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Sports

Villanova's Big East Plan

The school continues to make moves in the direction of the Big East for football.

There seems to be a vision, a grand scheme now that has—if the school makes the jump to the Big East Conference for football, which appears a strong possibility that could come to fruition.

According to various sources, the property that Villanova bought around Villanova Stadium won't be used to expand the stadium, as originally thought, but could be used to construct support buildings for the football program. Those buildings would house Villanova’s new football offices, a state-of-the-art weight training and conditioning facility for the additional scholarship student/athletes Villanova will have to accommodate as a Division I football program.

As the April deadline nears, when Villanova will officially announce whether it will make the move to the Big East for football, many things still need to be addressed.

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The most prominent is where Villanova would hold its home games. A questionnaire was circulated among Villanova residents last Friday asking that very question. It looks like the primary target venue could be PPL Park in Chester, where the Philadelphia Union plays. It’s an 18,500-seat capacity stadium that would meet Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS or Division I) requirements.

Another glaring question that needs attention is Villanova upgrading its weight training and conditioning facilities.

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For a major college program, Villanova has one of the worst, most antiquated weight training/conditioning facilities for football in the area. As a few with knowledge of Villanova football’s weight training room put it, “I think most high schools around here have a better weight room than Villanova does," and as someone close to the Villanova program put it, “It doesn't even come close to the standards of what a Division I weight training room should be. Imagine lifting weights in a closet.”

The program would use Villanova Stadium as a practice facility and play its home games at PPL Park. This appeases the concerns the area residents have about the larger crowds and it alleviates any extra burden on Radnor Township, which supplies police and emergency services for Villanova public events.

When Villanova was first broached by the Big East about joining for football, speculation was that the Wildcats could possibly find a home at PPL Park, a state-of-the-art facility. Officials from the Union soccer club and Villanova have spoken about it and continue to speak. Major League Soccer plays a 30-game schedule that runs from April until October.

But something may need to be settled. There is a civil war that’s brewing at Villanova between the faculty, which is dubious about the move in fear that Villanova’s high academic standards would be watered down to make room for more scholarship athletes, while the alumni that support the move see the ramifications if the move isn’t made.

The larger picture is this: Rumors over the past year have run rampant that major college football is transforming into mega-conferences. Fear is that the Big 10 Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) would raid the football-playing schools in the Big East, particularly schools like Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers, a prime addition that would give either conference a foothold in the fertile New York media market.

If those schools left the Big East, it would likely dissolve the all-sports conference, leaving schools like Villanova, which right now doesn’t have a Division I football program, out in the cold. Consequently, Villanova would be thrust into a smaller, less visible basketball conference and back to the days of the Eastern Eight (now the Atlantic 10 Conference, which Temple belongs to in all sports except football), where Villanova played before joining the Big East in 1980. Consequently, a move like that could jeopardize losing a nationally renowned coach like Jay Wright and have its vaunted basketball program thrown back into the Stone Ages of the mid-1970s.

The Big East, in an attempt to fortify itself from being raided by the mega-football conferences, invited TCU and Villanova before the 2009-10 football season to become fulltime, all-sports members of the conference. TCU has already accepted, beginning play in 2012, while Villanova is still conducting studies and contemplating.

It’s an expensive mission that Villanova may be undertaking, and the Wildcats will need the hefty support of their most powerful, big-ticket alumni to pull it off. Their reluctance to dip into their deep pockets could be what prevents the move.

Currently, Villanova’s football program reportedly loses $4 million a year. A move to the Big East, and its fat TV contract, could defray some of the program’s costs, giving Villanova football a chance to at least come out even.

In the meantime, the Wildcats are continuing to go after prime high school talent that they haven’t shown serious interest in before.

Owen J. Roberts High School’s Ryan Brumfield, Southeastern Pennsylvania’s all-time leading rusher with more than 8,000 yards in a magnificent career, has had increased interest from Villanova.

“Villanova has recently shown me a lot more interest,” Brumfield said, “and it’s a great school. I can definitely see Villanova going to the Big East—I can see it coming. No one from Villanova has said anything to me about it, because I don’t think they’re allowed to say anything. I’m weighing my options right now, but I’ll say this: If Villanova went to the Big East, it definitely would make them a more attractive school for me. It means more exposure, it means playing in a major Division I conference.”

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