If the St. John's Red Storm and Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball programs decided to dissolve from the Big East Conference they would not be forced to play the league's $10 million exit fee, Mark Blaudschun of AJerseyGuy.com is reporting.
According to Blaudschun the rule was put in place when the league's first round of realignment took place and stipulates:
should the football or basketball segments of the league want to break away as a group no exit fees will be imposed. Schools leaving the Big East on an individual basis have had to pay between $5 and $17 million.
If this is true it would be huge for the seven Catholic, basketball-only schools that are thinking about splitting away from the Big East and creating a new conference.
What is also interesting, according to Blaudschun, is the teams maybe able to keep the Big East brand name and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
However, if some basketball-only schools are looking to leave the Big East they may chose to join The Atlantic 10 Conference, which is looking to expand to possibly 21 teams according to a report by ESPN's Andy Katz.