Now that the presidents of the nine Atlantic Coast Conference universities have voted in favor of expanding by three Big East schools, here's something to digest: jumping from one conference to another is nothing new.

In the past decade, two major defections have taken place. In 1996, the defection of four schools -- Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech -- essentially killed the Southwest Conference when they left to make the Big Eight the Big 12. In 1999, half of the 16-team Western Athletic Conference left to form the Mountain West.

	The waiting game
	Here's a look at the following conferences and the notice their member schools must give before bolting to a rival league.
	Conference	Notice
	Big East	1 year
	Big 12	2 years
	Conference USA	1+ years
	Mid-American	2 years
	Pac-10	1 year
	SEC	Case-by-case
	Western Athletic	1 year
	Source: ESPN.com research

In both cases, the moves were made by more powerful schools to make more money. The four Southwest Conference schools that moved to the Big 12 were able to get a share of a bigger pie and the Mountain West landed a lucrative seven-year, $48 million national TV deal for football and men's basketball on the day the conference opened for business.

While every major conference has rules for defection, contractual terms and penalties for leaving aren't too binding. An SEC school doesn't have to give any long-term notice and there are no financial penalties specified for leaving. A Pac-10 school must give the conference one year's notice that it is leaving, but it also is not imposed a financial penalty for doing so. If Miami wants to leave the Big East, it has to let the conference know by June 30 to be released from the contract a year later, though the financial penalty is a reported seven-figure sum.

"I don't think anyone wants to tie a particular school down for good," said Dan Beebe, chief operating officer of the Big 12. "Just like you can get divorced from a marriage, if an institution wants out you can't keep them from leaving."

That said, the Big 12 has one of the longest terms of commitment required among its member schools and one of the most intricate financial formulas if a school decides to leave.

Per its conference constitution, every school is required to remain a member through July 1, 2006. If a school wants to leave after that time period, it must provide the conference with two years notice. Once the school provides the notice, the school will receive half of the revenues it would normally have received for the final two years in the Big 12.

"In the last decade, it has become an industry standard to have some membership agreement with a buyout or specified damages with a notification process, as well," said Rick Chryst, commissioner of the MAC, which requires that member schools give two years notice and pay a $200,000 penalty. "The bottom line is this is not indentured servitude and like coaches can leave for a price so, too, can schools."

The movement of a bunch of Big East schools -- such as Miami, Syracuse and Boston College -- could cause a domino effect if the Big East looks elsewhere to fill the gaps.

So, will conferences looking out for their own health start to offer cushy deals to schools they want to attract?

"I hope it doesn't get to that point," Chryst said. "Even though there's a really competitive component in our athletics world, these are first and foremost educational institutions."

WAC commissioner Karl Benson said he's paying close attention to what happens since he believes other schools "can make the conference stronger." The rival Mountain West has a moratorium on accepting new schools through the end of the 2004 academic year.

"It wouldn't surprise me if, as a result of what could go on now, there were greater contractual obligations established by the conferences and higher specified damages," said Benson, whose conference requires member schools to give a one-year notification and pay a year's share of revenues (usually between $500,000 and $700,000). "But we also can't forget that we are academic institutions and college presidents are still board members of these non-profit organizations."

Darren Rovell is a staff writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at darren.rovell@espn3.com.