Oh, absolutely ! They have stated this. They will go to 12 for football, and stage a CCG.

It might take until Navy enters as football only in Fall 2015.

Right now they have 9 all-sports
ECU is Fb #10 (would love to become all-sports #10)
Tulsa is likely to be invited to be all-sports #11

Both the Tulsa and ECU (other sports invitation), should happen as soon as the departure datesfor C7, ND, etc. (likely July 1, 2014) are set.

What are you talking about? The Big East could still hold a CCG w/o ECU being an all sports member. They'd have 12 (assuming they add Tulsa) w/ Navy/ECU as fb onlys. Adding ECU as an all sports member does nothing else for their football it only helps/hurts their other sports like I wrote above.

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

Ok. But where would ECU find a new conference for their other sports while becoming a fb-only member in the Big East? Oh, how about adding Army as a fb-only as well? Also having Georgetown and Villanova upgrading to FBS and join as fb-onlys too.

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Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

The Colonial was supposed to be their non football destination. Georgetown is probably more likely to drop football than move it up to FBS. Nova's ship sailed long ago. Army doesn't believe they can be competitive in this conference. UMass would be the best bet if you're trying to get a football only to offset Navy.

tkalmus, myself and I assume many others are wondering if ECU will really get a full invite. 11 all sports members is awkward, do-able sure, but difficult. The BE would be better off letting Navy back out (or forcing them out) and going to 12 or 14 all sports members.

ECU shall get that all-sports invite into the BE. The conference is just waiting on official departures and the arrival of a couple of newbes for the formal vote. Recall the negativity from the C-7 when Tulane got added? That was just part of an excuse from a pre-determined decision by the C7.

ECU has some high-quality facilities and comparatively, good fan sport.

It would seem the BE would have had their fill of the destructive hybrid stuff and not be petty over this. FB-only is appropriate for Navy, and Army if they ever come onboard.

If its such a sure thing...then why hasn't in happened yet? They've met how many times and have yet to offer ECU a full invite...I'm not saying it won't happen but I don't think its a "sure thing". It has nothing to do with departing schools blocking them as they don't vote and even if they do, the fb schools crammed Tulane down their throats why couldn't they do the same with ECU?

If they had a big market, they'd be in, if they had great Oly sports, they'd be in, but in reality they don't have either and provide very little value to the others and even hurt things like their RPI and ease of scheduling as the 11th. Since it got bumped here's my post from the previous page.

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

It would look really bad if the nBE did not give ECU full member status. It makes the conference look cheap and petty to not admit them when they are well within the footprint, bring the strongest football fan support, and their commitment to the Big East in its hour of need helped keep the conference alive. It would look particularly bad if Houston, SMU, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, or Tulsa (not an official member yet but soon will be) opposed the Pirates seeing as they seemed perfectly fine being on equal footing with them during their C-USA days.

The better solution to the Big East's numbers problem is to renegotiate terms with Navy--instead of football affiliate membership the Big East has an OOC scheduling alliance for 4-6 games a year between Navy and BE opponents on rotating a rotating basis. (i.e. year 1 playing UConn, Memphis, UCF, ECU, Houston, and Tulsa then year 2 playing Temple, Cincinnati, USF,Tulane, SMU, TBA BE member). This would give Navy more scheduling freedom and give them a chance to schedule a few weaker opponents to boost their bowl prospects.

I agree with you that it would be...shi**y of them not to give ECU a full sport invite especially after they said they would basically do it.

I actually have been thinking about Navy and agree that a scheduling alliance with them might work out for the best, that way they could add a true 12th member in the SW and have the TX/LA/OK/Memphis+#12 and a solid East division with the Old Big East+UCF/ECU.

IF Navy can convince Army to join up with them in their TV contract and take part in a scheduling alliance and get them to play 6 games a year pairing up opponents by geography UConn/Temple, UCF/USF, Houston/SMU, Tulsa/Memphis, Tulane/?Rice?SoMiss? and Cincy/ECU (worst pair but still) then they could easily get some money out of the Big East TV deal and have good schedules that help put them in and around some of the most populated areas of the country that would help their recruiting goals.

Yes they could still play Air Force and another Western opponent for recruiting, a MAC team, ND, plus a FCS school and obviously the Army/Navy game and boom there's their schedules for the next 10 years which should be good for them with more teams going to 9 game conference schedules and ND taking on more ACC games. Plus this benefits the Big East by helping their TV deal, and giving them a nationally respected program on the schedule that won't destroy them.

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

It's simple, T. The vote-in for all-sports for ECU is on hold by the BE because of departure issues and the conference does not want to complicate the upcoming legal settlements. While ECU would not be entitled as they and other are not officially onboard, decisions do go into 'briefs' as the jockeying for best outcome for each side. C-7 had not declared they were leaving prior to the Tulane add. C-7 has a record of opposing ECU; the staying side does not have to give them more ammo right now, even if it is minor.

Mark Blaudschun blog article discussing BE realignment situation at http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=5097

Guys, I agree that East Carolina needs to be an all sport member of the BE. I also agree that this will probably happen after the Notre Dame and C7 departures.
Now here is my tickler! I think that the BE should also add for all sports - Ohio U., Northern Illinois U., Marshall U., and U. Mass., and drops Navy - yet agree to play 6 or more games a year with them in an 'alliance' type status. This would put the BE at 16. It would also start to solidify that conference some. Any ideas or comments?

Andy Katz article discussing BE divorce situation at http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story ... ource-says

Norwich--I am with you on promoting ECU and altering the relationship with Navy but I'm not sure that the schools you suggested can really help the Big East. OU is in tiny Athens, OH and they are very comfortable in the MAC--I just dont see them rocking the boat and trying to move up. NIU is in a similar situation--they sort of near Chicago but they aren't going to bring in that market. Both of these schools are a coaching change away from being Eastern Michigan or Akron. Marshall is a little bit more established and could help bolster the league but I am not sure they are in a location where the BE wants to grow--they want another western school. I like UMass but i think they need a few more yrs to prove that they are ready--increasing their homegame attendance to 20,000+ and an acceptable on-campus stadium before they could be let in.

Here we go!

NBC's bid: six years, $20-23m per.

C7 is rumored to be $30-40m range via Fox.

I suspect the footballers are going to piece together an additional partner, but no way are they extracting another $15-20m out of it.

Some phones are going to be ringing.

NBC Sports Network has verbally offered the Big East between $20 to $23 million a year for a six-year deal