Some startling news hit the college sports landscape on Thursday, as it was announced that the Big East Conference was having a firm look into the possibility of changing the name of the league.
With Syracuse and Pittsburgh leaving the Big East for the ACC and programs such as SMU, Houston, UCF, Memphis, Temple, Boise State and San Diego State (latter two for football only) coming in, while the conference would remain “big” there’s less of an eastern feel.
But new commissioner Mike Aresco put that all to rest on Saturday, announcing that there are no plans to change the name of the conference.
The reason to keep the name is the same as it is for the Big Ten (which has 12 members) and the Big 12 (which has ten members): brand recognition.
“There’s tremendous brand equity built up in the Big East name,” Aresco said on Saturday at the Maryland/Temple football game in Philadelphia.
The question shouldn’t have been whether or not the Big East would change its name, which according to the Associated Press then-interim commissioner Joe Bailey said was likely to happen.
Rather, the question should be what the Big East logo would look like after the new schools officially join the league in July.
In each of the prior Big East expansions the conference changed its logo, so it’s likely that there will be a new look in that regard.
But the name? That’s not going anywhere, geography be damned.
Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.