In the midst of an unstable college landscape, the Atlantic Coast Conference made significant steps towards long-term stability last weekend.
The ACC announced Sunday morning that it would add Pittsburgh and Syracuse to its ranks, bringing the total number of member universitiesto 14. The move may not take place for some time though, as Big East bylaws require a 27-month waiting period—plus a $5 million buyout—before the Panthers and Orangemen can leave the conference. Pittsburgh chancellor Mark Nordenberg emphasized that the exit rules will be followed, but the potential exists for negotiation that would allow the two schools to shorten the departure timetable.
Duke president Richard Brodhead is this year’s chair of the ACC Council of Presidents, the group responsible for the
final decision. While expansion was not necessarily a move the conference needed to make, Brodhead said, it helped ensure the ACC’s long-term security.
“The analogy of musical chairs is really the right one,” Brodhead said. “You don’t want to wake up and find out you don’t have a chair.”
Brodhead also cited the academic and athletic prestige of both universities as reasons for their admittance into the conference. Charles Clotfelter, the Z. Smith Reynolds professor of public policy and professor of economics and law at Duke, though, believes the decision was more one-dimensional.
“[Adding Pittsburgh and Syracuse] has little to do with the academic mission of the University,” Clotfelter, the author of “Big-Time Sports in American Universities,” which examines the role of athletics within the university system, said. “It’s commercial.”
The ACC’s current football and men’s basketball television contract with ESPN, worth $155 million per year, dwarfs that of the current Big East deal, which pays out $200 million over six years, expiring after the 2012 season. With Pitt and Syracuse switching conferences, however, the ACC is now able to renegotiate its television rights on the open market.
A new deal would likely prove to be much more highly valued, with the increased presence in the Pennsylvania and New York state television markets.
“One of the big things you get to share because of the great popularity of football and basketball is TV revenue,” Clotfelter said. “It’s been discovered by conferences that by banding together you can write tremendous deals with these broadcasters, like ESPN. And the more markets you cover, the richer you can be.”
While Brodhead would not confirm that the ACC is actively looking to continue its expansion any further, he said travel time for teams was an important factor in determining the viability of any potential further additions. In a teleconference Sunday, ACC commissioner John Swofford said at least ten teams had approached the conference about admission.
“The world of mention is the world of rumor,” Brodhead said. “The ACC has made no decision beyond [adding Pittsburgh and Syracuse].”
The ACC must also consider what its existing members are planning in this period of conference instability. The Council of Presidents met last week and raised the buyout for departing teams to $20 million from the previous range of $12 to $14 million.
“[The increased buyout] was just a symbol of [each member’s loyalty to the conference],” Brodhead said. “The presidents have been on the phone with each other over the last week. I think there is a high level of mutual trust.”
In the end, though, the Big East is left without two of its most defining members—Syracuse was one of the conference’s charter institutions.
“By doing this, the ACC is bedeviling lots of others,” Clotfelter said. “We’re stealing from the Big East hen house again. It’s just more of the same.”
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