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By Brian Murphy
bmurphy@idahostatesman.com

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto will hold a conference call Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. Mountain Time with media members to discuss "current information on Big East realignment."

KTIK 93.1 FM will carry the press conference live — and we will have updates on IdahoStatesman.com.

The Big East has just six continuing football-playing members. Under a reported plan, the league will extend football-only invitations to Boise State, Air Force and Navy and all-sport invites to Central Florida, Houston and SMU to rebuild the league.

Under the reported plan, Boise State would be in a six-team Western Division along with Air Force, Houston, SMU, Louisville and Cincinnati.

On Monday night, the 14 continuing members of the Big East, will hold a vote on raising exit fees from its current $5 million to $10 million. The league needs 11 of 14 votes to raise fees, which is seen as a key move in creating stability for the conference.

"Stability in any league is important to us. Certainly we’ve been reading a lot about that issue of stability," Boise State President Bob Kustra told the Idaho Statesman on Saturday in Fort Collins, Colo. "That would be one of the due diligence issues we’d have to deal with."

Since Boise State agreed to join the Mountain West in June 2010, the league has lost Utah and BYU. TCU will leave after this academic year.

Big East stalwart West Virginia plans to vote in favor of raising exit fees, according to the Charleston (W.V.) Gazette. The Mountaineers' vote could be critical.

Connecticut's president seemed resigned to the fact that the Big East will have expand outside of its regional area. "One of the things I think we're all resigned to is that regionalism is pretty much over," UConn President Susan Herbst told USA Today.

• UPDATE: The New York Times is reporting that Missouri's application to the SEC is "inevitable and imminent."

If Missouri leaves, the Big 12 is expected to invite Louisville from the Big East to fill its spot, further damaging the Big East's brand.

The SEC is looking for a 14th member after adding Texas A&M. The Aggies will start play in 2012.

I asked Kustra about the Big 12 — which could be looking for as many as three teams — on Saturday.

"I can say, as of now, I am not working behind the scenes with the Big 12. They certainly know who we are and I will continue to do anything I need to do if there’s some evidence that they’re interested in us. At the moment, it’s not like we’re talking to them. It’s not like I have recieved any indications from them that there is something imminent," he said.

I asked him if Boise State needed BYU in order to get into the Big 12.

"I saw that in writing and it make sense to me. It really does. I’m all for the possibility of Boise State and Brigham Young University going in somewhere together in the sense of traveling partners. That would make a lot of sense," he said.

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