After the jump are a few of the expansion candidates being talked about:
East Carolina:
ECU makes sense geographically, TV-wise, and competition-wise. It is a large school (25,000+ students) in a fairly large metro area (200,000). The Pirates have had success in Conference USA, and have beat 7 BCS conference teams over their history, meaning they can compete with the best. The Pirates boast the largest average attendance in Conference USA, with just under 50,000 (which, by the way, would have ranked 4th in the Big East last year). East Carolina seems to be a very very likely candidate for expansion.
Arrgh ye maties! Wouldn't ya love to see me in the Big East?
Central Florida:
UCF provides another school in the recruiting hotbeds of the state of Florida. Located near Orlando, UCF boasts an incredible 56,000 students. The Knights play in a brand-new football stadium with a capacity of 46,000, and have been consistent winners in Conference USA over the last few years. They provide an excellent natural rival for South Florida, and have played several BCS teams tough over the years, nearly beating Texas, 32-35 in 2007, and topping Georgia 10-6 last year in the Liberty Bowl.
Before a UCF home football game
Houston:
UH is another power in Conference USA, just 20 years removed from its heyday at the top of the Southwest Conference. Houston isn't likely to get an invite from the Big 12 anytime soon (too much bad blood between UH and UT during the Southwest Conference breakup) so the Big East could be its only opportunity to join a BCS conference before the apocalypse to come (a future blog post topic, indeed). Houston has been successful on the field, besting Oklahoma State in 2009 in dramatic fashion, and Texas Tech the following week. Houston's high-flying passing game brings fans, and the construction of a $120-million stadium certainly doesn't hurt. Houston provides a natural rival for fellow Big East Texan TCU.
The architectural renderings of Houston's new stadium
Navy:
Navy has a proud football tradition, and has the most BCS wins of any non-BCS school. The Midshipmen, however, play a national schedule, including games against Army and Notre Dame every year. It would be very difficult to pry them away from their cozy bowl arrangements and play-whoever-we-like scheduling philosophy, not to mention the fact that the Army-Navy game takes place the Saturday after the conference championship games.
Army:
Army poses some of the same problems as Navy, but has less success to show from it. The last time the Black Knights were in a conference, they flopped as members of Conference USA. And the Big East, weak though it may be, is still a few steps tougher than C-USA. Selling Army would be a tough call.
Villanova:
Villanova is already in the Big East, though its football team plays in Division 1-AA (FCS). The Wildcats have been very successful at the FCS level, winning the 2009 National Championship, and reaching the Semis last year. But the FBS is a whole 'nother animal. The decision to build a larger on-campus stadium is far off, and the current arrangement to play at the Eagle's stadium may not be a viable long-term solution. The step up from the FCS is exponentially more difficult than the step from the Mountain West or C-USA. Nova might be in because of its membership already, but I'm not sure it's the best thing for the Big East.
UMass:
UMass will have enough issues with its move to the MAC, let alone the Big East. So drop it.
Appalachian State:
Same deal. Let them win a few Sun Belt titles, then revisit the issue.
Troy:
Sure, they've won a few Sun Belt titles. So?
Most of the rest of the candidates are in the same vein as Troy/AppState/UMass. The Big East, to secure a television deal worth even nearly as much as the other BCS conferences, needs to make a splash. Promoting 'Nova and a couple Sun Belt teams won't do it.
So I reach the final suggestion:
Boise State.
What? Kinda stretching the definition of "East," aren't you? Well, yes, but since when has a conference name really needed to be an accurate description of the conference? Cough*Big12*BigTen*Cough
The Big East already stretches from Connecticut to Florida to Texas to Ohio. Every single TCU Big East Conference game will be reached by air, and do you think that West Virginia seriously drives to South Florida every other year? Of course not. The fact is, air travel is air travel, and distance be darned. Yes, it will be several times more expensive for Boise State's transportation costs. The fact is, it doesn't matter. The increase in revenue from switching from the Mountain West, and its horrific TV deal, to the new-look Big East and its lucrative prospective offers will more than offset any increased transportation costs.
So, settling the first objections I'm sure you were thinking, let's look at Boise. The resume is undeniable. The Broncos have been the winningest program over the last decade. Boise State is 124-18 since 2000, for a winning percentage of 87.3%. And that doesn't even come close to Chris Petersen's ludicrous record of 61-5 as a head coach (92.4%). Um, that is just insane. "Foul!" the SECers will cry! "The WAC is so weak!" Yes, the WAC is weak. But if Boise's accomplishments are insignificant, why has no other team in history had such a mastery of a minor conference? Yes, Boise's record would be worse if it played in a BCS conference. But surely it could make it in the upper half of any conference today, which, after all, is what the Big East is looking for when it expands. Conferences aren't great because of dominance at the top; it is due to a large middle class. Which the Big East needs desperately.
The Boise-TCU games would be a smash, and like them or not, the Broncos draw eyes from all over the country. (Precisely because everyone has such strong feelings about them, either way.)
Wouldn't a night game between West Virginia and Boise on the Blue just be so outstanding?
By now, some of you may be thinking, but what of the basketball members? Surely a league with 20 members would be too unwieldy. Yes, it might be, and UConn's Jim Calhoun raised his suspicions that the league will split; the basketball members poaching several A-10 teams and forming a 10-team conference, while the Big East proper has 12 all-sports schools. But the fact is, it doesn't matter. For better or worse, football rules the pocketbooks of the conferences. And that is just fine with me.
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