After multiple reports over the last few days that said the University of Central Florida could receive an invite from the Big East Conference as early as today, it now appears official that the Knights will be headed to the automatic qualifying leauge.
The Big East will double the exit fee for current members to $10 million before it starts its expansion.
But, ESPN is reporting that UCF will get an invite to compete in all sports, while Boise State, Air Force and Navy will get invites as football-only members.
The Big East had announced that they wanted to expand to 12 football schools, and UCF went to the top of the list of candidates after Pittsburgh, Syracuse and TCU all bolted for different conferences.
This is monumental news for the UCF athletics and fans after months of speculation about the future of the program.
UCF will still have to choose if they want to accept the bid or stay in Conference-USA to be part of the Mountain West-C-USA merger that is also being reported, but signs are pointing towards UCF going with the former.
According to the ESPN source, Commissioner John Marinatto was in Cincinnati on Friday meeting with UCF’s president and athletic director, which would signal that the Big East is confident UCF will accept the invitation.
With Boise State and UCF likely leaving the Mountain West and Conference-USA, respectively, it appears the two leagues will form a merger. The new leauge will reportedly combine their football programs to create a 22-team conference by 2013.
The conferences did not comment on what the new association would be called.
This breaking news puts UCF at the center of attention, as the Knights are the focal point of the Big East’s expansion. Not to mention, Conference-USA appears to be responding to the program’s move by creating this merger with hopes of attaining a BCS tag to the new conference.
The addition of UCF and potentially Boise State will help the Big East keep its BCS automatic qualifying status, which was the conference’s main priority in expanding.
Neither UCF nor Big East officials have made comments on the breaking news.
KnightNews.com will keep you updated as news continues to come in.
E-mail us at athletics@knightnews.com.
