UPDATE, 2:30 p.m.: The Big East, on its website, officially announced it has hired Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures to lead negotiations on its upcoming television contract.

The Big East has brought in an outside hand to guide its negotiations for a television deal. The conference hired Chris Bevilacqua to lead the discussions, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Bevilacqua, who heads Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures, was responsible for bringing together the TV deal that the Pac-12 conference signed last year that will land it $3 billion dollars over a 12 year period.

The agreement was first reported on Twitter by Pete Thamel.

The Big East's current television deal with ESPN runs through the 2012-13 athletic year. Beginning Sept. 1 the two sides have an exclusive negotiating window.

The conference came close to reaching a deal with ESPN last year that would have netted it at least $110 million annually, according to reports, but ultimately turned it down. Estimations and predictions for what the league could draw now on the open market have been mixed.

Bevilacqua has ties to the Big East. He and Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti worked together at CSTV, which Bevilacqua began as the first 24-hour college sports cable station. Pernetti was hired by Bevilacqua and the two retain a relationship to this day.

The conference does not currently have a commissioner, with Joe Bailey serving as interim commissioner.

Mike Vorkunov: mvorkunov@starledger.com; twitter.com/Mike_Vorkunov