Big East Conference
Institution Location Founded Endowment Enrollment Nickname
Butler University Indianapolis , Indiana 1855 $ 174,000,000 4,848 Bulldogs
Creighton University Omaha , Nebraska 1878 $ 568,800,000 8,236 Bluejays
DePaul University Chicago , Illinois 1898 $ 595,800,000 23,799 Blue Demons
Georgetown University Washington , D.C 1789 $ 1,770,000,000 17,858 Hoyas
Marquette University Milwaukee , Wisconsin 1881 $ 668,600,000 11,745 Golden Eagles
Providence College Providence , Rhode Island 1917 $ 213,000,000 4,533 Friars
St. John 's University Queens , New York 1870 $ 648,000,000 20,448 Red Storm
Seton Hall University South Orange , New Jersey 1856 $ 243,000,000 9,627 Pirates
Villanova University Villanova , Pennsylvania 1842 $ 715,000,000 11,023 Wildcats
Xavier University Cincinnati , Ohio 1831 $ 151,000,000 6,538 Musketeers
Member schools -- Charter members
All full members of the Big East are private institutions , and all are Catholic except for Butler ( which is nonsectarian though founded by the Christian Church ( Disciples of Christ ) . Upon arrival , UConn will become the first public institution to be a full conference member .
The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in all sports except football, which is not sponsored. The conference has been officially recognized as a Division I multi-sport conference, effective on August 1, 2013. The conference was originally founded by Dave Gavitt on May 31, 1979. Its nucleus is composed of the Catholic Seven members of the original Big East Conference: DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence College, Seton Hall University, St. John's University, and Villanova University. In December 2012, these schools chose to split from the football playing schools in order to focus on basketball, and in March 2013 reached a settlement, whereby they acquired the Big East Conference name, logos, history, and the rights to the men's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden. Butler University, Creighton University, and Xavier University also joined the conference on its July 1, 2013 launch date. The conference also entered into a 12-year, $500 million television contract with Fox Sports, Fox Sports 1 (FS1), Fox Sports 2 (FS2), and Fox Sports Networks (FSN) and a 6-year television contract with CBS and CBS Sports Network (CBSSN). On June 24, 2019 the member schools of the Big East voted 10-0 to extend an invitation to the University of Connecticut (UConn) to rejoin the conference, which was accepted two days later. The football-playing members of the old Big East, along with several other schools, formed the American Athletic Conference, which retains the old Big East's charter and structure. However, both conferences claim 1979 as their founding date. As part of the separation agreement, the basketball schools were able to retain the basketball records while the football schools retained the football records respectively. Val Ackerman, former WNBA president, has been commissioner since June 26, 2013.