Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 1, 1990 TAG: 9007010150
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
In the proposal unveiled here Thursday - a 16-school, revenue-sharing football league, with 12 of those schools competing in all sports - the Atlanta-based Metro became flexible at the urging of Raycom Sports & Entertainment, which has been the league's consultant for the expansion process.
Included in the Metro's expansion plan are three schools from the Big East Conference, which annually challenges the Big Ten and ACC for college basketball supremacy. Syracuse, Pitt and Boston College could be Metro football members, however, because Raycom sold the athletic directors of those schools on a workable concept.
"We haven't made any demands and we haven't suggested for right now that, for this 16- and 12-team concept to work, the Big East teams would have to make a change," said Ralph McFillen, the Metro's commissioner. "Before, maybe some people trying to do something like this have tried to take the Big East teams out of the Big East, and that won't work.
"They seem to like our approach, which, instead of trying to take away something from them, was to align in a conference with some great football programs."
Does the Metro hope to entice the Big East schools to leave the Big East to make a 16-team Metro an all-sports league down the road?
"I think `entice' is the wrong word," said Cincinnati athletic director Rick Taylor, who has succeeded Virginia Tech's Dave Braine as chairman of the Metro athletic directors' committee. "I think it's a feasibility, a real possibility in the future."
The Big East just signed a four-year, $19.2 million basketball TV contract with CBS Sports. Would Syracuse, Pitt and Boston College consider leaving the Big East during or after that term? Is the deal the Metro and Raycom presented that good?
"It certainly could be," said Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel after two days of Metro meetings with eight football independents ended. "The quality of basketball programs in this mix is significant. It could be that, over a period of time, it could develop into something even bigger than we might anticipate.
"It could develop into a conference that could dominate the Northeast. If that's the case, we might have to consider some options, assuming there would be options there."
The current Metro schools consider Syracuse the major player among the Northeast programs it wants. Florida State has the same role within the Metro, and another invitee, Miami, also will carry considerable weight. East Carolina, the other school the Metro wants only for football, won't push for more. The Pirates were the longest of shots when Raycom began its expansion study for the Metro. They were happy just to be in the conference room.
Crouthamel said he was impressed with Raycom's thorough work. The Orangemen would have to be considered candidates for expansion by the Big Ten or ACC as well, and they have been prominent in talks on the formation of an Eastern Seaboard league.
"This approach that Raycom took through its study has been the only one of significance to date that has addressed the real concerns of three of the Northeast schools, and that is, leaving the Big East," Crouthamel said. "Everything else has really addressed the fact that there needs to be a total realignment of all involved. Raycom has found an ingenious way to address the concerns of each individual institution."
The three Big East schools did not turn thumbs-down on an all-sports Metro, nor did they make any demands, Crouthamel said.
"Raycom did a very thorough job for the Metro," the Syracuse athletic director said. "In their discussions with Pitt, Boston College and Syracuse, it became obvious to them that we would have some significant degree of difficulty in leaving the resource of the Big East. Raycom listened and addressed that, to their credit.
"That doesn't mean that there are not other all-sports alternatives. They just listened, and they addressed what they heard."
There has been speculation the Big East would lose some of its strength with the move of founder and commissioner Dave Gavitt into the front office of the Boston Celtics. Crouthamel, a Dartmouth graduate and a successful head coach at his alma mater for seven years, wants to strengthen Syracuse football after Penn State defected its Eastern rivalries for the Big Ten.
"I think the Big East schools are definitely interested in what's on the table for the Metro," said Ken Haines, Raycom's executive vice president who has taken charge of the Metro consultant's work. "If they weren't seriously interested, they wouldn't have been at the meeting.
"What we have suggested, with this plan, would allow these schools to keep more of their money than they'd be able to keep through another arrangement."
by CNB