is eligible to receive an automatic bid to a NCAA Tournament (any sport).

18.5.1 Division Championship. To be eligible for automatic qualification into any Division I championship, a conference shall: (Revised: 1/9/06 effective 8/1/06)

(a) Have at least six member institutions classified in Division I in the sport in which automatic qualification is sought; and

(b) Meet all requirements for conference automatic qualification into any division championship as set forth in Bylaw 31.3.4.

31.3.4 Automatic Qualification. Each governing sport committee shall forward annually to the applicable
sport oversight committee or the Competition Oversight Committee those conferences that should receive automatic qualification for their teams or individual student-athletes into NCAA championships. Prior to forwarding the list of conferences to receive automatic qualification, a governing sport committee shall ensure that the
member conference meets the requirements specified in Bylaws 31.3.4.1 through 31.3.4.7. A member conference may appeal to the applicable sport oversight committee or the Competition Oversight Committee the automatic qualification review of the sport committee and the committee’s decision to find, or not find, a conference qualified for automatic-qualification status. The decision on such appeals will be final. (Revised: 1/14/97 effective 8/1/97, 4/27/00, 11/1/07 effective 8/1/08, 8/7/14, 10/4/17)

31.3.4.2 Requirements—National Collegiate Championship. [#] To be eligible for automatic qualification in a National Collegiate Championship, a member conference must meet the following general requirements: (Adopted: 1/9/06 effective 8/1/06)

(a) Have at least six active members that sponsor the applicable sport in any division (Note: A provisional
member in the process of becoming an NCAA member may not be used to meet the requisite number.);

(b) The six active members must have conducted conference competition together for the preceding two years in the applicable sport;

c) There shall be no waivers of the two-year waiting period; and

(d) Any new member added to a conference that is eligible for an automatic bid shall be immediately eligible to represent the conference as the automatic qualifier.

Based on 31.3.4.2(b), there should have been no question about whether the Big East 2.0 should receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Basketball Tournament or not because it had 7 members (G'town, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, DePaul, and Marquette) play in the Big East 1.0 since 2005. It is the same bylaw that determined the MWC conference had to wait to receive its automatic bid because the 8 schools that broke away from the WAC didn't meet the 2 year requirement. It is also not the reason the Big East 2.0 decided to add Butler, Creighton, or Xavier. Now it is possible the Big East 2.0 needed additional members to satisfy NCAA Bylaw 20.02.5 (Multisport Conference).

20.02.5.1 Minimum Number of Members. A multisport conference shall be composed of at least seven active Division I members. The member conference shall include at least seven active Division I members that sponsor both men’s and women’s basketball. (Adopted: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)

20.02.5.2 Sports Sponsorship. A multisport conference shall satisfy the following requirements: (Adopted:1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)

(a) The conference shall sponsor a minimum of 12 Division I sports;

(b) The conference shall sponsor a minimum of six men’s sports, one of which shall be men’s basketball. In addition to men’s basketball, the conference shall sponsor football or two other men’s team sports. A minimum of seven members shall sponsor men’s basketball. A minimum of six members shall sponsor five other sports, including football or two additional men’s team sports; and

(c) The conference shall sponsor a minimum of six women’s sports, one of which shall be women’s basketball. In addition to women’s basketball, the conference shall sponsor two other women’s team sports. A minimum of seven members shall sponsor women’s basketball. A minimum of six members shall sponsor five other sports, including two additional women’s team sports (or a minimum of five members for an emerging sport for women).