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John Marinatto Certain That Big East Will Survive, But Will Look Different

The Big East commissioner John Marinatto was defiant in a phone interview with Pete Thamel of the New York Times. Marinatto isn't worried about bedrock members Syracuse and Pittsburgh leaving the conference for the ACC. He was however, extremely disappointed that the ACC was already making designs on holding their basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden. The Big East has a contract to play their tournament there until 2016.


In addition, Marinatto isn't about to play nice with Syracuse and Pittsburgh. If they thought the conference would roll over and let them pay some extra money over the $5 million exit fee to leave before the 27 month period ended, they thought wrong. The Big East has no intention of letting the schools leave before June 2014.

 

Without Syracuse and Pittsburgh, the Big East would have 7 football schools and 15 basketball schools. The conference is in a holding pattern at this point, as is every other conference. The reason for the delay is that the Big XII has unfinished business over the departure of Texas to the PAC 12. The Big East could merge with the remaining Big XII schools to fill out the ranks.

One nugget from the interview was that there is a unity between football schools and basketball schools and that the possibility of the basketball schools being spun off from the conference is not an issue.

Marinatto said about the future "We may look different, but we will be better."