Announcing Developments in the New Big East Conference

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

I write with great pleasure to share with you developments in our new Big East athletics conference. Earlier today, I joined with nine other university presidents to formally announce a newly constituted Big East conference and a new broadcast partnership with FOX Sports.

We also announced the addition of three schools to our newly formed conference—Butler, Creighton, and Xavier—which will join Georgetown, DePaul, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s, and Villanova. We are honored to partner with these schools, which share our strong basketball history and will allow us to maintain the extraordinary tradition of competition that has come to define the Big East.

As we take this step forward, we are also pleased that our league will retain both the Big East name and our longstanding partnership to host our annual basketball tournament in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

I am deeply grateful for the work of Athletics Director Lee Reed and our dedicated colleagues who have enabled us to make this transition. The rich history of excellence that our students who participate in intercollegiate athletics, our coaches and our Athletics Department staff demonstrate every day through their contributions to our community on the court, on the field and in the classroom will continue to characterize Georgetown University as we move ahead. We look forward to our continued work together, to strengthening our relationships, and to the truly exceptional future that this will set for our athletics programs here at Georgetown.

More information about today’s announcements can be found here.

You have my very best wishes for a wonderful spring.

Sincerely,

John J. DeGioia