NC State Dept. Head Questions Wisdom Of ACC Spring Meetings

As ACC schools "struggle through budget cuts, furloughs and layoffs in a floundering economy," N.C. State Univ. Department of Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Head Art Padilla "questioned the wisdom" of the conference's spring meetings today through Wednesday in Amelia Island, Florida, according to Ken Tysiac of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Padilla said that he "knows ACC officials have been tightening their belts and restricting coaches' travel and acknowledged that contractual obligations with the hotel may make it difficult to cancel." Padilla: "But I think they need to re-look at this Amelia Island (trip)." ACC Commissioner John Swofford said that the conference, which pays for the expenses of the meetings, does have a "multi-year contract with the resort," and added that it "would have been difficult to cancel on short notice." Swofford: "We have reduced to some degree the number of attendees from a conference standpoint to this particular meeting, and also the length of the stay and number of room nights to a degree" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/10).

EXPANDING THE SCHEDULE? The OBSERVER's Tysiac noted ACC men's basketball coaches and administrators at the Amelia Island meetings will "discuss an 18-game" conference schedule, an increase from the current 16-game set. Swofford said from a "pure business decision, there are some reasons to look at 18, but then you could lose some very attractive intersectional games that are of superb value to the television package." Meanwhile, Raycom President & CEO Ken Haines said an 18-game schedule would be "a plus." Haines: "It would make our scheduling a little easier as long as it wasn't at the expense of high-profile nonconference games. It remains to be seen whether it would make it more valuable." Swofford added that even if the ACC at the meetings "approves 18 games, it wouldn't take effect until the 2011-12 season -- after the league's TV deals expire" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/9).