The Big (L)East strikes back?

[Capt. America]

(snip)

On Wednesday, the Big East announced that former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue would assist the league as a volunteer consultant. It's something that's been in the works since January.

"We've always talked as a league about plotting the future," Marinatto said. "Getting Paul engaged is a piece of the puzzle."

What exactly does the future hold for the Big East? No one can be sure, but anything and everything is in play, Marinatto said.

Among possible future changes: a Big East television network, a football championship game and, yes, even expansion – in football and/or basketball.

"We want to put everything on the table," Marinatto told FanHouse from Scottsdale, Ariz., where he was attending the BCS meetings.

Tagliabue will be a key component in helping shape the Big East's future. A 1962 Georgetown graduate who was NFL commissioner from 1989 to 2006, Tagliabue spoke to Marinatto in January at the Duke-Georgetown basketball game. This was about a month after the Big Ten announced it would make a decision in the next 12 to 18 months on whether to expand and when the doomsayers began predicting the death of the Big East.

While Marinatto said Delany has been up front about the Big Ten's expansion plans, Tagliabue didn't take long to express his displeasure at the Big Ten.

"It's very disruptive to everyone outside of the Big Ten," Tagliabue told the New York Times on Thursday. "Everything outside the Big Ten is held in artificial suspension. The Big Ten looks at a bunch of choices and everyone else has to deal with the depreciating value and a ton of negativity. I hope there's a better way. Otherwise it's going to have a terrible negative effect on everyone other than the schools in the Big Ten."

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/04/23/commish-big-east-not-dead-yet/?ncid=txtlnkusspor00000002

[madinmaryland]

1. Tagliabue just admitted what everyone else already knows...

The Big 10 is the Premiere Athletic Conference!!

:D