COLLEGE SPORTS Gov. Warner wants mediation for ACC's proposed expansion

The NCAA said it has no authority to intervene in conference affiliations.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner urged the NCAA or another body to mediate the proposed expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference rather than allow a protracted and expensive legal battle.
In a statement released Tuesday, Warner said the state's "interests as a whole will be ensured" if both Virginia of the ACC and Virginia Tech of the Big East stay in major conferences.
NCAA president Myles Brand said that while he understood Warner's desire to protect his state's universities, the NCAA has no authority to intervene in the right of schools to determine their own conference affiliations. In a statement released by the NCAA, Brand also said the organization would provide whatever help it could, including third-party mediation if "an invitation to do so was forthcoming from all parties."
Favorable reaction
Big East officials reacted favorably to the proposal.
The presidents and chancellors from the nine ACC schools held a conference call Tuesday afternoon, but no formal vote was taken to invite Miami, Boston College and Syracuse, commissioner John Swofford said in a statement.
Swofford said presidents from the Big East schools participated in part of the "constructive" call.
"There will be further discussions," Swofford said, "and as has been the case throughout this process, there is no definitive timetable."
Warner's remarks came one day after The Associated Press reported that two schools voting in favor of pursuing the addition of the three Big East teams to the ACC were having second thoughts, and four days after five Big East schools sued trying to stop the raid of their league.
Officials at Duke and North Carolina have developed serious concerns about adding the three schools, The AP reported Monday. The ACC needs the approval of seven of its nine schools to go forward with expansion.
One of the potential losers in the expansion is Virginia Tech. Tech was rejected by the ACC schools for expansion, and would go from a Big East football powerhouse to a school with an uncertain athletics future if three of the Big East's best teams leave for the new superconference.
In a conference call Tuesday, representatives of the five schools that are suing spoke favorably of mediation and defended their lawsuit as a necessary step to stop the perceived rapid destruction of their league.