Over the weekend, news broke that Syracuse and Pittsburgh have decided to leave the Big East Conference for the Atlantic Coast Conference. With some predicting that the defections will prompt the Big East’s remaining members to strengthen the conference and others already preparing to write the league’s eulogy, Georgetown must be proactive in the coming days and months to protect the school’s athletic programs and ensure that they have a place to compete at a high level.
If Georgetown’s men’s basketball team does not play in a strong conference, it will negatively affect Georgetown’s entire athletics program. The revenue from ticket sales and television contracts that the basketball team brings to the athletics program allows Georgetown to field stellar teams in a diverse range of sports. A less competitive conference schedule would draw fewer spectators to Verizon Center and attract a less lucrative television contract, constricting Georgetown’s athletics budget significantly.
Hoya basketball is also an important factor in the college decision process because it promotes school spirit and a unified student body, which is a selling point for Georgetown when competing for students who are interested in other schools with strong academic reputations, but without strong sports programs. Since Georgetown lacks a Football Bowl Series program on the gridiron, the school’s basketball team is virtually alone in representing Georgetown on the national stage. Without the publicity of a top-tier conference, Georgetown may cease to be relevant in the world of college basketball, causing further problems for the University as a whole.
Georgetown has few options. Whether Georgetown should follow the lead of Syracuse and Pitt out of the Big East, fashion a new conference with other refugee schools, or remain loyal to what remains of the Big East is a difficult decision. Georgetown must decide whether to remain in the conference it helped found, or to get out while it still can. If Georgetown stays in the Big East, whether or not the conference poaches new members of its own, it should first be sure of the continued loyalty of the remaining schools. The most dangerous course for the University to take would be one of inaction.
The University must make conference stabilization athletic priority number one in this period of profound uncertainty. This is an excellent opportunity for the administration to improve relations with the student body by listening to the needs and concerns of the athletic department and its many supporters. Georgetown must be forward-looking and act in a way that will maintain the high caliber of its basketball program in both the present and future.
