Setting New Standards

The leadership of the Atlantic 10 grappled with some serious issues at the league’s annual meetings in late May, from its deal with CSTV to scheduling issues and the future home of the A-10 Tournament. Administrators also had early discussions about the possibility of formulating league membership standards – something Temple knows all about from its football experience with the Big East.

“The goal is always to get as many (NCAA Tournament) bids as possible,” said associate commissioner Ray Cella, referring to the context of this year’s discussions. “We look at scheduling. We’re always talking about a lot of different things.”

Last month, league administrators and athletic directors talked about the possibility of establishing minimum membership standards. The Owls know where those discussions could go: One day, schools that don’t meet those standards could be asked to leave the conference.

“We’re in the early stages of looking at this,” said Cella, not wanting to get into details about how any standards might be formulated. “Everybody is involved. We’re thinking outside the box on some things.”

Last year, the A-10 thought outside the box in forging a new media deal with CSTV. The initial results were not good in terms of television exposure. CSTV televised fewer games than the league’s self-run network offered in previous years, and those games were available to far fewer homes because of access issues with local cable providers.

The A-10 expects far better distribution in year two.

“We’ve talked with CSTV, and they know where we’re at,” Cella said. “And we’re working with CSTV to get more and better clearances for our games. We have no doubt this year will be head and shoulders better than the past year.”

The postseason tournament was another item on the A-10 agenda in Marco Island, Fla., site of this year’s meetings. And while nothing is certain, it sounds like the men’s basketball event could be staying in Atlantic City for the near future.

After a 14-year run in Philadelphia, the men’s tournament spent two years in Dayton and two years in Cincinnati before landing in Atlantic City in March. The contract with A.C. has one more year to go.

“We’re talking to Atlantic City now about possibly extending the deal,” Cella said. “Everyone was thrilled with the experience we had last year.”

The league did not have serious discussions about other venues at last month’s meetings.

“We’re not talking to anybody else right now,” Cella said.

The next time the league athletic directors will get together is September. It’s fair to assume they would like to get a deal done – or not done, so they can look at alternatives – before then.

“I think so,” Cella said of the September timetable. “But that doesn’t mean there won’t be something done before then. We don’t want to go into ’08 not knowing where we’re going to be in ’09.”

The A-10 also spent some meeting time looking at its men’s basketball schedule for the upcoming season. Some of the home-and-home playing partners that were designated in the league’s first scheduling formulation have been changed.

“The final schedule is not complete,” Cella said. “There were some things that some schools asked us to address. It should be finished next week.”