7 Catholic schools, including Georgetown, to leave the Big East

Georgetown will soon be announcing their intention to leave the Big East, according to the USA Today. The Hoyas will reportedly be joined in their departure by the six other Catholic members of the conference. Those six schools are Villanova, Marquette, St. John's, Seton Hall, Providence and DePaul. The official announcement is expected after the seven schools decide how to proceed.

At the moment, there would be a two-year waiting period and no exit fee involved with the decision to leave the Big East. They could negotiate a deal which would allow them to depart early, but they also have enough votes to dissolve the league should they so choose. The Catholic Seven were reportedly upset by the loss of television money, in addition to the departure of several traditional rivals.

The New York Post has sources claiming that the seven departing schools will look to join forces with some of the Atlantic 10, but does not know if they would look to form a 21-team conference by joining the current 14 teams, or break up the current Atlantic 10 group.

Georgetown was one of the original Big East schools when the conference was founded in 1979, along with Syracuse, St. John's, Connecticut, Providence, Seton Hall and Boston College.