Report: Connecticut Originally Targeted by ACC, Blocked by Boston College
by Mengus22 on Oct 9, 2011 2:34 PM EDT
in The Big East Falls Apart
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PrintIn yet another report of one school blocking another's potential move to a new conference, a particularly ironic one has surfaced. The Boston Globe's Mark Blaudschun reports that the ACC's original desire was to expand by two teams, and those two teams were Syracuse and Connecticut. However, the addition of Connecticut was blocked primarily by the lobbying efforts of former Big East member Boston College. Blaudschun writes:
While Syracuse presented no problem, UConn did - to BC, which was still fuming over what it perceived to be vitriolic comments made when BC was finally invited to join the ACC and started competing in 2005. UConn and Pittsburgh filed a lawsuit against BC, and Calhoun made comments about never playing BC again.
"We didn’t want them in,’’ he said. "It was a matter of turf. We wanted to be the New England team.’’
DeFilippo does not deny that BC opposed the inclusion of UConn.
The blatant hypocrisy irony of Boston College blocking Connecticut from being able to do precisely what Boston College itself did just six years prior is almost too much to take. The argument against adding Connecticut only enhances how petty and foolish DeFilippo is about the whole thing. What evidence is there that Connecticut in any way detracts from Boston College's persona as "New England's team"? I would argue that it's absurd to think New England even has a college football team that could be described as such. Connecticut went to the Fiesta Bowl last year and averaged less than capacity at home and hardly sent anyone to the bowl game. Boston College hosted UMass and had just 30,000 people in attendance. Perhaps Boston College should focus on being Massachusetts' team before caring about expanding its draw to all of New England?
This could also make for some uncomfortable moments as it becomes clear that Pittsburgh was the ACC's second choice that had to be lobbied for in the first place. Blaudschun writes:
Veteran Big East observers could only shake their heads at the irony. Pittsburgh, led by president Mark Nordenberg, was one of BC’s strongest critics when it left the Big East. It blasted BC when it left after being rejected by the ACC the first time and then regrouping with the other Big East schools to formulate a battle plan for survival, with Nordenberg describing BC as the "fox in the henhouse.’’
Even more ironic this time was that Pittsburgh was a prime player in the Big East battle plans and Nordenberg had been one of the loudest voices against the Big East accepting the lucrative offer from ESPN, which would have nearly doubled the payoff to each school from $6 million to slightly more than $11 million per school.
What prompted the lawsuit by UConn and Pitt was not the jump to the ACC. All the schools involved, including UConn, conceded that if they had been called, they probably would have done the same thing. What caused the rage was the timing, which was after the initial rejection and during what Big East schools considered confidential strategy sessions.
The actions of both DeFilippo and Nordenberg make one wonder just how anyone in a future meeting of ACC athletic directors will ever trust one another to do the right thing for the larger group at hand. Nordenberg led the fight against the Big East's new television deal only to leave the league holding the bag. Boston College snuck into the ACC when Syracuse balked at being the 12th team due to the politics involved in Virginia Tech being invited in its place. Now Syracuse, Pitt, Virginia Tech, and Boston College will be conference mates, having stabbed one another in the back in one way or the other to get there.
That'll be fun to watch.
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hmmm
I have always said that the BE may have a case to go after the ACC and Pitt. Now with recent news that ESPN might have driven the deal to take both Pitt and Syracuse, the BE might have a case. If not Congress might take and interest in the fact that a media group is actively involved in the affairs of conferences.
Conferences with major Public universities. Another important detail is Federal military Service Academies having expressed interest in a conference which was apparently conspired against.
by Green Bull on Oct 9, 2011 10:04 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
If Congress goes after the ACC/ESPN, they’ll probably need a few more direct quotes or named sources than what is in that Blaudschun piece. /hackjob
Editor, BC Interruption
How is this even news?
A school acted to preserve it’s regional recruiting advantage. Just as Kentucky (L’Ville), Florida (FSU), Georgia (GT), USC (Clemson), and USF (UCF) have intimated at various points in this round of conference expansion.
This is a business. Enough with this sensationalized indignation.
by Eagle in Brighton on Oct 10, 2011 2:14 PM EDT reply actions
Or perhaps this dynamic just hits a little too close to home after the Wildcats pulled this same move on Mengus’ Cardinals a few months back…
by Eagle in Brighton on Oct 10, 2011 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions
I know it would hurt USF, for UCF to join the Big East- especially when much to most of the national media already prefers the latter. But, I would also speculate UCF ironically wanting to block FIU, if they tried to join C-USA.
by Green Bull on Oct 10, 2011 3:02 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Exactly. This is business.
Theblatant hypocrisyirony of Boston College blocking Connecticut from being able to do precisely what Boston College itself did just six years prior is almost too much to take.
Where was the indignation and sympathy for UCF, L’Ville, GT, Clemson, FSU, etc.?
Give me a break. This regional posturing is ubiquitous and your selective victimization is laughable.
by Eagle in Brighton on Oct 10, 2011 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions
BC is claiming a market it does not have
That’s the issue. There is no generic New England market for college athletics. BC has almost no market penetration outside the Boston metro area. UConn has almost none outside the state of Connecticut. Claiming otherwise is silly. Syracuse has a much better claim of being NYC’s college team than BC does of being New England’s — and no matter what our AD says, we know darn well that’s a stretch at best.
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