• Loading stock data...
Thursday, October 9, 2025

A Basketball Conference Can Still Survive and Thrive in the NCAA

  • Since being picked apart a decade ago, the Big East is thriving.
  • Its lack of football has proven to be an asset, rather than a liability.
DePaul and Xavier face off during the 2023 Big East tournament.
The Enquirer-USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK — Starting with its formation in 1979, the Big East rose to become the most iconic conference in college basketball. But by 2013, football had torn it apart.

A media rights deal with ESPN fell through. Several football-playing schools left for Power 5 conferences, lured by television revenue and the possibility of getting into the new four-team College Football Playoff.

Big East Weighs In On NCAA Basketball Tournament Expansion

From TV schedules to revenue, the concept is controversial.
October 18, 2022

But the “Catholic 7” basketball-centric schools like Georgetown and Villanova refused to give up. They decided to try to rebuild a new Big East that eschewed the most lucrative sport in the NCAA.

A decade later, the Big East is hosting its 41st annual men’s tournament at Madison Square Garden to sellout crowds. The conference is slated to send at least five teams to men’s March Madness, and four to the women’s — including perennial championship contender UConn, which Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman lured back to the conference in 2019. During the latest vicious round of realignment, the Big East remained unscathed — and could even add new members.

In 2023, big-time college football reigns supreme — but the Big East is better off without it. 

“We don’t have sort of [realignment] ‘flight risks,’ we don’t have the distractions, we don’t have the expenses that go into supporting football,” Ackerman told Front Office Sports in between Big East Tournament games on Thursday. “What we’ve got now suits us. This is who we are. We’re basketball schools.”

A Startup Conference

Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman speaks to the conference.
Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman. Credit: Big East

A decade ago, the Big East decided to lean into basketball, not because it was a smart business decision — they didn’t have a choice.

Starting in the early 2000s, the conference, which at the time had begun building a BCS football league, started to hemorrhage football-centric members. 

Schools like Louisville and Syracuse bolted for the ACC. The conference was left with a haphazard group of basketball-centric schools and restless football programs, and was unsuccessful in luring members like Boise State or San Diego State to fill out a football schedule.

By March 2013, the university presidents of the Catholic 7 basketball schools had had enough of football controlling their destiny. 

They decided to break away from their football-playing comrades to form a completely new conference. They were able to convince then-Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco to allow them to bring the name “Big East” with them. So the old Big East became the American Athletic Conference — still headed by Aresco to this day. 

The “new” Big East schools then set off on their own. 

The schools were able to gain financial footing by signing a deal with Fox, which needed programming for its new channel: FS1. 

They added three new basketball schools: Xavier, Creighton, and Butler. 

They also inked a new deal with Madison Square Garden to keep the men’s conference tournament in New York City. MSG stayed loyal — warding off bids from the Big Ten and ACC to accommodate their longtime partner, MSG Head of College Basketball Joel Fisher told FOS.

“It was actually a courageous decision by the presidents of the schools that withdrew at that time to, in effect, make the decision to go back to their roots — which is what they did with a basketball-centric focus,” Ackerman said. 

The whole process happened within a span of 90 days in 2013, according to Ackerman, who was hired in June of that year. As the WNBA’s first commissioner, she was the perfect fit to lead a basketball conference.

The conference began official operations on July 1 of that year. “We were essentially a startup,” Ackerman said of her early days. The AAC had “all the infrastructure.” The new Big East had no office, website, email address, bank accounts, or benefits plans. The AAC even took the Big East nonprofit entity and renamed it. The new Big East had to re-file with the IRS.

Ackerman said that she was hiring employees every week just to keep the conference afloat. “It was exhausting.” 

But the conference rode the coattails of its basketball powerhouses — and at this point, it doesn’t appear to miss its football league at all. 

Building A ‘Power 6’

Mar 9, 2023; New York, NY, USA; Creighton Bluejays guard Ryan Nembhard (2) drives to the basket against Villanova Wildcats forward Brandon Slater (34) during the second half at Madison Square Garden.
The Creighton Bluejays beat the Villanova Wildcats in the 2023 Big East Quarterfinal. Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Big East looks different than it did in the “glory days” of the 1980s.

The “new” iteration doesn’t have the big men or the ultra-physical style of play that characterized it in the past. It doesn’t boast Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing and St. John’s Chris Mullin. In fact, the schools hired the two former players to coach, seemingly to bring back the good old days. Both have since been fired.

But the men’s Big East Tournament is still one of the best products in all sports, played in front of the most knowledgeable fans at the Mecca of Basketball. 

During the first round on Wednesday, legendary Fox Sports announcer Bill Raftery marveled at the quality of play.

“The restructuring is just magnificent,” he remarked during a DePaul-Seton Hall matchup that ended up going right down to the buzzer.

A noon ET quarterfinal between St. John’s and Marquette drew a raucous crowd on a Thursday. UConn didn’t tip off until three hours later, but that didn’t stop the team’s fans from showing up early to drink overpriced beers and groan at Marquette’s missed buzzer-beater at the end of regulation. The Garden stayed packed late into the night. 

And it doesn’t stop after the tournament final on Saturday night between Marquette and Xavier. Dubbed part of the “Power 6,” the conference routinely sends around half its members to men’s March Madness. Villanova captured not one but two of the last six national championships.

“I wasn’t surprised by the success — but maybe the peak of that success,” Butler athletic director Barry Collier, who has held the role since 2006, told Front Office Sports. “It’s so hard to win a national championship that I wouldn’t have necessarily predicted two of them.”

And on the women’s side, the conference not only sends multiple teams as well, but has UConn. The Huskies have 11 national championships — tied for the winningest D-I basketball program, men’s or women’s.

The track record is particularly impressive given the Big East’s deal with Fox isn’t making any of the schools rich. It contributes to payouts lower than $6 million, just a fraction of what Power 5 programs receive thanks to their football teams.

Ackerman acknowledged that more money is always a good thing, but the Big East schools “have enough resources to be successful in basketball.” 

When it comes to Power 5 conferences, Ackerman said: “A lot of that [conference] money is coming in because of football, and it’s going back out to football. I mean, football is a high-expense sport. Basketball is a much lower-expense sport.”

The conference even earns prize money for success in the men’s tournament, as the NCAA bases close to $200 million of its annual distributions on how many of a conference’s teams make March Madness and how far they progress.

A Position of Strength

The UConn Huskies celebrate winning the 2023 Big East Tournament.
The UConn Huskies celebrate winning the 2023 Big East Tournament. Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Unlike a decade ago, the conference didn’t lose multiple members in its latest round of realignment. On the contrary, it’s become one of the most stable conferences in Division I.

“There’s an irony here, with respect to our stability,” Ackerman said. “Because the Big East was one of the hardest-hit conferences of all time back 15-20 years ago when schools started leaving, mostly to go to the ACC, because of football.”

In 2019, UConn returned, thanks in large part to Ackerman’s effort. Collier called it perhaps “the biggest impact” as far as the conference’s current success — not just with a men’s program that has gone through a rebuild, but with a women’s program that remains a championship threat.

Now, they may not have to play poacher. There are schools interested in joining the Big East, Collier confirmed.

As for inking a more competitive media rights contract, the current deal with Fox isn’t up until 2025. But Ackerman said she hopes to start talks with Fox before the official renewal negotiating window starts next February.

“It’s too early to say where that deal will land — and how we adapt to the changing media landscape,” Ackerman said. “Because it’s not the same as it was 10 years ago. There’s players now that didn’t exist. We’re now into a world of streaming.”

A representative from the network was unavailable to comment for this story, but a spokesperson sent the following stats: The men’s regular-season games averaged 779,000 viewers — a tie for the most-watched regular season ever on Fox. The women’s season averaged 285,000 viewers, the most across networks ever. 

Fox would be hard-pressed not to at least consider a renewal.

Ackerman said she doesn’t often think about her early days at the Big East, given the whirlwind of changes the industry currently faces. But she agrees the conference is dealing from a position of strength — particularly compared to its rebirth a decade ago.

“I just sort of say, ‘God, I’m glad we got through all of that,’” Ackerman said. “I’m glad, to the extent there were naysayers, our schools proved them wrong. That’s satisfying.”

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Inside NCAA Headquarters located in Indianapolis on Friday, March 10, 2023. Ncaa President Charlie Baker

NCAA Approves Plan to Let D-I College Athletes Bet on Pro Sports

The proposal still needs to be approved by D-II and D-III committees.
Oct 4, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys outside linebacker Poasa Ute (35) and Wendell Gregory (4) celebrate during the third quarter of the game against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium.
exclusive

New Bill Aims to Prohibit Athletic Department, Conference Private-Equity Deals

The bill would bar schools from selling ownership stakes.

CFB’s New Parity Era: Penn State, Texas Top-25 Exits Signal Shift

Penn State and Texas fall entirely out of the top-25 rankings.

Featured Today

Paul Cartier

Sports Organists Are Still Thriving in the Era of Raucous Arena Music

“When they walk out and they see a real organ guy, it’s like, ‘Wow.’”
Sep 27, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Jackson Chourio (11) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field.
October 4, 2025

Milwaukee Moneyball: Brewers Are Beating MLB’s Deeper Pockets

Milwaukee is holding its own against big-budget competitors.
Kōloa Rum Company Rum Rusher
September 27, 2025

Panthers Bubbly, Jets Wine, Manning Whiskey: The Sports Booze Boom

A sommelier dives into the sports booze trend—and tries Jets wine.
Nov 17, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers fans wave Terrible Towels against the Baltimore Ravens during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium
September 26, 2025

Steelers’ Irish Roots Are Deeper Than NFL Dublin Game

The Steelers have history and the foundation for a future in Ireland.
Sep 1, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick on the field before the game at Kenan Stadium

UNC’s Disastrous Season Continues With Report of NCAA Rules Violation

A UNC cornerbacks coach reportedly gave sideline passes to a player’s family.
Sep 20, 2025; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule walks onto the field before the game against the Michigan Wolverines at Memorial Stadium.
October 7, 2025

Big Ten Teams Grapple With Long Flights, Time-Zone Hurdles

Coaches across the country are noticing some impact.
Oct 4, 2025; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive back DeShon Singleton (8) celebrates after making an interception during the game against Michigan State at Memorial Stadium.
exclusive
October 7, 2025

Big Ten Considering Investment From California Pension Fund

Under the proposal, Big Ten would spin assets into a new entity.
Sponsored

How Jenny Just Is Shaping the Future of Sports Ownership

Jenny Just on bringing her investment experience to sports ownership.
October 7, 2025

NIL Hits Week 1: Auburn’s Atlanta Game Marks Next Step in Player..

The teams will play in the 2026 Aflac Kickoff Game.
Oct 4, 2025; Pasadena, California, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9) passes the ball during the fourth quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Rose Bowl.
October 6, 2025

The Improbability of UCLA’s Incredible Upset Win Against Penn State

Before UCLA beat Penn State, donors were deeply unhappy.
Sep 27, 2025; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin reacts during the fourth quarter against the Oregon Ducks at Beaver Stadium.
October 6, 2025

Penn State Has a $50 Million James Franklin Problem

Franklin’s team lost to unranked UCLA on Saturday despite being heavy favorites.
Cody Campbell
October 4, 2025

Fox, ABC Reject Ad Accusing Power Conference Commissioners of Greed

Cody Campbell said the ads were pulled after he paid for them.