I think we all knew it was coming after Pitt and Syracuse left the conference on Saturday. Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle was the first with the news that the other seven Big East Athletic Directors started talks with the Big XII to begins plans of a merger between the two conferences.
In the ESPN article, the merger would happen if Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State make their expected move to form the PAC-16. The first steps in the process happened earlier today as both Texas and Oklahoma gave their presidents permission to look at the PAC-12 as a possible destination. One interesting thing to note is while Oklahoma gave their President David Boren the ability to formally apply to a conference, Texas' Board of Regents will have the final say in terms of conference affiliation.
While its safe to say that Oklahoma (along with Oklahoma State) will be leaving shortly for the PAC-12 if they are accepted, the 300 million dollar behemoth known as the Longhorn Network might keep the Texas schools from joining. The Los Angeles Times' Chris Dufrense sent out a tweet that Texas has to agree to equal revenue sharing in order to join the conference, which means that the LHN would have to be modified as a regional network for the PAC-16.
If you're wondering about the other Big East schools at this moment, here is your quick hitter.
- Pete Thamel of the New York Times spoke with Commissioner Marinatto, and he is holding Pitt and Syracuse to the 27-month holding period, meaning the two schools can't leave for the ACC until the 2014 season.
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West Virginia was denied a spot in the SEC according to BearcatsLair, the Cincinnati site for 24/7 Sports.
- UConn doesn't think the Big East is viable and is begging to join the ACC.
- Right before posting, this wonderful tweet just came up about everyone in the Big East other than USF would join the Big XII if Texas didn't move to the PAC-12.
If USF is the only school that gets locked out, we might as well close up shop and call it a day.