Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990 TAG: 9005130071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Everybody has talked about it, but nobody has done anything about it.
Until now.
At the Metro's spring meetings next week on Florida's Gulf Coast, the league's joint committee of athletic directors and faculty representatives is expected to push further for the establishment of football as a conference sport, in conjunction with league expansion from eight schools.
The Metro hasn't grown since 1983, when South Carolina joined a league formed in June 1975 to give big-city independents a better shot at the NCAA basketball tournament. Football has been discussed - and desired by a certain segment of the Metro - since 1982, when the departure of founding member St. Louis meant the remaining Metro residents all played Division I-A football as independents.
For much of that time, the potential introduction of football as a Metro sport has been little more than a perennial rumor. However, the Metro's expansion notions have been rooted in the gridiron; the league hasn't accepted even schools with good basketball programs - Alabama-Birmingham, for example - if they didn't play football.
So, expansion and football always have been intertwined in the Metro mindset. Never, though, until the league paid Raycom Sports & Entertainment to produce a study on potential expansion, did the Atlanta-based conference seem prepared to grow. The Metro schools saw the results of that two-month task at a meeting Monday.
"The fact that we went to the point of having the study done is indicative of the seriousness we have about the issue, and the approach we want to take," said Ralph McFillen, the Metro Conference commissioner. "I guess there hasn't been much thought about expansion since West Virginia came close to joining several years ago [in 1985].
"At that time, it's my understanding, there was a serious interest by both parties. But, at that time, it wasn't thoroughly researched as it has been now."
Raycom, the Charlotte, N.C., marketing and television production company best known for its regional syndication of college basketball, studied nine Division I football independents, eight of whom have basketball conference affiliations. The report, believed to be about 200 pages, includes varying financial projections for the Metro, depending on which schools are plugged into the expansion process. Projected television revenue and potential bowl ties also are factored into the equations.
"The study was comprehensive, as well-done as any study I've ever seen," said Chet Glachuk, Tulane's athletic director. "I think everyone came to attention because they were impressed with the numbers, and what can happen with the right configuration of schools."
So, who do you add to Cincinnati, Florida State, Louisville, Memphis State, South Carolina, Southern Mississippi, Tulane and Virginia Tech? It probably depends on who you ask, but then no one is naming names yet. The non-Metro schools studied by Raycom are as varied in athletics and academics as the current members, and any expansion would stretch the Metro's geography farther.
The financial need and the potential change in college athletics' traditional groupings - signaled by Penn State's tentative acceptance into the Big Ten - makes it time for the Metro to move.
"Our potential for expansion is probably greater - and more likely - than most other conferences," McFillen said. "We're more ripe and we're more ready now. We've got a good eight, and we think we have a quality conference. But if we can get more, if we can get a couple more with high-profile football programs, then we will. And I think that's going to happen."
If the Metro members have their priority lists of potential expansion teams, the process apparently hasn't gone far enough to make an invitation list. It seems the conference's destiny will be determined in Destin, Fla.
The Metro is interested in Syracuse and Pitt, to be sure, but the chance of loosening their lucrative Big East Conference basketball ties are "less than slim," one Metro athletic director said. Temple, Rutgers and Boston College are among the largest six Nielsen television markets, but their athletic programs aren't as high-profile as others. East Carolina is a Metro long shot, at best, and Penn State is waiting as the Big Ten waffles on its commitment to the Nittany Lions.
That leaves West Virginia and Miami (Fla.) as the Metro favorites. West Virginia is strong on a Metro with football. Whether Miami is interested "depends on which week it is," said a Metro member administrator. This week, several Metro athletic directors will visit a number of non-Metro campuses to continue what always are labeled "informal" discussions.
Of course, the Metro has to sell itself as solid. That always has been a problem, and even more so in recent months. Virginia Tech has talked about an Eastern Seaboard affiliation; South Carolina desires a return to the ACC; Florida State and Tulane would like to be in the Southeastern Conference; and Cincinnati, Louisville and Memphis State have met with DePaul about playing basketball with other Midwestern schools.
Only Southern Mississippi always seems to be a happy camper.
"Our first choice has always been to remain in a solid Metro," said Rick Taylor, Cincinnati's athletic director. "And a solid Metro includes football. If the Metro doesn't add football, we reserve the option to drop out. I'm not sure the Metro will exist in five years if we don't have football and revenue-sharing like every other conference.
"I think, before we can go out and sell somebody on joining the Metro, we have to create some degree of solidity in the league. We have to strengthen the conference, maybe with a financial bond and a withdrawal clause. We have seven of eight schools who have wanted to go someplace else. I think we have to prove to people first that the Metro, if they join, will continue to exist."
McFillen said the Metro's goal throughout the recent expansion talks "has included the focus that nobody be taken out of the conference."
"If someone elects to leave of their choosing, that's up to them. But we are seeking to avoid that," McFillen said.
The Metro always has been weak on conference bonding, much less putting a dollar sign in front of it. The schools don't share NCAA Tournament money or TV dollars from non-conference basketball games. The Metro primarily has been a vehicle for basketball scheduling, and the divergent philosophies at its schools became more evident once the conference got away from its basis, which was a basketball league for schools in large metropolitan markets.
When Florida State, then Virginia Tech, then Southern Miss, then South Carolina were added, the league's focus was blurred.
"The only reservation I have is, can what we want to do fall into place?" said Bob Goin, Florida State's athletic director. "The thing I said is, `Let's don't become impatient.' I still like where we are [because Florida State doesn't need affiliation for its powerful football program, which would contribute mightily to a `new' Metro].
"This is the first time we have any substantial evidence that with potential growth, good can happen. But if nothing happens, is that a loss? And if we do this, we have to do it right.
"If you decide you're going to add two, don't go crazy. Wait and see how it goes before adding two more. It's like having a family. Maybe you have one child, then you wait a period of time and have another."
The Metro's constitution calls for a unanimous vote to add football but only a two-thirds majority to expand. Of course, the constitution can be changed by two-thirds majority. The balloting, though, probably will be moot because deals will be cut before any vote by the Metro's joint committee is taken. No one is going to be embarrassed by the process, McFillen said.
"The Raycom report substantiated what we anticipated was the case, and now, we have something with which we can make a professional presentation to schools," McFillen said. "We agreed on the direction we wanted to take, but we're flexible on the options. Feelers were put out previously. Now, we're going to have other conversations to follow up on those."
The Metro commissioner said expansion, if it is to occur, won't happen in the Florida meetings next week. There are too many places to see, people to talk to, plans to be made. However, the Metro schools that previously balked at sharing at least part of their revenues have seen the writing on the Raycom pages after years of trying to decipher the writing on the wall.
"We are waiting to see what happens at the Metro meetings," said Ed Pastilong, West Virginia's athletic director. "One thing about getting into an all-sports conference is that you have to give a little bit. Maybe you lose some in football, but maybe you gain in basketball, or vice versa.
"You do it because an all-sports conference gives you insurance. It helps you in scheduling. It helps you in a down year. If you sit and write down the pluses and minuses, the plus column for an all-sports conference, I can guarantee you, is going to be longer."
by CNB