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| Association | NCAA |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 31, 1979 (de facto) July 1, 2013 (de jure) [note 1] |
| Commissioner | Val Ackerman |
| Sports fielded |
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| Division | Division I (Non-Football) |
| No. of teams | 11 (All-Sports Members) |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Region | Northeastern United States Midwestern United States |
| Official website | bigeast |
| Locations | |
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The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the 11 full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and Midwest metropolitan areas. The conference was officially recognized as a Division I multi-sport conference on August 1, 2013,[1] and since then conference members have won NCAA national championships in men's basketball, women's cross country, field hockey, men's lacrosse, and men's soccer. Val Ackerman is the commissioner.[2]
The conference was formed after the "Catholic Seven" members of the original Big East Conference elected to split from the football-playing schools in order to start a new conference focused on basketball. These schools (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, and Villanova) had announced their decision in December 2012.[3] In March 2013, the new conference purchased the Big East Conference name, logos, basketball records, and the rights to the men's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden from the football-playing members of the old Big East, who formed the American Athletic Conference (AAC), which is the old conference's legal successor.[4] Both conferences share 1979 as their founding date, when the original conference was founded by Dave Gavitt, and the same history through 2013.[5][6]
Three more schools, Butler, Creighton, and Xavier, joined the conference on its July 1, 2013, launch date.[7] In June 2019, the Big East invited the University of Connecticut (UConn) to "re-join" the conference from the AAC, which they did on July 1, 2020.[8][9] Football is not a sponsored sport, and UConn is the only member with a varsity football team in the top-level Division I FBS. Butler, Georgetown, and Villanova do operate football programs in the second-level Division I FCS. The conference also has four associate members in field hockey, and one in men's and women's lacrosse.
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- ^ Ewart, Brian (May 2, 2013). "NCAA Division I Board recognizes New Big East as a conference". VU Hoops. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
- ^ Katz, Andy (June 26, 2013). "Big East hires Val Ackerman as chief". ESPN. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "'Catholic 7' announce official departure from Big East". USA Today. December 15, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
- ^ Bachman, Rachel (March 8, 2013). "It's Official: Big East, Catholic Schools Split". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
- ^ "The American Athletic Conference – About the American Athletic Conference". February 9, 2014. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ "Big East Conference History". bigeast.com. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ Darcy, Kieran (March 20, 2013). "New Big East adds Butler, 2 others". ESPN. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
- ^ "Huskies Return Home to the Big East". UConnHuskies.com. July 1, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
- ^ Norlander, Matt (June 26, 2019). "UConn leaving AAC after accepting invitation to join Big East Conference in all sports except football". CBSSports.com. Retrieved June 26, 2019.