umainealum

It's pretty much a mute point anyway as we have all been pretty much in agreement that there is no way those 7 schools would all leave to join the A-10. Though, the fact that Temple evidently does have a vote even though they aren't officially a member yet does throw a monkey wrench into things. If those 7 are that unhappy and feel they need to do something, it appears voting to dissolve the league and keeping the Big East naming rights is not an option. What then becomes their course of action?

And I'm well aware that our legal system isn't changing...good lord. However, do you happen to know what is written in each league's bylaws and guidelines? There could very well be some sort of requirement or loophole that a league could use to rid themselves of a school...I have absolutely no idea.

Ace mentioned Temple had a contract as an associate member and that it wasn't renewed. If that is the case, do full-time members of the A-10 & Big East also have contracts? Are they guaranteed for as long as the school wants to stay a member?

__________________
UMaine - the epitome of mediocrity

Proud supporter of an AMERICA EAST team that made a coaching change...

mainejeff

Not directly related to expansion, but the CAA announced a 3 year deal to move their men's basketball tourney to Mariner Arena in Baltimore. What say you, UMBC fans?

http://www.caasports.com/ViewArticle...DB_OEM_ID=8500

Aceinthehole

This whole MAAC-NEC situation is still a mystery until Friday, but another report out there say the NEC loses 3 schools. Quinnipiac is as good as gone, the question remains - does Monmouth and Wagner follow?

http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=4230

shupioneers1

Could be the end of the CT 6 tournament too. The thing only worked because the NEC had 3 teams which allowed teams to rotate.

Aceinthehole

Not really an issue - you just move QU out of the "NEC side" and swap them out with Yale.

CT-6
Group A: CCSU, SHU, Yale
Group B: Hartford, Fairfield, QU

ccd494

Andy Katz reporting Gonzaga may be interested in the Catholic Conference.

mainejeff

After that, Bryant to AE should be next.

ball_of_rubber

Enjoy breathing in mold.

I don't see how this is a bad thing for all parties involved. Could push the city to finally build a new arena faster, but I don't see how it could negatively impact he four non-CAA schools in Baltimore.

__________________
Stop calling us the Terriers.

http://retrieverbasketballrallymonkey.com/

UNHFan

Any idea of how quickly that will happen? Also who will the NEC add to get their league back to 10.

umainealum

Evidently Temple does NOT have a vote when it comes to the issue of dissolution of the league...appears as though what seemed unthinkable is about to happen and that the 7 schools are going to leave the Big East. The Marquette AD certainly didn't seem to mince words while being polite and isn't it quite ironic that the President of UConn is now pleading with those schools to stay just a couple weeks after publicly trying to leave for the ACC & then apologizing to fans about not being able to leave...LOL.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...st-sources-say

Wow...

__________________
UMaine - the epitome of mediocrity

Proud supporter of an AMERICA EAST team that made a coaching change...

ccd494

I don't know if I would describe that as "ironic" as opposed to "ridiculous."

Rhett1

More or less, yes. Full members own a full share of their league. A league could dissolve around them or they could not be invited to a pseudo-merger (as America East would have done to UNC-Wilmington if it swallowed the CAA in 2001) but they really can't be kicked out by their lonesome.

Basically, because a full-member owns a share of a league, to boot them, you'd have to pay them off or you'd be sued for damages. Since these leagues are basically structured to last forever (jokes aside) you'd be able to project out damages over a tremendous timeline. It would mostly be tied to media rights, but the process would be dragged out with complicated arguments about the prestige hit to the school, increased travel expenses as an independent (regardless of interest from new conferences, that's for the old conference to show in order to mitigate), projections about lost alumni or sponsor donations, etc., etc.

The legal process would be long and tremendously expensive. It would cost millions, and the only thing the conference could hope to realistically gain is a break in how much the damages are worth, because it would be almost impossible to deny that significant damages exist. From a major conference, the booted school would likely look for ten-digits. The conference would be lucky to get out for barely over nine.

The reason we haven't seen a full member booted from a major D-I conference is because, under our system, we're talking about a single time expense we've never seen in American sports other than the sale of an NFL or MLB team.

Now the A-10 is on a much lower level and the damages would be significantly lower, but still on a scale impossible for that league to deal with. Remember, they voted on the future of St. Bonaventure several years ago due to their recruiting scandal (accepting a JuCo transfer with a "certificate in welding" as a Associate Degree equivalent, etc.). This was in a down time for the Bonnies, and a prime-time for the A-10 to cut the "dead weight" everyone talks about them cutting. The reason the Bonnies got away with only league sanctions is because the A-10 attorneys told them something similar to what I'm telling you now.

Now, all of this said, I don't think kicking a full-member out of a league is something that will 100% never happen. I think the only circumstance it could happen under, however, is if the league can prove that the school was involved in a public scandal so egregious that the very presence of that school in their league would actually destroy the league's commercial value to the point where none of the sought financial damages would actually exist in a future where the offending school remains in the league. That's the only scenario I can think of where the league gets out "cheap" (the legal fees would still be astronomical). I can't even fathom what that scandal would have to be. It just seems so impossible.

Please keep strawman arguments and other rebuttals based on logical fallacies to yourselves. I think most people on the board already understood that this is the end result of this type of league action, even if they've never spelled it out before. I don't have the energy to go on ad infinitum about this.

ccd494

A follow up question if I may, counselor.

Having never seen a league membership agreement in my line of work, are there now provisions that take into account a St. Bonaventure type situation? For lack of a better term, is there a "morality clause" that provides for a process in which a school can be expelled based upon transgressions at no, or lower, cost?

With the increased money at play, as well as the higher profile scandals we are seeing, has any league that has been burned before (say, the Big 10) made new members' entry conditional upon accepting stricter terms regarding their institution's behavior?

UVM Hoop Cat

It's going to be kinda neat when I buy the Big East trademark on eBay.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

Rhett1

If I had to guess, I'd say some leagues have a clause like that, and some don't. It might not matter too much though. If you deal with the type of catastrophic damage to the league I mentioned and you don't have a clause, the rest of the league should be able to protect themselves (at great cost) through the legal process. If you do have a clause, the offending school would probably still be able to bring a fight to court based upon whether their transgression should have triggered the clause. Obviously the league has protected itself a little better in the former case, and the difference could mean millions at a negotiating table, but I still see it as being an unpalatable and expensive process for the conference.