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Rick Pitino adamant Big East will ‘miss the boat’ without an expansion

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5 hours ago

February 8, 2025

Rick Pitino adamant Big East will 'miss the boat' without an expansion

STORRS, Conn. — Rick Pitino is once again advocating for changes and expansion in the Big East to create a super basketball conference.

In an interview on SiriusXM with legendary former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, Pitino reiterated his belief that the league needs to take action.

A month ago, Coach K suggested that the ACC and Big East should merge to form a larger league, similar to the Big 12, SEC, and Big Ten.

Pitino agreed with Krzyzewski’s proposal, and they revisited the idea during their recent conversation.

“I’ve been trying to get [the Big East on board], and obviously I jumped on your bandwagon with the suggestion that you had about combining with the ACC, because I’ve been trying to get them to start a super league basketball league,” Pitino said. “And get up to 18 teams, 16 teams. Eleven is just not enough. And right now, a little bit like the ACC, we are not typical of the Big East of the past that was getting eight or nine, 10 teams in the NCAA tournament. So I think we are missing the boat if we don’t expand.”

Head coach Rick Pitino of the St. John’s Red Storm reacts on the baseline during the second half when the St. John’s Red Storm defeated the Providence Friars on February 1, 2025 at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post

It is worth mentioning that the current version of the Big East secured a new six-year media rights deal with FOX, NBC, and TNT Sports last summer, averaging nearly $80 million per year.

This is an improvement over the previous deal with FOX and CBS, which expired at the end of the last season and averaged $41.67 million per year.

However, the Big East’s media rights deal is not on par with other major conferences. For example, the SEC receives $300 million annually from Disney and ESPN, while the Big Ten’s media rights contract amounts to $7 billion over seven years.

Pitino has also proposed the addition of schools like Dayton and Saint Louis from the Atlantic 10 and Memphis from the AAC, although this move could potentially reduce the revenue from the current television deal.