Villanova Football & The Big East: It's The Stadium

Most of 'Nova Nation has spent the last few days wondering why certain Big East schools basically filibustered an impending vote to move up to FBS status from Villanova. Conspiracies were abound as we searched and finally found out it was some combination of Rutgers, Pitt and West Virginia that weren't happy with our plans.

We then took to the mic to blame, well, everybody. And if I'm being honest - I think we're absolutely right to do that. This was a botch-job from the start. Both on Villanova's part (for coming unprepared to the Big East - more on that in a second), and on the Big East's part, for not really making it clear to Villanova what was expected of them.

First things first, as we've said - PPL Park was the only viable option for Villanova from the onset. Everybody knew this. I don't care what anyone else will tell you, but Lincoln Financial, Franklin Field, and Citizen's Bank Park were not happening. Ever. Moreover, an expansion to Villanova Stadium was definitely out of the question, even before we were invited. So as nice as it would be to play in a 50-80,000 seat stadium, it's not going to happen right now.

So what's the problem right now? From people I've talked to who are familiar with what's going on - Villanova needs to sew up it's stadium plans. By most accounts, PPL Park IS acceptable to just about everybody except Pitt (they never liked the idea). But it's only acceptable if it expands to 30,000 seats.

And while Villanova is committed to doing that, and while it sounds like PPL Park's ownership are ready to do that - nothing is set in stone.

And therein lies the current problem. We need to cross the T's and do the I's before this thing can move forward. Completely fair in my opinion

I'm still plenty nervous about a potential outcome to this - but it is comforting to know that the main reason why this thing was stopped before it got started is the fact that "We want to" is a whole lot different than "We're going to."

More to come soon.