Big East Statement on West Virginia Going to the Big 12

The Big East issued a statement today concerning West Virginia's exit to the Big 12:

This move by West Virginia does not come as a surprise.  League officials, members of our conference and the candidate schools to whom we have been talking were aware of this possibility.  We have taken West Virginia’s possible departure into account as we have moved forward with our own realignment plans.  West Virginia is fully aware that the Big East Conference is committed to enforcing the 27-month notification period for members who choose to leave the conference.  We are confident that in the coming weeks we will complete our own realignment program, adding a number of high-quality members to remain among the top conferences in both football and basketball.

It will be interesting to see if the Big East really does enforce the 27-month waiting period as it says above. There are reports that Pittsburgh and West Virginia could both exit earlier for a larger payment than the $5 million exit fee. Stay tuned.