Eight tumultuous months after the ACC first released its expansion scheme, the conference's plans are finally set in stone. Much to the ACC's dismay, Boston College will not join the conference until 2005, and there will be no football championship game for the 11-team league in 2004.
The logistics were finalized Monday, when the NCAA Management Council voted to reject the ACC's proposal to hold a championship game with just 11 member teams in 2004. NCAA rules require 12 teams, but following the additions of Miami and Virginia Tech in the fall, the ACC will still fall just short of that limit.
Meanwhile, any hopes that Boston College could join the ACC in 2004 were dashed when discord between the Big East and Conference-USA began a chain reaction that ultimately led to Boston College being forced to remain in the Big East until 2005. The Big East and C-USA were not able to come to an agreement as to how C-USA would be compensated when Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette leave to join the Big East, meaning that those four schools as well as Boston College must stay put for another season.
"I have contacted our presidents and indicated to them that we will be moving forward with Boston College in our conference for 2004," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese told the Boston Globe on Monday night.
The result of this two-pronged defeat for the ACC means that the conference will have to wait until 2005 for its much-desired football championship game, which was in large part the impetus for expansion in the first place. The ACC's proposal was ultimately defeated because it faced heavy opposition from rival conferences, which were unwilling to give the ACC a competitive advantage.
"Yes, it certainly looks that way," ACC Commissioner John Swofford told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of the setback. "But frankly, we thought things might go in this direction. We'll play at 11 teams this season and look forward to having our conference championship game in 2005."
The ACC could have had its 12th team, and thus a championship game, in 2004 if C-USA had allowed Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette to depart early for the Big East. However, C-USA wanted compensation for the substantial television and NCAA basketball tournament revenues it would have forfeited, and Tranghese refused to provide any compensation beyond the standard exit fees the teams would pay.
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