Big East Releases West Virginia
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (CBSMiami) – West Virginia University is officially a member of the Big XII as of July 1 after the school settled a multi-million dollar lawsuit with the school's former conference, the Big East.
Bylaws in the Big East had required a school planning to leave the conference to give at least 27 months notice before leaving. West Virginia didn't do that and sued to get out of the conference and join the Big XII.
The Big East countersued to make West Virginia stay in the conference for the full 27 months.
However, in the ensuing months between the announcement and Tuesday's settlement; the Big East recruited several more teams to replace West Virginia. This likely played a big part in allowing the school to finally leave the conference.
WVU had previously paid $5 million to leave the conference. Monday's settlement was for an unspecified amount of money. But, things are going to settle down for the Big East just yet.
Syracuse and Pittsburgh are scheduled to leave the conference in the coming months, but hadn't challenged the 27 month lead time before the schools leave the conference.
If either school wanted to pay the same amount WVU paid, it's realistic those teams could also leave for their new conference, the ACC.
The ACC is the home conference to both Florida State University and the University of Miami.
The Big East has added Boise State as a football-only member along with the University of Central Florida, the University of Houston, the University of Memphis, San Diego State University, Southern Methodist University and the Naval Academy in recent weeks.
But, with WVU officially out of the conference next season, the Big East needs one of those schools to join ahead of next year. Otherwise, the remaining seven schools will have to find a replacement game for next year.
According to multiple report, Boise State has been discussed as a team that could leave its current conference the Mountain West, and join the Big East immediately as a football-only member.
