Villanova's decision on joining Big East football delayed

Villanova's football future won't be decided this week, as had been originally expected.

Sources cautioned last night that the delay does not mean talks between the school and the Big East about Villanova becoming the 10th member for football have hit a snag, just that discussions are continuing on a variety of issues. The sources said those issues need to be resolved before a decision can be made.

Representatives of the Big East's current eight football schools held a conference call yesterday to review Villanova's situation. Texas Christian, which does not join the conference as a full member until 2012-13, was not included.

Following 2 days of regularly scheduled meetings, Villanova's Board of Trustees had been expected to announce tomorrow the result of its vote on whether to move up to Division I-A football and join the Big East.

It is believed the next meeting is scheduled for June, but that would not prevent an earlier meeting from being called, if necessary.

The primary issues from the outset have been finances and stadium related.

Villanova would have to commit a lot more financial resources to the program to move from the I-AA or FCS level. But the potential for significantly increased revenues from a BCS affiliation are also apparent. Villanova loses money playing at I-AA. Depending upon what kind of support it could generate playing against the West Virginias of the food chain instead of the Towson States, the difference in what it costs to move up might not be as substantial as some would assume. That's the unknown.

At the moment the logical stadium solution being targeted is PPL Park in Chester, home of the Union soccer team. Whether that's feasible going forward for the long run is probably a question the Big East would like answered. That too could be a major sticking point in the equation.

As was first reported in the Daily News, Villanova was invited in September and has been doing its official due diligence ever since. But it's a scenario the school actually had been studying for some time before that.

The Wildcats have been competing in the Big East in most every other sport for roughly 3 decades. But in football, they've been at the I-AA level since the program was restored in the mid-1980s. It had been disbanded some 5 years earlier, not long after Division I was split in two.

The Wildcats won the national title in 2009, and made it to the semifinals last season.

If they move up, they would probably play one more season at I-AA, in the Colonial Athletic Assocation, before going through the mandatory 2-year transition period.

The move is also seen as a positive step for helping to maintain the basketball program's re-established national brand under Jay Wright, which could be jeopardized at some point if the Big East football schools ever decided to go off on their own. If Villanova says no, there's always a chance that at some point Temple could be asked to join the Big East for all sports, which wouldn't figure to be a good thing for the Main Line.

If Villanova says yes, the chances of another Philadelphia school getting invited would appear to be slim at best.