‘Catholic 7′ negotiations ‘ongoing’
by Dan Wolken, USA TODAY Sports
ATLANTA – Negotiations between the Big East and the breakaway Catholic 7 are ongoing, commissioner Mike Aresco said Friday after a meeting of presidents and athletic directors at a hotel near the Atlanta airport.
“We had some good conversations; didn’t reach any conclusions and our negotiations with the other group on continuing. That’s it,” Aresco said. “We had great discussion on some other topics.”
Aresco declined to elaborate further on the progress of the negotiations but said there was no deadline to have a separation agreement.
The breakaway schools announced their intention to leave the Big East in December, but the logistical difficulty of setting up a new league – plus the Big East’s 27-month waiting period – made it seem unlikely they would depart before the 2014-15 season.
But with the Catholic 7 closing in on a television deal with Fox Sports, they would prefer the timetable to accelerate. For the remaining schools, both the departure date as well as which group gets the “Big East” name are major bargaining chips. Though multiple outlets reported Thursday that a deal could be reached as soon as today, it appears that an agreement has not been reached.
Aresco did comment on other issues:
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