ACC EXPANSION Virginia Tech: Move solidifies sports program



No sports will need to be cut now, the president said.
KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Virginia Tech received a formal offer of membership from the Atlantic Coast Conference on Friday and will accept it, according to an open letter from Tech president Charles Steger that defended and explained his university's actions throughout the expansion process.
The letter describes one of Tech's primary reasons for jumping from the Big East to the ACC as an attempt to ensure future positive revenues for the university's athletic program while keeping student-body athletic fees to a minimum. Also, with the future of Tech's athletic program solidified in a viable conference, Steger pointed out there will be no need to explore cutting any of the university's Olympic sports in an effort to cut potential revenue losses.
Tech's students pay $232 per school year for athletic fees, which the letter contends is "many times" less than what several other Virginia colleges charge. With tuition increasing next year, and the university facing $73 million in state budget cuts in the next two years, Steger said he couldn't justify raising athletic fees by as much as 300 percent to help compensate.
"Weighing all of the factors, we concluded that should an invitation be forthcoming it would be in the best interest of Virginia Tech to accept," the statement said. "Given the circumstances and sequence of events, this is the best choice."
The letter said conversations Steger had with Tech football coach Frank Beamer recently indicated that "the uncertainty of the future of the Big East is negatively affecting football recruiting." Steger expressed concerns such negativity could encourage Tech's football coaching staff to seek positions at other universities, making the need to find a conference on solid ground even more critical.
Steger added that the ACC's formal offer of membership to Tech signaled the conclusion of a process the university had hoped would happen for decades.
"Virginia Tech has made no pretense for the past 30 years that we would be a good fit for the ACC," the statement said. "We made clear that our first preference was to keep the Big East intact, but if the ACC expansion was inevitable, Virginia Tech would be a good fit."

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