It took over one and a half months of deliberations, five conference calls and a surprising last-minute compromise, but the Atlantic Coast Conference finally decided on an expansion plan Tuesday night, extending invitations to the University of Miami and Virginia Tech.
The Washington Post, USA Today, The New York Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Associated Press, quoting anonymous sources, reported that the two Big East schools had been asked by the ACC to join their conference for the 2004-05 season.
While Miami is still mulling over the invitation, Virginia Tech is already set to accept the invitation into the ACC.
"The University is prepared to accept an invitation from the Atlantic Coast Conference," Virginia Tech President Dr. Charles W. Steger said in a release. "We look forward to this very special opportunity."
Very shortly after the invitations were made, Virginia Tech's Board of Visitors unanimously authorized Steger to begin negotiating with the ACC.
ACC commissioner John Swofford refused to comment on the invitations.
"We're very close to bringing this to a conclusion," Swofford told ESPN.com. "I would expect us to have an announcement in the next couple of days." The decision comes only after original expansion plans were derailed by the University of Virginia and President John Casteen, who reversed his vote for the original, 12-team plan.
The conference's first expansion blueprint proposed adding Miami, Boston College and Syracuse to form a 12 team league. Opening up the television markets of Boston and New York, and giving the conference the required 12-teams necessary to hold a lucrative conference championship game in football.
This plan was approved by a 7-2 vote on May 16, with dissenting votes from the University of North Carolina and Duke University.
In addition to the legal roadblock thrown at the ACC by Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia with a lawsuit, Virginia Governor Mark Warner threw another stumbling block into the expansion process, issuing a statement lobbying for the inclusion of Virginia Tech in the ACC expansion plans.
Casteen, long-time proponent of Virginia Tech's inclusion in expansion plans and an expanded Virginia ACC presence, then reversed his vote, requiring the ACC schools to come up with a new compromise including Virginia Tech.
"I want to express my appreciation to University of Virginia President John Casteen, Virginia Governor Mark Warner, and Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, who have worked tirelessly on our behalf," Steger said.
Casteen's dissenting vote left ACC commission John Swofford in a tough position going into Tuesday night's conference call with the presidents and chancellors of the nine ACC member schools. The original plan had to be scrapped and a compromise needed to be reached to gain the seventh vote necessary for expansion.
North Carolina president James Moeser was pushing for expansion with only Miami invited to join, according to the New York Times. Rutgers Athletic Director Robert Mulcahy had advocated this idea as a compromise.
Another alternative proposed was to expand to 13 or 14 members and invite Virginia Tech along with the original three schools, allowing Virginia to vote yes.
While invitations have been made to the two Big East schools, whether they will accept is another issue. Miami wanted to join the ACC with Boston College and Syracuse because the Hurricanes did not want to lose their trips to appease a large alumni base in that area. Plus, according to ESPN.com, Miami president Donna Shalala is a close friend of Syracuse chancellor Buzz Shaw. Leaving Syracuse behind could leave scars in the relationship.
With only 11 members in the new ACC, the conference would be unable to hold a football championship game according to NCAA rules, making the financial incentive to switch conferences for both schools significantly less enticing.
The invitation puts Virginia Tech in an awkward situation by aiding the very cause they were fighting against: the destruction of the Big East. Virginia Tech held a Board of Visitors meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss the school's options, but has yet to respond to the ACC's offer.
With the ACC's football television contract expiring in 2005, adding two football powers like the Hurricanes and the Hokies seems to be in the best financial interest of the ACC. According to ESPN.com, by themselves, Miami's television rights are worth $25 million, almost as much as all nine current ACC team combined. Throwing Virginia Tech into the mix, a team that spent most of last season in the Top Ten and won the national championship only three years ago, would surely bring more money to the table.
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