newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

During a meeting of Big East football members this week, Rutgers remained non-committal about its future.

Rutgers and Connecticut officials both said they would look at all of their options, and do what was in the best interest of their schools.

According to CBS Sports, Big East Commissioner John Marianatto saw the results of the meeting differently. He declared that all the members of the Conference had "pledged to each other that they are committed to move forward together."

Lostlettermen.com believes that Rutgers would be valuable to the Big Ten because of its proximity to the New York market. They said if Rutgers joined the Big Ten, the Big Ten Network could serve a projected nine million cable subscribers in the area if cable companies add it.

According to mycentraljersey.com, Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti said, “TV is at the core of this. Everybody is looking to become less reliant on university funds and become more self-sufficient, and TV deals provide the greatest opportunity to do so. Geography and alliances and histories are being thrown out the window in exchange for the payday.”

Pernetti has been trying to gain support to move Rutgers out of the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big Ten, but those schools are sitting back on their expansion plans, according to NJ.com.

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Reports say adding Rutgers and the Big Ten Network would earn the conference an extra $20 million in revenue on top of the $66 million it’s already making each year.

A final option for Rutgers would be to be included in a Big East that also has programs from the Big 12.