Rachel Renock said she was shocked when she heard Syracuse University would be leaving the Big East conference for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The junior communications design major said she was confused as to why the university would be willing to lose some of its most competitive rivals.

‘I heard it was because of our football team, but I don’t really understand why the school would sacrifice some of our oldest basketball rivals, like Georgetown, for a football team that hasn’t had much success in the past 10 years. No offense,’ Renock said.

The reaction on campus has been mixed since the announcement Syracuse will join the ACC. Some students are disappointed in the possible loss of rivals such as Villanova and Georgetown, but ultimately students and faculty alike seem to agree that this was a positive move for SU.

Ashley Andrew, president of Otto’s Army and a junior communication sciences and disorders major, said that she was initially annoyed when she heard about SU’s decision.

‘I was upset that we wouldn’t have regularly scheduled games with our Big East rivals UConn, Villanova, and most importantly, Georgetown,’ she said. ‘Those games tend to be the most exciting, and they’re the games that break attendance records and have the best atmosphere in the Dome, so I’m not eager to see those go.’

Andrew has traveled with Otto’s Army to attend out-of-town football, basketball and lacrosse games in the past and said that although the out-of-town ACC games will mean further travel for fans, she believes SU students will still continue to attend them.

‘Most games won’t be as convenient as going to Madison Square Garden, but there are still nonconference games, and some students will make the trip if they have family or friends in the area,’ Andrew said.

Rodney Paul, economics and finance of sports professor at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, said in an email that he believes this was the best decision for SU athletics.

Paul said that with movements of other schools to the Southeastern Conference, and the rumored movements to the Pac-12 Conference, being a member of the Big East is tenuous. He said that superconferences will have the power to control who gets the revenues from TV deals for the Bowl Championship Series. In this way, a university would want to be affiliated with a superconference to sustain those revenues.

‘If the Big East would not retain its BCS status, or whatever comes after it, there was likely a huge loss in college football revenues for teams remaining in the Big East,’ Paul said. ‘This move is likely revenue enhancing due to superconference status and serves as insurance against being left unrepresented, superconference-wise, in the future.’

Paul said SU’s move to the ACC makes sense geographically, academically and sports-wise.

‘I think it’s a great move in the current context of the football world. It creates some issues basketball-wise, but I imagine those will be worked out in time,’ he said. ‘It will be a shame to lose some classic Big East matchups, but the ACC has great basketball as well, and super top tier in Duke and UNC.’

When it comes to attendance in the Carrier Dome for basketball games, Paul said he believes the ACC games will draw large numbers comparable even to Big East games, especially those against Duke and UNC. It will be exciting to see the ACC teams visit Syracuse for the first time, which could also drive attendance, he said.

Dan Lyons, a senior writing and rhetoric major and public relations officer for Otto’s Army, said that he also believes this is the best move SU could have made.

Lyons said he has gone to the Big East tournament for three years and loves the Georgetown rivalry and the Villanova games in the Dome, but football is the driving force in college sports today.

Lyons said he understands why SU basketball fans are sad about losing the old rivalries between other universities, but the move will most likely lead to a positive increase in attendance at SU football games.

Said Lyons: ‘I think people who are upset now will come around on it eventually.’

snbouvia@syr.edu

Published on September 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephanie: snbouvia@syr.edu | @snbouvia