People act like the entire Big East got up and walked out the door, leaving UConn all to its lonesome. The Big East lost Pitt and Syracuse. Let that sink in for a minute. When the league got raided in 2003, it lost it's two best program in Miami and VTech, and Miami had been carrying the league for years. Of the 5 left, 1, Temple, had already been kicked out and Rutgers was tragically terrible. Pitt, WVU and Syracuse were just OK. Of the additions, only Louisville had accomplished anything in football, with their crowning achievement a victory over an FSU team that would finish a game above .500 that year. Two of the 8 Big East teams have been playing D1A ball for less than 3 years.
Since then, the Big East has had a tremendous run, coming within one play of playing for the National Championship on 3 different occasions (Louisville 2006, WVU 2007, Cincinnati 2009). Even with the loss of Pitt and Syracuse, the league remains the best basketball league in the country, with key programs St. Johns and Depaul showing significant improvement in the last year.
In football, the league has TCU, which finished #2 last year, WVU and USF, both in the Top 20, and the potential to add borderline Top 25 program Houston. Pitt has been solid, going 24-18 in Big East play with a few solid non-conference wins. Syracuse has gone 8-34 over that stretch. As we saw from 2005 on with programs like Louisville, Cincinnati, UConn and USF, joining a BCS conference has a big impact on recruiting and coaching stability relative to mid-majors. Now imagine Houston in a BCS conference.
The TV contract will take a hit, but will still be a huge increase over what we have given that the Syracuse and Pitt TV markets aren't exactly driving the bus anyway. People need to relax. We got into this situation because Syracuse and Pitt panicked and screwed everyone else over. More panicking will not improve the situation. The Big East will be just fine as long as everyone hangs tight, and between TCU and WVU, I would not be surprised if the league wins a National Championship in the next 5 years.