Bye-Bye Big East? Rutgers Expected To Follow Maryland, Bolt For Big Ten
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Maryland is set to announce it is joining the Big Ten.
The university is announcing its move from the Atlantic Coast Conference at a news conference Monday afternoon with school president Wallace D. Loh, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and athletic director Kevin Anderson.
Maryland will become member of the Big Ten starting in 2014. Rutgers is expected follow suit by Tuesday, splitting from the Big East and making it an even 14 schools in the Big Ten.
"Those types of decisions I leave up to (athletic director) Tim Pernetti and the athletic department," Rutgers football coach Kyle Flood said Sunday. "I know they're going to make sure that regardless of what happens, we'll be in a good place."
The addition of Maryland extends the Big Ten farther east and south than it ever has been, and gives the conference a presence in the major media market of Washington. D.C.
Rutgers, about 40 miles south of New York City in New Brunswick, N.J., gives the Big Ten a member in the country's largest media market.
For both schools, the move should come with a long-term financial gain. The Big Ten reportedly paid its members $24.6 million in shared television and media rights revenues this year.
"It looks like they're leaving," a source told the Newark Star-Ledger of the Scarlet Knights. "That's the feeling right now. ... Rutgers would be next."
In the world of conference realignment, Maryland's departure from the ACC qualifies as a shocker. The Terrapins were a charter member of the ACC, which was founded in 1953.
There was speculation last week that the Big Ten and Maryland were talking. On Saturday, it became clear the discussions were serious.
There will be some financial matters to resolve in the short term though. After the ACC added Notre Dame as a member in all sports but football and hockey in September, the league voted to raise the exit fee to $50 million. Maryland was one of two schools that voted against the increased exit fee.
The Big East's exit fee is $10 million, but the league also requires a 27-month notification period for departing members. That means Rutgers will not be able to join the Big Ten until 2015 without working out some kind of deal with the Big East.
Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia have all negotiated early withdrawals from the Big East in the past year.
"I've heard a lot of things over the last eight years (at Rutgers) and I've come to realize that the best thing for me to do is to not react to it," said Flood.
Rutgers fans -- do you want to stay or bolt from the Big East? Be heard in the comments below...
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