The Voice caught up with Georgetown Athletic Director Lee Reed at Big East Media Day in New York on Oct. 22. Reed is finishing up his fourth year and is overseeing big changes for Hoya athletics.
What was your overall evaluation of the first year of the new Big East Conference and where do you see it going in the future?
I thought [Commissioner Val Ackerman] and the conference office did an amazing job getting us up and running. I thought the teams performed like we would expect them to perform. There were a lot of great storylines last year. It was good to have Creighton in the league, that was a wonderful experience being able to see that part of the country, and that venue, and how passionate that the new members were about being in the Big East.
Do you feel that with the FOX Sports 1 partnership. that the league has lost the exposure it once had with ESPN?
Any time you’re involved in a startup, it’s going to take time for viewers and fans to find out where we are. I think the partnership is where we expected it to be. We knew early on there was going to be some growing pains, but I think we’re right on track. I’m excited about everything that FOX has done, from hiring the talent that we have now doing the games to some of the other inventory that they’ve brought online.
Do you foresee the league adding teams in the future?
Never say never, but right now I think we’re really excited about figuring out 10 and creating and establishing those rivalries. I think we all, at this point, love the natural round robin. It’s good to have Creighton in our building every year, so our fans understand who Creighton is… Right now, I think everybody is satisfied in terms of where we are.
The feeling with the fanbase right now, at least from a student perspective, is that there’s not enough quality home games to attend. What do you say to those concerns?
“We are concerned about that. We want our students—the fans that come out to Verizon Center—to have attractive inventory for them. We want to have games that make sense, on nights that make sense, at times that make sense. It’s a delicate balance between that and the exposure that we get through FOX and our television partners.“
Would you support student athletes being paid to play during your tenure?
“I support us collectively trying to create ways to drive more revenue to our student-athletes’ bottom line. So am I in favor of revenue-sharing with our student-athletes? Absolutely. Am I in favor of four-year scholarships? Yes. Am in favor of cost-of-attendance? Absolutely. Am I in favor of better, longer coverage in terms of health care? Yes. And a lot of that we already do. But when it gets down to employer-employee relationship, I think that’s when we have to, as a university, as an NCAA, we have to have some conversations around that because that changes the dynamic.”
For the full interview, which includes Reed’s thoughts on football, unionization, the Thompson Center, and more, visit georgetownvoice.com
