The Big East “is in discussions to add Temple for all sports as early as the next school year,” according to a source cited by Pete Thamel of the N.Y. TIMES. Temple currently belongs to the Mid-American Conference and the Atlantic 10 in various sports, and “there are legal issues that have to be dealt with before the Owls would be able to leave.” Still, a resolution “is expected this month.” Temple within the month “will also have to inform the new conference formed by the merger of the Mountain West and Conference USA of its intentions,” as the school “has been asked to join that league.” Temple is “a former member of the Big East in football,” but it was “thrown out in 2004 for consistently underperforming." Now, if Temple is “able to maneuver out of the MAC, it will fill an immediate void in the Big East’s football schedule that was created by West Virginia’s move to the Big 12” (N.Y. TIMES, 2/23). CBSSPORTS.com’s Brett McMurphy cited a source as saying Temple to the Big East in '12 "is done." Sources said that an “announcement could be made as early as next week” (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/22).
NAME YOUR PRICE: In Philadelphia, Mike Kern cites sources as saying that it “would cost Temple about $3.5 million to leave the MAC immediately.” A-10 sources indicated that the “fee for leaving that conference right now would be roughly $1.5 million, and ‘a lot less’ if the exit took place a year after Temple gave notice of its intentions” (PHILADLEPHIA DAILY NEWS, 2/23). Also in Philadelphia, Jensen & Pompey report the MAC “has a $2.5 million fee for an exit with two years' notice.” The A-10 “has a $2 million exit fee with a year's notice.” A source said that some MAC schools “don't like the idea of having to fill their own 2012 schedules with an extra game at this late date.” Villanova had “not wanted Temple in the Big East for all sports, and originally had the support of other basketball schools." But that support "waned after the league lost Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and West Virginia, and took in some lesser basketball schools as replacements.” A Big East source said Villanova “had expressed its opposition to Temple's joining the league based on not wanting to share the Philadelphia TV market.” There have been “recent discussions among some Big East members about perhaps offering Villanova some type of compensation for sharing the basketball market with the Owls” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 2/23).
WAITING IT OUT: Boise State announced yesterday that it would remain in the Mountain West Conference through the '12-13 season, "ending discussions with the Big East and Western Athletic Conference about joining those leagues a year before the Broncos’ scheduled arrival." In Idaho, Brian Murphy notes it likely would have cost Boise State “between $7.5 million and $9 million to leave the Mountain West this fall plus more including an early entry fee to join the WAC.” The Big East was “interested in having Boise State replace West Virginia” next season. The Big East reportedly will “receive $20 million as a result of West Virginia’s departure, but it is not clear how much of that money the league was willing to give Boise State” (IDAHO STATESMAN, 2/23).
