South Florida's move to the Big East will come in 2005 after all.
By PETE YOUNG
Published January 14, 2004
South Florida and four other Conference USA schools remain on track to join the Big East in 2005 after efforts to move the start date up a year were "shut down."
The roadblock: money. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky requested too much, reportedly $6-million to $8-million, to release the departing schools earlier.
"It's nothing more than money," Tranghese said. "Our presidents were not comfortable paying such a fee. What C-USA was asking was too significant, we couldn't do it and we shut it down."
Tranghese and Banowsky have been in regular communication on the matter for a while, and they met at the NCAA Convention in Nashville over the weekend.
Tranghese said the five schools had asked Banowsky to try to accelerate the process.
Banowsky's financial request was for projected lost revenues if USF, Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette left a year earlier.
Rutgers athletic director Bob Mulcahy said there was optimism something could be worked out, but time has run out.
"There's virtually no possibility," Mulcahy said. "It's probably better that it didn't happen. We'd have to cancel three football games this fall. Who's going to pay those damages?"
One last possibility is linked to Boston College.
The Eagles are slated to join the ACC in 2005, but if BC pays the $5-million exit fee to the Big East and moves its departure date up, it could set the dominoes tumbling.
However, Boston College has filed a lawsuit to reduce the exit fee and is awaiting that ruling.
"(BC is) going to play with us next year," Tranghese said. "The only way they won't is if a judge rules otherwise. But it doesn't appear a decision will be made any time soon."
