The Big East is continuing their aggressive approach in adding teams to make their league stable. They are now turning their focus once again to Navy and Air Force as football-only members. Prior to Syracuse and Pitt leaving for the ACC, the Big East nearly had Navy and was considering Air Force. According to Tom Luicci of the Newark Star-Ledger he is reporting that the Big East is going after "BCS caliber institutions":
The Big East's first move to re-invent itself will be to try to add Navy and Air Force as football-playing members only -- with the hope Army will then join -- with Temple or Villanova as options as well, according to two college officials.
Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because negotiations have not formally started.
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One college official said Air Force and Navy are on board with the idea of joining the Big East for football only...
This is interesting that Air is on board with the idea, because where would the rest of Air Force's sports play? The Mountain West has been clear that teams need to play football, men's and women's basketball plus women's volleyball. However, Hawaii is coming on as a football only member, so who knows if the Mountain West would allow Air Force to stay as a non-football member.
Adding Air Force to the Big East just does not add much sense. I get with being a football-only member that travel is not a big deal due to the nature of football having only 12 games. The reason for Air Force as an option comes from building a big-time conference rivalry with Navy and because of the Conference-USA teams only Central Florida is being seriously considered for admission.
So, it looks like Air Force is in high demand after all. It would be hard for Air Force to turn this offer, but the Academy is more about sports and they still need a spot with non-football sports. Perhaps they could head to the WAC or West Coast Conference for their other sports. I am sure Karl Benson would not mind adding another team to the league even if they do not play football.
All I can say now is to say is stay tuned to see what Air Force does next.
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