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Updated: September 17, 2011, 6:59 PM ET
Source: Pitt, Syracuse apply to ACC
ESPN.com news services


University athletic directors and ACC officials have repeatedly reaffirmed their commitment to the current membership, but the increased buyout will make it much more costly for them to go back on their word. The increase in the buyout was approved at the annual meeting of university presidents this past week.

Another ACC source confirmed to ESPN.com's Dinich that the addition of teams is a very real possibility. ACC officials have declined to comment, and no sources were aware of a timetable.

This is familiar territory for the ACC, which added former Big East teams Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College in 2004 and 2005 to get to its current 12-member format. Should it happen again, this move would likely be even far more difficult for the Big East to overcome.

Three sources associated with the Big East told ESPN.com they believe Pitt and Syracuse are gone and one of the sources questioned the stability of the conference going forward.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Pitt's move as definite. A story posted on the newspaper's website said an announcement could come as soon as Saturday.

For schools to leave the Big East, they must pay $5 million and give 27 months' notice. However, Big East sources told ESPN.com's Katz that the 27 months notice is negotiable.

The New York Times first reported on Friday night that the ACC was in talks with Syracuse and Pittsburgh about leaving the Big East to join the league.

High-level officials at both schools kept the conversations with the ACC quiet, not telling their coaches about the move until Saturday, sources told ESPN.com's Katz.

Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim and Pitt men's basketball coach Jamie Dixon were asked by the schools not to comment on the situation late Saturday afternoon, sources told Katz.

If Syracuse and Pittsburgh decide to leave the Big East, it could lead to another dramatic shuffle in college athletics. Texas A&M has announced its intention to join the Southeastern Conference, leaving the future of the Big 12 in doubt.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has been approached by at least 10 schools about possible membership, a group that includes the Big East's Pitt and Syracuse, both of which have tendered letters of application, a high-ranking ACC official told ESPN.com's Heather Dinich on Saturday morning.

Multiple sources told ESPN.com's Andy Katz that Pittsburgh and Syracuse's applications to the ACC happened fast, within the last 48 hours.

One source who was briefed on the situation told Katz, "There is panic. There is panic about what league (Syracuse) was going to be in."

Amid a "fluid landscape" in conference alignment, the ACC presidents have unanimously approved increasing the buyout for schools to leave the conference from between $12 million and $14 million to $20 million, the source said, making it a highly unlikely scenario that any ACC teams defect from the conference.

Baylor and Iowa State have already reached out to the Big East as a backup in case the Big 12 falls apart.

Sources told ESPN.com last week that the Big 12 had planned on calling Pitt, Louisville and West Virginia for invitations before Oklahoma decided to make its intentions known publicly about possibly leaving.

Big East spokesperson John Paquette said Saturday that league commissioner John Marinatto had no comment on word that Pitt and Syracuse have inquired about membership in the ACC.

Syracuse is a founding member of the Big East, and Pittsburgh joined the league in 1982.

Mike Finn, the ACC's associate commissioner for football communications, told The Associated Press late Friday night he was unaware of any such talks and didn't know anything about the Times' report.

Former Syracuse quarterback Donald McPherson, a Heisman runner-up in 1987 when the Orange went 11-0-1, approved of the school's push for membership in the ACC.

"I like the move," said McPherson, elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. "The landscape of college sports is rapidly changing and frankly, the Big East is not strong enough to survive its current course.

"It's only asset the Big East has is the TV market, which may house the birthplace but has never been the soul of college football."

TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte, whose program is scheduled to join the Big East next season, said Saturday he was worried about what appears to be another pending conference shakeup.

"But if you are great at your craft there will always be a place for you," Del Conte said. "I feel great about how we are healthy athletically and fiscally. I feel good about the things we can control. There are so many moving parts and it's an amazing journey college athletics is on. I'm not sure who really knows when it will be over.

"It's crazy," Del Conte added. "It's nerve wracking for everyone in college athletics. There are earthquakes going on all around us. And we don't know when they'll settle."

North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour said the ACC created a committee last year of athletic directors, university presidents and faculty athletic representatives to examine possible scenarios of both expansion and defections. Baddour, one of the four athletic directors on the committee, wouldn't reveal specifics of those discussions nor comment specifically on Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

"If you think about this nationally, it's obvious that the world is turning upside down and you want the ACC ... to be in a position where we are strong in all areas, that all of our sports are strong, that our television packages are strong as well," Baddour said shortly before kickoff of the Virginia-North Carolina game.

When the Big Ten was looking to expand last summer, there was plenty of speculation about Big East schools on the Big Ten's target list.

But the Big Ten added only Nebraska (from the Big 12). A few months later the Big East announced TCU from the Mountain West Conference was joining the league in 2012 as its ninth football member and 17th overall.

The Big East was close to signing a contract extension for its television rights with ESPN this year, walking away from a nine-year deal that reportedly was worth about $1 billion.

Marinatto said in August the Big East felt it was in a position of strength as the last major football conference to negotiate a deal because there would be more bidders on the market with NBC expanding its cable presence and Fox becoming more involved in college football.

The Big East's situation is tricky because of seven nonfootball members -- such as Georgetown and Villanova -- that help make it one of the nation's strongest basketball conferences. The basketball schools and football schools often have different agendas. But losing Pitt and Syracuse would be a huge blow to Big East basketball as well as football.

Sources told ESPN.com's Katz that Pitt and Syracuse would consider scheduling St. John's in men's basketball to maintain a recruiting presence in New York City, an alumni stronghold for both schools.

There already has been speculation that West Virginia would be a target for the SEC to balance out that conference and grow to 14 members if and when Texas A&M finally joins.

The other football-playing members of the Big East are Rutgers, Connecticut, Louisville, South Florida and Cincinnati.

Information from ESPN.com's Heather Dinich, Andy Katz, Pat Forde, Dana O'Neil, ESPN's Joe Schad and The Associated Press was used in this report.
 
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