Is the reckoning upon the Big East?

On Sunday, the Big East Catholic schools or non-BCS schools held a meeting to discuss the future of the Big East and their future as well. These schools include Villanova, Seton Hall, Providence, Georgetown, St. John's, DePaul & Marquette.

It was reported a week ago by CBS' Dennis Dodds the projected TV deal for the newly constituted Big East would be about $60-80 million. As we know, that's a far cry from what the other conferences are getting. Some schools receive $20 million + in TV revenue from conference deals. This reported deal would net non-football members about $1 million or so in TV revenue.

Leaving the Big East would be a net loss financially but staying may hurt on the court. What do I mean? Losing Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville, Notre Dame, West Virginia and replacing them with SMU, Houston, Tulane and others doesn't help you build a resume for March. So, does staying for the extra money outweigh the negative of weaker competetion? Temple and Memphis are nice opponents but the rest are anchors.

Rumors of a so-called Catholic league have hinted that along with these 7 schools, George Mason, VCU, Butler, Xavier, Dayton, St. Louis and Creighton could be targeted as members. Some reports came out today Gonzaga could be interested in such a league as well. The Chicago Sun-Times mentioned Notre Dame as a member as well but their ACC affiliation is far better for exposure so I'd say that's a pipe dream.

The kind of money that such a league could generate in regards to a TV deal would probably be similar to what the A-10 schools are getting from their current deal which is around $350,00 a year per school, maybe more.

There's also the possibility the 7 schools could migrate into the A-10 and form a conference with 21 teams.

Big East blue bloods fear a decrease in attendance would also hurt the schools financially but I don't see how Tulane or SMU put butts into seats anyway. They're not getting home games against Syracuse and former rivals back. No doubt the real losers are the original members of the Big East and they face a difficult decision.

Money will decide how this goes. Is the purported TV deal enough to keep current non-BCS members? Hard to say. Traveling for basketball to Texas and Florida is one thing. Traveling to play other sports is another. From the sound of things, it appears Marquette is finally trying to decide its own fate the best it can.