It was announced a week ago that the seven basketball programs breaking off from the Big East conference, informally known as the Catholic 7 on the interim, would actually be keeping the Big East name.
The price of that brand, plus the rights to keep the basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden, will result in approximately $100 million for Big East football schools. Most of that money will go to Cincinnati, South Florida and UConn, according to a report from Ralph Russo of the Associated Press. The basketball schools will receive about $10 million of the $110 million pot.
Mark Blaudschun of AJerseyGuy.com reports similar numbers. The deal hasn’t been finalized, but that’s expected to happen by the end of this week.
The Big East recently agreed to a new TV rights with ESPN reportedly worth $130 million over seven years. Word of the agreement came about a week before it was announced that the basketball schools would be keeping the Big East name.
The Big East football members have not decided on a new name yet.