Navy football fans line up on both sides of the should-we-have-joined-a-conference debate. One side just got a bunch more ammunition. The Big East, which will be the home of the Mids come 2015, reportedly has been offered a deal by the NBC Sports Network that would be worth between $20 and $23 million a season. That works out to less than $2 million per school, and likely would be even less for the football-only Naval Academy. But it will be much, much less than previous estimates. In December, before seven of the league’s nonfootball members took their legacy basketball programs…
Browsing: Big East expansion
The Big East is going through another painful breakup. San Diego State joined the list of schools leaving the conference (here’s a roundup) Wednesday, announcing its football program would remain in the Mountain West along with the rest of its sports in 2013. SDSU had committed to join the Big East as a football-only member; instead, it’ll be the third school — along with Boise State and TCU — to leave the conference without playing a conference game. Navy’s been an interested spectator throughout this process, watching its future conference add and subtract teams before the Mids join up as…
The Big East has had better Decembers. First, Big Ten-bound Rutgers sued the conference in an attempt to avoid paying its exit fee. Then, the “Catholic 7” — the conference’s legacy basketball programs — broke ranks. And just before the ball dropped on 2013, Boise State announced its football program would remain in the Mountain West Conference; the Broncos join Texas Christian on the list of football programs with a national presence to bail on the conference before playing a single game. What does this mean for Navy football, which is scheduled to join the Big East in 2015 and…
Consider: A 16-team football conference with all three service academies in one of its eight-team divisions. Academy rivalries utilized to promote the national identity of a league stretching from Connecticut to California. Academy athletic facilities pumped up by multimillion-dollar television deals. Army Black Knights on blue turf in Boise. Air Force Falcons walking in Memphis. Navy Midshipmen … well, they’re already on board. But you get the idea. ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy reported earlier this week that the Big East Conference has a three-team expansion wish list — Air Force, BYU and Army. The first two schools would be candidates if…
What’s clear: Navy football will join the Big East come 2015. What’s unclear: Everything else. From the size of the conference (13 teams in 2015, as planned, or an even number to avoid a scheduling nightmare?) to the fate of future TV deals to the structure of college football’s postseason, nothing is certain. But there’s at least a hint at one of the big mysteries — how the league will set up its two divisions. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports today that in 2013, with 12 teams likely participating, the conference will divide into East and West divisions, with geography the…
