Big 12 Expansion: Big 12 Introduces West Virginia, but Is It Done?

After a week of going back and forth on West Virginia, the Big 12 went ahead with its expansion and formally announced that West Virginia will become the newest member of the Big 12 Conference.

West Virginia president James Clements said, "As of July 1, we will be members of the Big 12. Our team and their team are in discussions about how we can make that happen."

July 1? It makes you wonder if that's truly a done deal or not.

If you ask the Big East Conference, it's not.

The Big East is sticking to the same 27 months, or January 2014 when it comes to West Virginia and all other schools looking to depart the fading conference, while West Virginia is insisting that they will be a member of the Big 12 in July of 2012.

That's a large gap that needs to be bridged between the two parties before you can truly believe that the Mountaineers will be playing Big 12 football next season.

West Virginia is making the right concessions as if they are on their way out the door, though.

They wired their $2.5 million payment to the Big East upon the decision to withdraw from the conference and will pay the other $2.5 million exit fee upon their exit date. 

WVU also plans to grant its Tier I and Tier II media rights to the Big 12 as the league's other members, excluding Missouri and Texas A&M, have done.

Yet while WVU, along with Pitt and Syracuse, appear to have a foot already out the door, the Big East still won't budge and there is no guarantee that any school will be leaving to begin play in their respective new conferences next season.

Quite simply, the Big East feels slapped in the face and will not make it easy for West Virginia to begin Big 12 play any time before the two-year waiting period is over.

“West Virginia is fully aware that the Big East Conference is committed to enforcing the 27-month notification period for members who choose to leave the conference,” Big East commissioner John Marinatto said in a statement.

While you can admire the Big East for sticking to their guns, you have to wonder exactly what the point is. It likely makes more sense for them to collect their exit fees from Pitt, Syracuse, WVU and TCU and quickly move on to expanding in an attempt to save the conference.

Continuing to play with schools that have no desire to be there could lead to a long two years for the Big East.

The conference recently doubled its exit fee to $10 million. Though none of the four departing schools will be on the hook for that, you can bet some type of large additional payment is going to have to be made for the Big East to allow any of the schools out of their current deal.

As for the Mountaineers in the Big 12 next season, don't circle that date on your calendar just yet.

The winner of the current tug-of-war between the Big East and West Virginia has yet to be determined.