, and navy would still want to play certain big east school's each year. I still think the best move by the big east would be add Memphis and StlOuis and split into two hoop divisions. As for the ND football at that point, let them play who they want.

bluesox Wrote:I think you need to come to terms with the fact nd is never gonna join as a full football member, they would rather join the big 10 or just create a catholic league if push came to shove. The max i could see them playing is 4 games but they are probably only interested in playing pitt,rutgers,syracuse,Uconn, than maybe l'ville and W.Virg once in awhile. Yet, maybe the big east could expand to 9 football teams, than strike a deal with ND,Army, and Navy where they each play 3 rotated teams per year. Than again, alot of these games would happen regardless of ND and a big east tie in, ie say ND left to form a catholic league, ND,army, and navy would still want to play certain big east school's each year. I still think the best move by the big east would be add Memphis and StlOuis and split into two hoop divisions. As for the ND football at that point, let them play who they want.

Most on this board have come to terms with this a long time ago. Agreed. Let Notre Dame schedule who they want to schedule. But no access to Big East Bowls, no basketball membership, zero affiliation with the Big East.

ND has zero desire to join the Big Ten...ever.

Unless you really hate ND, I don't see why they can't just join the BB only schools after the split.
NCAA rules say (if I remember) teams have to play together for five years to be considered a conference. The BE can split after 2010.
The problem is the Big 10 may see the BE patronizing ND as something that's stopping them from getting ND. The BE BB-only schools are a perfect arrangement for ND.
Personally, I don't care what ND does- they are overrated every year.

frogman Wrote:Unless you really hate ND, I don't see why they can't just join the BB only schools after the split.
NCAA rules say (if I remember) teams have to play together for five years to be considered a conference. The BE can split after 2010.
The problem is the Big 10 may see the BE patronizing ND as something that's stopping them from getting ND. The BE BB-only schools are a perfect arrangement for ND.
Personally, I don't care what ND does- they are overrated every year.

I don't hate Notre Dame. I respect them as an academic institution and football program. I wish it was more supportive of the Big East conference. But it's not, I accept that fact (most knowledgeable fans do), and the football schools need to move on without it. And yes, I think that the basketball schools will want the Irish as a league member.

I don't think a split is mandatory but wishing ND do more football isn't gonna happen. I also don't buy penn state, maryland, BC, etc ever joinging up. Yet, I do think its vital that football school #9 happen, so the pick list is the usual suspects but it seems like the big east just won't do anything.

I've never liked No Shame.
I loathe them even more for the way they treat the BEast.
I dislike them on so many levels.
I would love to see a string of 3 win seasons meet them.
No Shame sucks!

ND is not a football member of the Big East.

That did not happen by accident.

That did not happen by blackmail.

ND did not put a gun to anyone's head.

ND did not lie to or deceive anyone.

ND joined the conference after full disclosure that it would never join for football and BY AGREEMENT to those terms by all the BE schools.

It is my understanding that the BE approached ND regarding the non-BCS bowl alliance. Am I incorrect? IF I am right, why slam ND for an arrangement that the conference initiated?

As a non-football member, ND has no special obligation to play any BE teams in football. It is not incumbent on ND to "save" or even "help" Big East football.

ND agreed to play 3 BE teams a year in the future. The rest is negotiation and business.

If certain teams can reach terms with ND, then there will be a game or series. If they cannot, there will not be a game or series.

I fail to understand all of the uproar.

ND does not benefit the BE conference at this point. They do benefit conferences like the ACC, big Televen, etc. by playing 3-4 or more of their teams in football each year.

ND hasn't secured a bowl spot for the BE in a long time. During the last bowl negotiations ND made their own deal for bowls (made possible by the previous bowl agreement with the BE back when the defectors were still present and the new members off the radar). ND essentially made it's own deals for bowls which the BE also can participate in in certain years where ND can't participate. ND didn't secure the Gator bid (now it is split with the Sun Bowl and other conferences AND ND) They didn't secure the Insight bowl or the San Fransisco bowl or the Tire Bowl. Bowls need teams to play in them and believe the media or not, just about any bowls out there would rather have a chance at WVU, Louisville or Rutgers than Miami OH, Tulsa or even Utah.

The BE programs know that they need another program to remain strong and viable in the future. They will have to build another program up as there doesn't seem to be a strong interest in BCS programs joining. The sooner the better for this as it will take years of dontations and recruiting to get any of the top choices up to speed .

As far as bowls are concerned, they just can't get much more dismal than they are now if a BE team doesn't make the BCS. Tranghese needs to stop trying to tag team with his ND buddies and start pushing actual BE teams for bowl inclusion. Forget ND, they are making their own deals for bowls. The BE must make it's own deals as do all other conferences for bowls, without ND being a consideration for them. It is basically that way now anyway. Tranghese needs to start approaching the many corporations in cities like NYC, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Cincinnati, etc. and getting them to help sponsor bowls that BE teams can participate in against good competion i.e. from other BCS conferences not named ACC.

ND should at this point be told- We need to add another football program. It can be you or it will be someone else. If it is someone else then thanks, but your other programs will no longer be allowed to participate as partial members--the new program will fill in with all sports included to also keep the balance with bb. If the bb schools really want to stay together then they should also agree to this. If they won't then a split must be worked out so that the football schools don't find what they have built destroyed by this short sightedness. If another school is poached, BE football ceases to exist as a viable conference and this cannot be allowed to happen in order to protect ND which returns nothing to the BE.