NEW YORK (AP)—The Big East plans to invite Boise State, Air Force and Navy as football-only members, and Central Florida to compete in all sports, after it doubles the exit fee for current members to $10 million.
An official in the Big East, speaking on condition of anonymity because the conference had not authorized anyone to speak publicly about its plans, told The Associated Press the invitations could go out as soon as next week.
The official also said Commissioner John Marinatto was in Cincinnati on Friday meeting with UCF’s president and athletic director.
Conferences do not publicly invite new members unless they are confident those invitations will be accepted.
CBS Sports first reported the Big East would invite Boise State, Air Force, Navy and UCF.
The Big East announced earlier this week it wanted to expand to 12 football schools.
Big East officials made protecting the league’s automatic bid to the Bowl Championship Series their expansion priority. That pushed Boise State, which is in its first season in the Mountain West Conference after a decade in the Western Athletic Conference, to the top of the Big East’s most wanted list, along with the service academies.
The Broncos are 71-5 since 2006, finished 10th in the final BCS standings last season and at 5-0 seem on their way to a top-10 finish. Big East officials believe putting Boise State’s record on the Big East’s ledger when the BCS reviews which leagues should have automatic bids beyond 2013 should allow the conference to make the cut.
The Mountain West Conference does not have an automatic bid to the BCS. Nor does Conference USA, where UCF currently plays.
Later Friday, those two leagues announced they would “consolidate” their 22 football programs, with no mention of the possible departures.
Right now, the Big East has only six schools committed to play football in the league beyond this season.
Pittsburgh and Syracuse have announced they will move to the Atlantic Coast Conference, though Big East rules require them to stay in the league for the next two seasons and Marinatto has said he will hold the Panthers and Orange to that. However, that seems unlikely if the league can grow to 12 teams for next season without them.
TCU was slated to join the Big East in 2012, but the Horned Frogs reneged on that commitment and accepted an invite to the Big 12 last week.
Trying to recruit new members has been tricky for the Big East because its remaining members might also be looking for new conference homes.
Louisville and West Virginia are possible targets for the Big 12 if it needs to replace Missouri, which is pondering a move to the Southeastern Conference, or decides to expand back to 12 teams.
Connecticut has interest in joining the ACC if it expands again, and there has been speculation about Rutgers moving, too.
By raising the exit fee, the Big East is trying to show the schools it is recruiting that the conference will be viable in the long run. Boise State, Air Force, which also competes in the MWC, and Navy, an independent in football, all had reservations about the Big East’s long-term health.
The Big East is still considering adding Temple, and UCF’s CUSA rivals SMU and Houston. Temple, which was kicked out of the Big East in 2005, plays football in the Mid-American Conference.
The Texas schools would replace the presence in the state the Big East thought it was going to have with TCU, and help make the move to the Big East more palatable to Boise State.
Boise, Idaho, is nearly 1,900 miles from the closest current Big East member, Louisville. Though the trip to Houston is about as far, having a presence in Texas is alluring to Boise State.
Boise State and Air Force would have to find a conference to house their other sports. A return to the WAC is possible for both, though WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said Friday that he has only had hypothetical conversations with Boise State and Air Force officials about those schools joining as non-football members.
The Big East also has eight members that do not compete in football: Villanova, Georgetown, St. John’s, Providence, Seton Hall, Marquette, DePaul and Notre Dame.
Notre Dame’s goal is to remain a football independent, but if the Big East crumbles the Fighting Irish could end up with no place for their basketball, baseball and Olympic sports to compete. That could force Notre Dame to finally give up football independence and put its storied program in a conference, because it’s unlikely another league will give the Irish the same deal they have in the Big East.
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Big East to invite Boise St and 3 others
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