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Big East, ACC may team up for football
January 15, 1993 | Mark Blaudschun, Globe Staff
DALLAS -- The Big East and the Atlantic Coast Conference are conducting casual talks that could lead to the formation of a 17-team super football conference. Such an arrangement would give an ACC-Big East alliance a solid hold in television markets from Boston to Atlanta to Miami.
Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese would not comment on the matter other than to say, "The Big East has always been a proactive rather than a reactive league."
The move would give the Big East and the ACC a jump on what is expected to be another major quake in the conference structures in the next few years. Leagues such as the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference are expected to expand once again.
The idea of a Big East-ACC alliance has been discussed for the past few years. The conferences have become compatible in many of their goals as Tranghese and ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan have worked closely the past two years on the bowl coalition which was formed this year and includes the Big East and ACC.
The Big East's desire to solidify its base is obvious. When Penn State moves to the Big Ten next season, it will create an Eastern recruiting window for the league. Many Big East people fear that Penn State will push hard to add another Eastern school to the Big Ten.
Although Rutgers has received some attention and has expressed interest in the Big Ten, the most attractive school would be Syracuse.
"If you want to drive a stake in the Big East's heart, taking Syracuse would do it," said one source familiar with the Big East's concerns. "It would give the Big Ten a huge advantage in the East and it would really hurt the Big East by taking away one of its best teams."
Syracuse officials have indicated a reluctance to go west, feeling their base of support is still in the East, but no one is saying never when expansion is mentioned.
Tranghese feels confident that Syracuse's inclination is to remain with the Big East, but he also wants to solidify his bargaining position with the Orangemen by offering them even more of a reason for staying.
Although Tranghese emphasized that there is nothing imminent, he did not deny that the Big East is exploring its options and talks are being held about a variety of possibilities.
An agreement with the ACC could include several scenarios. The easiest and likeliest initial arrangement would be an alliance, rather than a merger. Each league would play its separate schedule, with a few crossover games and the possibility of an interconference championship game, which would be permissible under NCAA rules because the alliance would be more than 12 teams.
Another possibility, which seems to make more sense if the concept of a super conference is followed, would be to merge the two into one football league of 14 teams. Take the nine schools in the ACC and add Syracuse, Miami, Boston College, West Virginia and Pitt from the Big East.
The new league would then be broken down into two seven-team divisions, and the first-place teams would meet for the league championship.
The problem with that, of course, is that it jettisons Virginia Tech, Temple and Rutgers, although Rutgers could already be in the Big Ten.
Tranghese has a unique problem because he is commissioner of a league that has two almost separate entities, basketball and football, with different concerns and goals.
Under the current arrangement, any talk of expansion in football must account for the impact on the basketball members. There has been talk about including Notre Dame as a basketball member, but that would only be palatable to the football-playing schools if the Irish also joined in football, something Notre Dame has said it does not want or need to do.
By creating a super football conference, the Big East could work on basketball as a separate league and there would be less of a problem admitting the Irish as simply a basketball entry.
No expansion plan could be implemented overnight, nor would it be universally accepted. But there is clearly a movement in that direction.
"I know there are talks being held," said Duke athletic director Tom Butters. "I'm personally against it, but I speak only for Tom Butters. I like the old-fashioned idea of conferences, where teams play each other in every sport. But then I voted against having Florida State join the league, not because I was against Florida State, but because I didn't like the idea of expansion."
Butters realizes changes are coming. Gender equity and equal funding for men's and women's sports, expansion, playoffs -- all are part of the new look of college athletics.
Tranghese and the Big East also see the future and know that changes of some kind are coming. The key question they must ask themselves is: Do they want to be trend-setters or followers?
By talking to the ACC about a merger, the Big East is making its choice obvious.
January 15, 1993 | Mark Blaudschun, Globe Staff
DALLAS -- The Big East and the Atlantic Coast Conference are conducting casual talks that could lead to the formation of a 17-team super football conference. Such an arrangement would give an ACC-Big East alliance a solid hold in television markets from Boston to Atlanta to Miami.
Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese would not comment on the matter other than to say, "The Big East has always been a proactive rather than a reactive league."
The move would give the Big East and the ACC a jump on what is expected to be another major quake in the conference structures in the next few years. Leagues such as the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference are expected to expand once again.
The idea of a Big East-ACC alliance has been discussed for the past few years. The conferences have become compatible in many of their goals as Tranghese and ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan have worked closely the past two years on the bowl coalition which was formed this year and includes the Big East and ACC.
The Big East's desire to solidify its base is obvious. When Penn State moves to the Big Ten next season, it will create an Eastern recruiting window for the league. Many Big East people fear that Penn State will push hard to add another Eastern school to the Big Ten.
Although Rutgers has received some attention and has expressed interest in the Big Ten, the most attractive school would be Syracuse.
"If you want to drive a stake in the Big East's heart, taking Syracuse would do it," said one source familiar with the Big East's concerns. "It would give the Big Ten a huge advantage in the East and it would really hurt the Big East by taking away one of its best teams."
Syracuse officials have indicated a reluctance to go west, feeling their base of support is still in the East, but no one is saying never when expansion is mentioned.
Tranghese feels confident that Syracuse's inclination is to remain with the Big East, but he also wants to solidify his bargaining position with the Orangemen by offering them even more of a reason for staying.
Although Tranghese emphasized that there is nothing imminent, he did not deny that the Big East is exploring its options and talks are being held about a variety of possibilities.
An agreement with the ACC could include several scenarios. The easiest and likeliest initial arrangement would be an alliance, rather than a merger. Each league would play its separate schedule, with a few crossover games and the possibility of an interconference championship game, which would be permissible under NCAA rules because the alliance would be more than 12 teams.
Another possibility, which seems to make more sense if the concept of a super conference is followed, would be to merge the two into one football league of 14 teams. Take the nine schools in the ACC and add Syracuse, Miami, Boston College, West Virginia and Pitt from the Big East.
The new league would then be broken down into two seven-team divisions, and the first-place teams would meet for the league championship.
The problem with that, of course, is that it jettisons Virginia Tech, Temple and Rutgers, although Rutgers could already be in the Big Ten.
Tranghese has a unique problem because he is commissioner of a league that has two almost separate entities, basketball and football, with different concerns and goals.
Under the current arrangement, any talk of expansion in football must account for the impact on the basketball members. There has been talk about including Notre Dame as a basketball member, but that would only be palatable to the football-playing schools if the Irish also joined in football, something Notre Dame has said it does not want or need to do.
By creating a super football conference, the Big East could work on basketball as a separate league and there would be less of a problem admitting the Irish as simply a basketball entry.
No expansion plan could be implemented overnight, nor would it be universally accepted. But there is clearly a movement in that direction.
"I know there are talks being held," said Duke athletic director Tom Butters. "I'm personally against it, but I speak only for Tom Butters. I like the old-fashioned idea of conferences, where teams play each other in every sport. But then I voted against having Florida State join the league, not because I was against Florida State, but because I didn't like the idea of expansion."
Butters realizes changes are coming. Gender equity and equal funding for men's and women's sports, expansion, playoffs -- all are part of the new look of college athletics.
Tranghese and the Big East also see the future and know that changes of some kind are coming. The key question they must ask themselves is: Do they want to be trend-setters or followers?
By talking to the ACC about a merger, the Big East is making its choice obvious.
