Interesting new article from the ACC's perspective. Interesting that The ACC
is the number one conference in $ to each school. Big Ten #2.
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by Al Featherston. Durham Herald-Sun

ACC expansion could come as early as "tomorrow or a week from now" according
to a highly placed league official, who then added "or it could be two years
from now ... or never."

The subject has been a hot topic since April 17 when Big East commissioner
Mike Tranghese charged that the ACC was trying to steal several teams from
his league. Tranghese told the New York Daily News: "They’ll never
acknowledge this, but I’m aware the ACC for the last couple of years, without
ever picking up the phone or calling me, has basically gone out and tried to
convince our teams to enter their league."

ACC commissioner John Swofford responded with a statement that didn’t deny
that talks had taken place but asserted that no offers to join the ACC had
been made.

"Basically, what was going on were exploratory talks," a source close to the
process said. "The ACC wants to be proactive as far as expansion goes. They
just wanted to be prepared in case the dominos start to fall."

Ironically, one source suggested that Tranghese’s original remarks to the
Daily News may have accelerated the process by moving expansion talk from
what Swofford likes to call "the back burner" to the front of the stove. Big
East schools no longer can explore their options quietly. School officials
are under public pressure to either make a jump or to affirm their allegiance
to the Big East.

Within the last week, Miami athletics director Paul Dee presented to his
school’s board of trustees a detailed analysis of the pros and cons of
jumping from the Big East to the ACC.

However, Dee insisted that Miami has received no offer from the ACC.

"Right now, it’s just talk," Dee told the Orlando Sentinel. "The university
just wants to be prepared in case something happened — whether somebody makes
an invitation or somebody moves and you have to react. We do not have a ‘We’
re in, we’re out’ sign."

And the ACC does not have the welcome mat out either — at least, not yet. The
league still is divided over the issue of expansion, and it’s not clear
whether the pro-expansion forces can muster the seven votes needed.

"We’ve never had a vote," one ACC athletics director said. "I know Duke was
opposed [in 1991] when Florida State was voted in. I doubt their view has
changed."

North Carolina and Wake Forest also are seen as potential votes against
expansion. Top officials at several other schools appear divided — for
instance, Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams has spoken out against
expansion, while Terps football coach Ralph Friedgen has supported it. At
Florida State, Athletics Director Dave Hart has been one of the most fervent
advocates of expansion, but new FSU president T.K. Wetherell — a former FSU
football player — reportedly is skeptical.

There is no question that football interests are driving the expansion talk.

"Right now, the perception is that the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 are the power
conferences in college football," a high-placed league official said. "Then
there’s us, the Big East and Conference USA. I’m not saying that’s the
fact,
just that it’s the perception nationally. Adding Miami and maybe Syracuse
would help put us in the top rank."

It also would destroy the Big East as a major player in college football.

"Without Miami, we’re not a BCS conference," Syracuse athletics director Jake
Crouthamel told The Miami Herald.

Crouthamel said his school’s future will be determined by the Hurricanes.

"If they approached and said, ‘Would you join the ACC?’ we would say,
‘No.’
" he said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. "If Miami is already
gone and Boston College is already gone, then we would have to think about
it."

ACC advocates of expansion would like to add Miami, Syracuse and Boston
College. That would make the ACC a 12-team league and would create the
following benefits:

--Instant football credibility. Adding Miami to Florida State would give the
ACC college football’s two most consistent winners over the last decade.
Adding Syracuse and Boston College to rising programs at N.C. State, Virginia
and Maryland would give the ACC a solid core of potentially strong programs.

--?A conference championship game. A 12-team league can play a postseason
championship game. One veteran bowl official estimated that the SEC title
game is worth $10-12 million a year. An ACC title game might not be worth
that much, but it would be a financial bonanza.

--?It would give the ACC a better bargaining position as it negotiates its
next TV football deal. The league’s current contract, negotiated during the
height of the economic boom in the 1990s, is one of the best. But it runs out
in 2005, meaning the ACC has to renegotiate that deal — in a potentially much
weaker market — after next season. Bringing in Miami and two more major TV
markets should help generate a better package.

--?A better position with the bowls. The Seattle Bowl has been decertified by
the NCAA, leaving the ACC with just five bowl tie-ins. Only the BCS spot, the
Gator and the Peach are significant money-makers. Expansion could help place
more ACC teams in better bowls.

However, expansion presents a downside as well. Opponents have raised the
following issues:

--?Money. The ACC currently is the nation’s most lucrative conference. Last
year, the league distributed $9.8 million to each ACC member — about $1.8
million more than the Big Ten. In order to break even with three more teams,
the league would have to increase its revenues by almost $30 million. Will
the bowl championship game, the better TV football contract and increased
bowl money up the ante that much?

--?Character. ACC officials are proud to be a league that plays home-and-home
in basketball and a full round-robin in football. Expanding to 12 teams will
force the league to split into divisions, meaning that not every school will
play every other in football, and basketball teams likely would play just one
game a year against opponents in another division.

--?Rivalries. It’s hard to split the ACC without disturbing traditional
rivalries. Duke and UNC must play twice a year in basketball. N.C. State and
UNC must play in football. And Wake Forest would insist on being in a
division with the rest of the Big Four. Would Miami and FSU be in the same
division?

--?The ACC Basketball Tournament. The event is one of the great money-making
machines — not so much in direct benefits, but because schools are able to
tie tournament ticket sales into contributions. Splitting the limited number
of tickets 12 ways instead of nine would be a blow to fund-raising,
especially in the Big Four.

Those are issues that the ACC must work out before voting. Expect something
to happen by the ACC spring meetings May 11-14 at Amelia Island, Fla. —
either expansion will be announced with great fanfare or the issue will be
returned to the back burner for the foreseeable future.




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