NEW YORK — Big East commissioner Val Ackerman acknowledged Tuesday that her conference isn’t likely to be immune to conference realignment.
“I don’t think the Big East will stay at 11 forever,” Ackerman told The Athletic during the league’s media day at Madison Square Garden. “I can’t quantify when, but there’s too much going on around us. Maybe it’s proactive, or it could be reactive expansion. You’d rather be proactive, but maybe other things helping elsewhere and certain opportunities are presented to us that we didn’t see and then we act on those. Either way, it’s fine.”
Odds are if the league does act it will do so before February 2024. That’s when the Big East’s negotiation window with Fox opens, and with the network already shelling out billions for college football, the conference will want to present the best product to make it enticing.
But the league is in a unique position to be choosy. Now in its 10th year since its reconfiguration, one made necessary by the last major wave of realignment, the Big East is no longer susceptible to being picked apart. It has no football — save UConn — to steal, and thereby can seek teams rather than fend off the power conferences. Ackerman said the league will consider a number of factors if and when it chooses to expand.
A school that is invested in basketball is at the top of the list, one that not only has a tradition of success, but a path to a future of success. Getting schools that are like-minded matters, too — Connecticut is the lone big state school in the current Big East membership — and Ackerman added that geography matters.
Plenty of people have questioned whether basketball-centric, Catholic Gonzaga might be the ideal fit for the Big East. “Geography is not unimportant,” Ackerman said. “If you’re bringing in someone as a full member, you’re bringing in another 13, 14 or 15 sports, and you to think about that. What’s the volleyball team, the baseball team, the softball, what’s their experience going to be like? What’s the travel like? And can we afford it? It’s not insurmountable, but it’s on the pecking order.”
League presidents are scheduled to meet again next month, and though expansion is not necessarily at the top of the list, it is on the list. “You have to be nimble,” Ackerman said. “This isn’t going away anytime soon, not in the landscape we’re in right now.”
(Photo: David Butler II / USA Today)
