Syracuse Leaving for ACC a Year Early, How it Impacts Pitt
By Matt Shetler
Syracuse and the Big East Conference have reached an agreement to allow the Orange to leave a year early to join the ACC.
Both Syracuse and Pitt announced in the fall of 2011 that they would be departing the Big East for the ACC, but under Big East bylaws, exiting schools needed to serve a 27-month exit period. Instead, the Orange will be departing July 1, 2013; paying an exit fee of $7.5 million.
That leaves the Panthers as a lame-duck program in a lame-duck conference. As of right now, they don’t have the same exit strategy as Syracuse does.
Instead of paying an exit fee, Pitt filed suit in May claiming the Big East waived its right to enforce a requirement that schools give 27 months’ notice when leaving the conference. The suit claims that the school should be allowed to move to the ACC without penalty by the 2013-14 conference year.
West Virginia was able to leave for the Big 12 Conference without having to serve a waiting period, as was TCU, who was set to join the Big East this season before deciding to head to the Big 12.
There have been reports that Pitt was wiling to pay $5 million (in which they paid half) to not have to wait out the 27-month period, but in leaving, what Syracuse did was set the price that the Panthers have to meet. If Pitt ponies up the $7.5 million, it would be next to impossible for the Big East to allow Syracuse to leave and not Pitt.
ESPN’s Andy Katz reported that sources close to the situation said the Pitt and the Big East were nearing a resolution and those sources say that Pitt could be allowed to leave for the ACC in the fall of 2013.
When Pitt finally gets its release from the Big East, the ACC will go to a nine-game conference schedule in football and all 14 schools would play in both the men’s and women’s conference basketball tournaments.
The Panthers still have some work to do in order to assure playing football in the ACC in 2013. They don’t want to be the only team in the Big East on their way out the door.
But with today’s news that Syracuse is that much closer to calling the ACC home, Pitt should be that much closer to doing so themselves.