Miami's decision would affect all

The courting of the University of Miami by the Atlantic Coast Conference may not seem very newsworthy in these parts, but if the Hurricanes bolt the Big East Conference it could have far-reaching ramifications, including the Big Ten.
The Big East began primarily as a basketball league in the 1980s, but when it added football about 12 years ago, the addition of Miami was an absolute necessity to give it credibility within the NCAA's so-called "power conferences."
Originally, the Big East wanted Penn State, which seemed to be a natural because of its previous rivalries as an independent with Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia.
But, when Penn State instead opted to join the Big Ten, it forced the Big East to look to either Miami or Notre Dame, the two remaining independent football powers.
Losing its status
Without Miami (and assuming Notre Dame will opt to remain an independent in football), the Big East would suffer greatly in prestige and, more importantly, in television ratings. Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Syracuse and Virginia Tech are all top 25 programs, but none of them have the television drawing power of Miami. And, except for Pittsburgh, they are in small television markets. (And Pittsburgh must compete for attention with Penn State and the city's professional teams.)
The remaining Big East football teams -- Temple, Rutgers and Boston College -- are small fish in big ponds, i.e., major-league market cities (Philadelphia, New York-New Jersey and Boston, respectively.)
In fact, it could be argued that Temple doesn't generate as much excitement in Philadelphia as Division I-AA Pennsylvania, a member of the prestigious Ivy League.
If not Miami, then ...
So, if Miami does bolt for the ACC, the Big East faces a very serious problem: who to replace the Hurricanes?
There's Notre Dame, of course, a member of the Big East in every sport except football. It's highly unlikely, however, unless Notre Dame and NBC can't come to an agreement to renew their contract. Otherwise, Notre Dame would be crazy to give up its lucrative television deal for a Big East package in which it would have to share revenue.
The remaining Division I independents are all southern schools and the Naval Academy, which is the only one in a major market -- Baltimore. But the Midshipmen would do nothing to enhance the Big East's competitiveness on the field.
The Big East could also raid another conference. There's Penn State in the Big Ten, Marshall in the Mid-American Conference or East Carolina in Conference USA.
But, other than renewing some rivalries none of those three bring anything, in terms of television markets, that the Big East doesn't already have.
No more Big East
A more plausible scenario would have Big East football dissolving and the remaining members scattering to other big-time conferences.
It's been rumored that Miami could be joined in the ACC by Boston College and Syracuse.
That would clear the way for Pittsburgh to join the Big Ten and West Virginia and Virginia Tech to hook up with Conference USA. That would give both of those conferences 12 schools and set up a lucrative championship game at the end of the season.
That would leave only Rutgers and Temple out in the cold. Considering neither has ever finished in the top half of the conference standings, they conceivably could move to I-AA.
And should the Big East dissolve, it would leave only five power conferences in the BCS, meaning they would share even more of the bowl money. Conceivably, it would allow for more schools from the power conferences to get in the BCS and make it even more difficult for lower-tier schools to crack the lineup.
In other words, the rich will get richer.
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com.