Boston College Bolts for ACC

Boston College will join the Atlantic Coast Conference as its 12th member, guaranteeing the league a future football playoff game while landing another major television market.

The school had until Nov. 1 to accept the ACC’s offer, but agreed in less than four hours after ACC presidents and chancellors voted unanimously Sunday to include Boston College in the league’s expansion plans.

“This just adds one more excellent school to what now will be a 12-member mix,” Commissioner John Swofford said. “If you look at their graduation rates, B.C. will jump right into the higher echelon of our conference. They bring a lot on both fronts.”

Big East Conference by-laws require 27 months’ notice to leave that conference or face a reported $5-million exit fee, meaning the Eagles may not begin participating in ACC sports until 2006, Swofford said.

The addition of Boston College will give the ACC the number of members required by the NCAA to stage a lucrative league championship football game in the future.

Boston College’s president said athletics, academics and finances were reasons for the jump from the Big East.

“The ACC is a strong, stable conference,” the Rev. William Leahy said. “The move to the ACC will generate greater revenues in the future.”

The heads of ACC schools voted 9-0 in favor of extending the Eagles an invitation during a teleconference.

Miami and Virginia Tech were added to the nine-team conference in late June and will begin play in 2004.

In a statement, Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said, “We are extremely disappointed with Boston College’s decision to leave. Our membership is very surprised that the ACC presidents continue to come back into our league for membership.”

James Barker, Clemson president and head of the ACC’s Council of Presidents, said it became apparent recently that an 11-team conference was not ideal for the ACC.

“It’s almost like a suit, you put it on and wear it for a while and then you decide it needs some alterations,” Barker said.

“In this case, this was true. We began to envision ourselves in the summer as one sized league and we felt an adjustment would be wise to position us for the future.”

Boston College and Syracuse were the Big East schools in the ACC’s original expansion plans -- along with Miami -- but were voted down in favor of adding Miami and Virginia Tech. Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State voted against adding Boston College at the time.

But pro-expansion schools kept pushing.

“We wanted those northeast markets and Boston gives us that opportunity,” Florida State President T.K. Wetherell said.