Georgetown plays football in the Patriot League. People sometimes confuse Patriot with Pioneer.

Basketball will be the main factor for these schools. A strong 10-team All-Catholic league led by Notre Dame should still be able to get 70%-80% of the current Big East TV contract by itself. Then they only have to split that money 10 ways instead of 16 ways. The football schools will be in the same position. It's a net gain for everyone involved.

Once that issue is out of the way, then they have to look at travel costs for non-revenue sports like volleyball or swimming or baseball. Some spread out conferences divide such sports into divisions. Teams never play the opposite division during the regular season. They would only meet in the conference tournament. That's how they save travel money.

And I have the same information as MLBUC. Dayton realized that they made a grave error by leaving Xavier, and the two schools made a pact to never separate again. It's like a husband who realizes he screwed up by moving out because he realizes he can't do anything alone. Football won't be an issue. Everyone will stay in their current I-AA leagues.

What I am saying is that flying to NY to play soccer against St. John's is probably no more expensive than going to Dayton. It is certainly less time consuming. I don't think adding teams to a conference is beneficial unless these schools add value. Will adding Dayton's and X's market, basically a 40 mile area in southern Ohio, increase the tv contract enough to warrant adding these two teams? Rmember, that is two more mouths to feed. I don't know the answer, but that is the most important question. I could see the 8 not expanding. Its eight schools with a lot of history and, for the most part, the schools are strong academically. The Ivy has found success at 8. I could see the bball schools marketing to that type of image.

Now, I don't care was supposed sources say at each school. If X gets invited and Dayton doesn't, X is gone. Each school has to do what is in its own best interest. SLU fans claimed that they had the same type of agreement with MU and DePaul. Well, it turned out not to be true.

The Dayton/Xavier connection is intriguing. I always thought Memphis and Cincy had the same type of commitment to each other, although it was probably unwritten. With the exception of Cincy's move to the big east, they've sort of moved hand in hand over the years from the Missouri Valley to the Metro to C-USA. UofL was always the little brother tagging along behind them. But if the right situation comes along you let go and move on which is what Cincy did to Memphis. They are doing the best they can by continuing to play them in football and basketball...but they moved on. I expect Xavier would do the same if they had the opportunity to move on to something bigger and better.

How about 2 catholic conferences?

Big East
Charlotte
Duquesne
Georgetown
Providence
Saint Bonaventure
Saint John's
Seton Hall
Villanova

Pioneer League (New Conference)
Butler
Dayton
De Paul
Marquette
Notre Dame
Saint Louis
Valparaiso
Xavier

Papal Conference (for lack of a better name)

ATLANTIC Division
- Providence
- Duquesne/Temple
- St. John's
- Seton Hall
- Villanova
- Georgetown

GREAT LAKES Division
- Marquette
- DePaul
- St. Louis
- Notre Dame
- Xavier
- Dayton

--------------------------
Hopefully the FB side will keep this name …

Big East Conference

NORTH Division
1- UConn
2- Syracuse
3- Rutgers
4- Pittsburgh
5- West Virginia
6- South Florida

SOUTH Division
1- Louisville
2- Memphis
3- East Carolina
4- Cincinnati
5- Marshall
6- Southern Miss

I put USF in the North division just because it is the easiest way to keep all the cross-division (primary cross-over opponents) equal. They will more than likely be flying to every school with the exception of USM, who is their cross-over opponent anyway. These would be used for both FB and BB.

Primary Cross-over matchups
---------------------------------
UConn-Louisville
Syracuse-Memphis
Rutgers-ECU
Pitt-Cincinnati
WVU-Marshall
South Florida-Southern Miss

FB schedule
-------------
1- OOC
2- OOC
3- OOC
4- OOC
5- Divisional (home & home, annually)
6- Divisional (home & home, annually)
7- Divisional (home & home, annually)
8- Divisional (home & home, annually)
9- Divisional (home & home, annually)
10- Primary Cross-over, opp. div. (home & home, annually)
11- Opposing Division (home & home, rotate every two years)
12- Opposing Division (home & home, rotate every two years)
CC- Division Champions
-----(site TBD … NYC, New Jets Stadium if it ever gets built??)

BB Schedule
--------------
5 Divisional + 1 primary cross-over (home & home, every season)= 12
6 Opposing Division games (3 home, 2 away, rotate each year)= 5
All the rest can be filled up with OOC match-ups

a) Valpo is Lutheran, not Catholic or Jesuit. Not that that would prevent their participation, but just making sure everyone knows. Dayton, meanwhile, isn't a Jesuit school but it is part of the Association of Catholic Universities, or whatever the group is called.

b) That the University presidents will consider the religious aspect is an understatement. It won't be the bottom line but in the event of a split you can be certain that the new league would learn from past mistakes and ensure like-minded institutions that won't alter their interests or priorities and cause conference upheaval. I definitely think Holy Cross, Sienna and Detroit Mercy are in play, however, and know ND would love having games in such urban Catholic hotbeds.

c) Thus, I don't think Charlotte will be part of the equation. They don't have football but they are an aggressive public university with a different academic mission. And who knows, they might someday add football due to larger State coffers. Similar story for Temple and their non-compatibility.

d) I've asked the question before about what the economics might be regarding 8, 10 and 12 member AA/AAA conferences. To date no one has offered a definitive answer. While I, too, favor a two conference set-up similar to DK's a couple posts above, I think if ND remains with the "basketball faction" of the BE, then that model will prove financially more worthwhile than any other. Dayton and Xavier might add $ enough, but I'm unsure.

Rumor has it the BE, A10 and others are now studying the possibilities of resolving everyone's membership stability in one fell swoop. It'd be nice if it could be so easy but would also likely require some special dispensation by the NCAA. We'll see.

I've come to the conclusion that a pair of 10-team conferences will probably work best for both sides after the split. The basketball schools are likelier to end up with the Big East name. It has more history with them. The football schools will end up calling themselves something like the Big North. Of course, they could work out a financial settlement allowing the football schools to keep the Big East name while the basketball schools become the Big North instead. Therefore ...

BIG EAST (2010) or BIG NORTH (2010)
- Providence
- St. John's
- Seton Hall
- Villanova
- Georgetown
- Xavier
- Dayton
- Notre Dame
- Marquette
- DePaul

BIG NORTH (2010) or BIG EAST (2010)
- Syracuse
- Connecticut
- Rutgers
- Temple
- Pitt
- West Virginia
- Cincinnati
- Louisville
- South Florida
- Central Florida

Notre Dame would probably still work out a bowl alliance deal with the football schools, but there have to be at least 5 or 6 bowls so no one gets screwed. In addition, Notre Dame should have to share at least 25% of its bowl revenue with the football schools. This is a reasonable deal. As for you, David Kaseofkrabs, Charlotte isn't a Catholic school and there is already a Pioneer League. Temple isn't Catholic, ThunderDent, and will hopefully be with the football schools anyway.