5/16/03 - MYOB

ACC commissioner John Swofford lit the torch during league expansion talks at Amelia Island, Fla., this week. Now, everyone must wait to see where the smoke blows.
The league’s nine presidents voted in favor of expansion at the ACC’s annual spring meeting and Swofford said the conference would like to add three teams, no more, no less. Those three teams are expected to be Miami, Syracuse and Boston College, all from the Big East Conference.
According to sources, Virginia Tech does not have enough support to gain entry into the league if expansion goes through. Contrary to some published reports, Virginia does not hold the key to this issue.
While UVa has publicly supported Tech’s entry into the ACC, the rest of the league has little or no interest in adding the Hokies, according to sources. Several of the North Carolina schools reportedly are strongly against adding Tech to the mix.
“Expansion has been approved,” said one source. “The vote was the vote. There was no conditional vote and schools can’t go back and change their vote just because they don’t like something.”
The vote was 7-2 in favor of adding three teams, with only North Carolina and Duke dissenting.
If any school holds the key at this point, it is Miami, arguably the top football program in the nation. Without Miami’s acceptance, the whole expansion issue may be moot. If Miami jumps leagues, then Syracuse and Boston College will surely follow as the Big East crumbles into pieces.
“I’m pleased we’ve gotten this far,” Georgia Tech athletic director Dave Braine said at the conclusion of the ACC meetings. “Now, we’ll hold our breath until we see what happens in the next week. I think something has to be done in the next week. The Big East is holding their meetings and you know they’re going to do something.”
In fact, the Big East meetings are schedule to begin Saturday at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., as the league’s commissioner fights for his conference’s very existence. No one from the ACC expects Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese to watch his league disintegrate without a fight.
Tranghese issued a statement that said he is prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve his league. What measures that may require are unknown but Miami athletic director Paul Dee met with other Big East athletic directors in Phoenix last week to discuss possibilities.
Miami has told the Big East that is will listen to a counterproposal at this weekend’s meeting and one source said that the Big East’s football schools are willing to make some financial adjustments to make things work, including some preferential treatment on revenue sharing.
Miami has not liked the way the Big East conducts business (the way football money is split up and that six of the 14 schools in the league do not play football). The Hurricanes believe that by jumping to the ACC, creating a 12-team, two-division league, they would benefit financially from a conference championship game and $10 million in revenue.
Dee has told Miami president Donna Shalala that moving into the ACC would be in Miami’s best interests financially. Miami’s motive for such a move is purely financial-driven.
“If we do stay, we are going to have to remedy some concerns,” Dee said.
That’s what makes this weekend’s Big East meetings so important. Some critics wonder if Miami is playing high stakes poker here, using the ACC offer as leverage to improve its situation in the Big East.
“If I were the rest of the Big East schools, I would give Miami whatever it wants,” said one source. “They could vote that the Big East team that goes to the BCS, keeps 75 percent of the payout. They would be crazy not to offer that to Miami and Miami would be crazy not to take it because the ACC can’t match that.”
Speculation early Thursday was that the ACC would extend official invitations to Miami, Syracuse and Boston College prior to the Big East meetings but one source said that he was “99.9 percent sure” that no such invitations will be offered until after the meetings are concluded.
Miami has been insistent upon bringing Syracuse and Boston College into the expansion because much of the Miami’s alumni live in the Northeast and playing in that region gives the school more opportunities to raise money and keep contact with their support base. Miami has nothing personal against Virginia Tech, but rather feels the need to keep the connection to the Northeast healthy.
The ACC wants the New York and Boston TV markets, although there has been some debate as to how strong an influence Syracuse and BC have on those areas. Others argue that the infusion of ACC games into those markets should make them stronger in the ratings.
The entire process is strictly football driven. When the current Bowl Championship Series contract expires after the 2005 season, a new arrangement could be worth millions of additional dollars to participants, possibly even a playoff system.
Most college athletics observers believe that the so-called “super conferences” will rule the world, particularly with television. It’s all about the dollars. Conference championship games alone have generated $7 million to $12 million a year in the Big 12 and SEC.
Miami’s athletic department, which fields only seven men’s teams and nine women’s teams, has struggled financially and is looking for a cash cow.
The question that will be answered this weekend, is that now the torch has been lit, which way will the smoke blow.

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