Pitt, four other Big East universities file lawsuit

The Atlantic Coast Conference’s attempt to expand took another turn Friday, when the five… The Atlantic Coast Conference’s attempt to expand took another turn Friday, when the five remaining football schools in the Big East filed a lawsuit against the University of Miami, Boston College and the ACC, accusing the three of placing economic self-interest before public interest.

Filed in state Superior Court in Hartford, Conn., the lawsuit states that Miami and Boston College, in collusion with the ACC and its members, violated their legal obligations and fiduciary duties to their partners in the Big East.

The suit also claims that, while Miami and Boston College were reassuring the public that they were committed to keeping the conference intact, the two schools were actively planning their departure to the ACC.

“Our universities have brought this lawsuit with great regret and only as a last resort,” the presidents of the five remaining Big East schools – Pitt, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Connecticut and West Virginia – said in a statement. “Unfortunately the actions of Miami and B.C., in concert with the ACC, simply left us no choice but to act.”

The Big East schools, according to the lawsuit, went ahead with expansions and upgrades worth “hundreds of millions of dollars” to their venues, under the assumption that the conference would last for years to come.

Pitt has put the most effort into improving its facilities, according to the lawsuit. The Univeristy spent $100 million on the Petersen Events Center, and negotiated a long-term lease agreement to play at Heinz Field and to use a “multi-million dollar practice and training facility.”

The lawsuit states that UConn recently finished construction on a $90 million football stadium in order to move up to Division I-A football, while Virginia Tech, who’s admittance into the conference was “accelerated by a full year” in reliance on Miami’s word, invested $37 million to expand its football stadium.

“We worked tirelessly on a wide range of fronts to deal constructively with the issues presented,” Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said at a press conference on Friday. “We have reached out in every imaginable way. Those contacts left us, unfortunately, with the clear and unanimous sense that continuing such conversations would not be productive. As a result, we reluctantly decided to seek legal protection.”

With the departure of any members, the Big East could lose substantial amounts of revenue from bowl games, the Bowl Championship Series and television deals. Although nothing has become official, the ACC has extended informal invitations to Miami, Boston College and Syracuse to switch conferences.

Syracuse was not named in the lawsuit because the five universities said they found no evidence that the school made any promises to stay in the Big East.

However, Miami allegedly made “repeated public and private statements and commitments to the other members of the Big East that it intended to remain a member of the Big East and that it had no intention of leaving to join any other conference” despite the fact that Miami and Boston College had been “engaged in secret negotiations to leave the Big East and join the ACC,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit also points out how the other members of the Big East supported both Miami and Boston College when each university was dealing with “separate crises that threatened their continued viability as participants in college athletics.”

In 1997, a criminal investigation took place after Boston College athletes were alleged to be involved in a gambling scandal. In the mid-1990s, Miami was placed on probation for NCAA violations, reducing the number of football scholarships the school could award.

The lawsuit points out how the other members of the conference “stood behind these schools” and that Miami and Boston College “continued to receive, in full, their respective financial and other entitlements as Big East members.”

While the remaining Big East schools hope that the lawsuit will prevent Miami, Boston College or Syracuse from defecting to the ACC, Miami Athletics Director Paul Dee believes that his school’s plans will not change.

“The train’s not off the track but it’s slowing down,” Dee said before Miami played North Carolina State in the NCAA baseball tournament’s super regionals. “I’m sure there have been lawsuits among friends before over issues, and one way or another they get resolved and people get on with it afterward.”

Although not currently a member in football, UConn is scheduled to join the Big East in 2005. With their contracts requiring a year’s notice for any kind of departure from the Big East, Miami, Boston College and Syracuse would not be able to join the ACC until the beginning of the 2004 football season.