NY Post says Creighton, Xavier, Butler in 2013

[pki1998]

School ---- Basketball Expense ---- Athletic Expenses
DePaul ---- $6,657,771.00 ---- $24,212,027.00
Georgetwn ---- $10,015,207.00 ---- $33,536,264.00
Marquette ---- $9,941,583.00 ---- $26,504,896.00
Providence ---- $6,562,933.00 ---- $22,550,248.00
Saint John’s ---- $7,289,171.00 ---- $33,644,628.00
Seton Hall ---- $6,401,383.00 ---- $20,886,250.00
Villanova ---- $6,398,678.00 ---- $30,934,099.00
AVG ---- $7,609,532.29 ---- $27,466,916.00

Catholic 7 Possible Additions
School ---- Basketball Expense ---- Athletic Expenses
Butler ---- $3,924,026 ---- $14,738,745 (Includes Football)
Creighton ---- $4,404,350 ---- $15,062,122
Dayton ---- $3,978,866 ---- $19,790,628 (With out Football)
Richmond ---- $3,971,226 ---- $15,460,451 (With out Football)
Saint Louis ---- $3,101,169 ---- $14,200,727
Xavier ---- $4,707,053 ---- $14,774,269

I am sure these numbers are apples to apples. Accounting leaves a lot of leeway on classification of expenses, and you have to consider the cost of owning verse renting facilities.

[BostonFriar11]

Baseball is one of the most sensitive topics to a Friar fan. Title IX, absolutely killed a terrific program.

[Moliva]

PKI, if you included Richmond's football, our budget would show over $20M. I realize our FB doesn't offer anything to the C7, but it is certainly an investment made in athletics.

I'm guessing the list of schools with less than 3k students and spending over $20M a year on athletics is pretty small. It would only increase with Fox TV money too.

[podcast411]

PKI, if you included Richmond's football, our budget would show over $20M. I realize our FB doesn't offer anything to the C7, but it is certainly an investment made in athletics.

I'm guessing the list of schools with less than 3k students and spending over $20M a year on athletics is pretty small. It would only increase with Fox TV money too.

With Richmond spending $5.5 Mil on Football - is that a good thing or a bad thing in the eyes of the C7 - they might not like you dancing with the devil.

[Moliva]

We play FB with Nova. Neither are taking their FB beyond FCS level.

[BillEsq]

I agree no reason to put to much into these numbers... the differences between renting and owning are astronomical, plus you have cost variations between east coast/ chicago/ and the midwest that add to the variables also all the private schools are well known to fudge numbers to make them balance... I think of all the pissing tests that will be used to determine what school gets in these numbers will be the least used and valuable.

[bostonfriar]

Those of us who are PC fans understand where we are and how we got here. There is no doubt if a totally new conference of this magnitude were being formed PC would not be at the top of the list if we were on the list at all. However, we are fortunately part of a group of 7 schools with apparantly some marketing leverage. As such we don't have to pass an admissions test. Our situation is primarily due to Dave Gavitt and his work to establish a BB history at PC as well as his work to create the Big East.

This may seem unfair to some however it is reality. My comments are looking to discuss how best to enhance where the 7 are for the future so comparing Richmond (for example) to PC is a useless exercise as we will not be replaced. In that light there are many, many colleges seeking to join our league...and it is our league right now. We made a big mistake by admitting schools with interests quite different than ours and we do not want to repeat that mistake.

In the future PC will need to hold their own against the competition and we are making progress towards that goal.

My opinion is that we should be looking to add schools that improve and sustain the value of the league - regarless if travel requires a bus trip or a plane trip. So, my comments are
regarding which 3 or 5 schools are best not to compare each potential school to PC or Seton Hall. We shbould be looking at schools comparred to GTown and Nova BB wise. Clearly X and Butler meet the test. After that I think Creighton is up there and then there are many, many schools that could compete but other schools currently being discussed would not right now be at the top of the league -- in my opinion.

[BillEsq]

Bostonfriar i kindly disagree. I think Providence would be a serious contender if it was not in the C7. Also I think there are several teams who could compete with the top of the C7 right now and neither would be Butler or X. Butler does not have a point guard and since Clarke has came back from his injury they have not been the same. X is good and one should never underestimate them but... in a rebuilding year. On the other hand SLU is competing with anyone and everyone right now, plays 10 men deep and would probably give any team a run for their money now that they are healthy. Plus almost the entire team returns next year and they were good last year too. If you are going for more long term history X definitely fits the bill but outside of the two final four runs of Butler they have really only been one of the best of the Horizon and a tough early round match up for mid tier BCS schools... and have struggled somewhat in the grind that is the A-ten.

That said i don't want to get into a debate about the qualifications of Butler as i think they would be a good fit in the new league, but to say that a team who last year could not win the Horizon and is now tied for 5th in the A-10 clearly meets the test while other teams don't is kinda silly. I know they had a good run and i don't want to take anything away from that, but I assure you there is some tough basketball played by some of the other teams and you might be shocked at who would be able to stand up to Marquette and GT on a week to week basis.