COLLEGES Big East seeking solution on future

Miami is waiting for the conference's best offer.
SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- After meeting for more than three hours, Big East Conference athletic directors exited Sunday's fact-finding meeting tight-lipped and somewhat unified about the tone of their discussions, saying they were productive.
Whether this united front is merely polite posturing isn't clear. But the Big East is running out of time to give Miami athletic director Paul Dee a counterproposal that will make Miami rethink joining the Atlantic Coast Conference, and taking Boston College and Syracuse with it.
Dee labeled Sunday's discussions productive, but wouldn't elaborate.
"They went very well, as well as one would expect with a group of colleagues. Everything is going well," Dee said.
"There are no conclusions at this time. We're going to continue our discussion [today]."
Pros and cons
Miami's goal is to leave the conference's annual spring meetings Wednesday with the Big East's best offer so that UM president Donna Shalala can further evaluate the pros and cons of a conference switch to the ACC.
And it appears Boston College and Syracuse will be playing follow the leader.
When Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel was asked about the Orangemen's stance on a possible conference defection, his response was to ask whether Dee had been consulted. He then said: "Ditto what he said."
Whether all nine of the athletic directors who participated in Sunday's meeting were united on the topics discussed isn't clear because no one involved would specify the issues that were addressed regarding the future of the conference. But one sticking point might involve whether the Big East is willing to expand, and by how much.
Even though some of his Big East colleagues don't agree with him, Dee is firm in his belief that 12-team leagues like the Big 12, Southeastern Conference and the one the ACC is trying to build are the future of college athletics.
And considering Shalala was recently appointed to the BCS oversight committee that is examining the possibility of a college football playoff and other changes to the bowl system, Dee's views just might have good footing.
"You have to look at where the world is going," Dee said.
"We have two conferences with 12 members that have been extraordinarily successful. Having 12-team conferences provides a lot of strength. It attracts television and the interest of fans in a greater geographic region."
Objecting to move
Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver disputed Dee's assertions that a 12-team conference would mean more BCS opportunities, and said joining a conference with a championship game would make Miami's journey to the national title game more difficult.
"It's not all it's cracked up to be," Weaver said.
"Does it generate revenue? Yeah. But does it generate enough revenue to make everything whole? That's the $64,000 question."