Anyone who has followed college sports and conference realignment in recent years knows that what would’ve once read like a Mad Lib is now ordinary. Stanford and Cal in the ACC. USC and UCLA in the Big Ten. You get the idea. So perhaps talk about two (predominantly) East Coast conferences merging isn’t a crazy thought in the year 2025. That’s exactly what’s been floated by two giants in college basketball: former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and current St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino.
Last month, Coach K suggested that the ACC and Big East should merge into one basketball superconference on his radio show. Just a few weeks later, Pitino concurred, stating that the Big East “need[s] to do something” to compete with the power conferences. The Big East is particularly reliant on men’s basketball for revenue as the conference does not sponsor football.
On John Ourand’s The Varsity podcast, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman addressed the possibility of an ACC merger, suggesting that in today’s college athletics landscape, one must remain open to all opportunities. “When you’ve got two Hall of Famers opining about, not only the history of college basketball but the future of college basketball, you have to listen,” Ackerman remarked regarding Krzyzewski and Pitino’s views. “I take very seriously any idea around the future of college basketball, what it means for the Big East, what the Big East should be doing. I’m not sure I can opine right now what that sort of combination would look like. But we’ve got some related ideas that we’re hatching here about alliances, about who we should be working with as we look to secure not only the future of the Big East but the future of college basketball.”
Continuing, Ackerman stated, “I have great relationships with other commissioners, great respect for [ACC commissioner] Jim Phillips in particular. I would say, I can’t really comment on it, but there’s been some conversations about what we could all be doing together, again, not only to secure our own futures, but to ensure that college basketball stays strong and relevant as football interests continue to dominate much of the headlines and much of the bandwidth of the leagues that we consider peer conferences.” Without disclosing specific details, Ackerman acknowledged that the Big East is exploring potential partnerships with other leagues to boost its relevance in basketball.
From a performance standpoint, the Big East aligns closely with any other power conference’s achievements in recent years and possesses significant brands that drive value (i.e., UConn, St. John’s, Villanova, Georgetown, Marquette, Xavier, etc.). If we’ve learned anything from recent conference realignment trends, it’s that creating more opportunities for the sport’s top brands to compete against each other enhances media rights potential. Thus, if the ACC and Big East can persuade ESPN, Fox, and others to feature more matchups between Duke and UConn, it would be unwise not to consider a partnership.
Whether such a relationship could evolve into a full merger seems distant, but discussions are underway. It certainly looks promising for something mutually beneficial to emerge if the two conferences can iron out the specifics.
