Definition of Big east conference

The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of seventeen universities in the northeastern, southeastern and midwestern United States. The conference's 17 members (16 full-time and 1 associate member) participate in 23 NCAA sports. The schools that are Big East members in football — which are actually only eight of the 11 conference schools that sponsor varsity football — are part of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the top level of NCAA competition in that sport (still frequently known by its former designation of Division I-A).