Name’s changed but AAC still committed to Providence

FULL-COURT PRESS: The American Athletic Conference – the organization that was formerly known as the Big East – doesn’t plan expansion beyond the 11 members it will have once Navy joins next year, says Commissioner Mike Aresco. / COURTESY AAC
FULL-COURT PRESS: The American Athletic Conference – the organization that was formerly known as the Big East – doesn’t plan expansion beyond the 11 members it will have once Navy joins next year, says Commissioner Mike Aresco. / COURTESY AAC

It’s NCAA tournament time – do you know what conference your favorite team plays in? For New England college basketball fans, the last two years of conference realignment have brought dizzying change, including the breakup of former regional stalwart the Big East. While local schools such as Providence College are pursuing their future in a new regional Catholic league, the organization that was the Big East remains headquartered in Providence, even as it rebrands itself as a national conference.
Veteran television executive Mike Aresco took over the conference – with offices in the Gateway Center on Park Row West – in the waning days of the old Big East and kept it together through changes to almost all of its membership.

PBN: How different is your organization now than it was one year ago when it was still the Big East?
ARESCO: The difference is night and day from a year ago. This was an unusual conference because you had a number of schools that only played basketball and schools that played basketball and football. You even had more that were coming into the league that had committed to play only football. You had a three-headed operation. Now we are almost fully aligned. Everybody plays football and basketball except when Navy joins next year they will only play football. Everyone is on the same page when it comes to how they view their athletic departments and the size and budgets are much more similar.

PBN: And how about the organization’s size and structure? Has that changed?
ARESCO: It is similar. I have streamlined our operation and strengthened certain areas such as the TV area. We have all of our games now on some form of television, ESPN or CBS, and we have started a digital network. … We operate pretty much the same, but one big difference is we don’t have a set of bylaws with basketball-only schools and football-only schools. We have been able to merge all of that.

PBN: What is the headcount now versus as the Big East?
ARESCO: We are about the same, a little smaller. We have about 30 full-time employees now, a few interns and a few independent contractors handling our computer and online needs.
PBN: Do you plan to keep the American Conference based in Providence long term?
ARESCO: I made a decision and had the support of our presidents and athletic directors to stay in Providence indefinitely. We have no plans to move. I wanted to quell rumors we would be leaving. We have a good staff here and I wanted to make sure there was stability. … There are good reasons for being in Providence. It is a neutral location for us. We are near New York City, which is a media capital, where our key partners at CBS and marketing partner IMG are. We are near ESPN, an extremely important partner and key to our future success. It is good to have a Northeast presence for a conference like this.

PBN: How long is your lease?
ARESCO: We had a 10-year lease and we are in the third year of it.

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PBN: Looking beyond the new members coming in the second half of this year and Navy in 2015, are you looking to expand even more in the future?
ARESCO: No, we really aren’t at this point. At one point when we had the Catholic Seven and Notre Dame and teams coming and going you had turmoil when you really needed a color-coded chart to know who was in the league. That’s all settled down. When East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa join this year we will be at 11 and that’s the 11 we will have going forward with Navy in 2015. Louisville and Rutgers will have left. It is good for us to know we are going to be the league we are going to be. We are very happy we worked out the Catholic Seven situation this year. We were able to get the branding under way this year with the new name and logo. If it didn’t happen there would have been a whole year of conversation of a whole group of teams leaving. It just would have delayed our branding and reinvention.

PBN: Do people like the new name?
ARESCO: I think it has been a great success. We’ve gotten only good feedback. There have been some rebranding efforts and some names that don’t catch on and don’t feel big. The American Athletic Conference does. We wanted it to feel big and we wanted to take our place among major conferences. I don’t think there is any question we have done that and the name has helped us. In addition, people love our logo – the A with the star. It jumps out at you.

PBN: Is the new playoff and bowl system in football going to cost the conference revenue from not having a guaranteed berth in what were the BCS bowls?
ARESCO: Revenue will be very similar and down the road could be more. In terms of access, it is more limited than it was as the old Big East with an automatic qualifier. In the new configuration there are five conferences which will compete for one guaranteed spot in host bowls on New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve. The highest-ranked champion of those conferences will get it. … We think we have a reasonable chance to have teams most years play on New Year’s Day. •

INTERVIEW
Mike Aresco
POSITION: Commissioner of the American Athletic Conference
BACKGROUND: A Middletown, Conn., native, Aresco was practicing law when a sports television startup called ESPN launched in his backyard and hired him. After a long career in television, Aresco was brought on as commissioner of what was then the Big East in 2012.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in history from Tufts University, 1972; master’s in international relations from Tufts; 1973, law degree from the University of Connecticut, 1976
FIRST JOB: Street line painter for the city of Middletown, Conn.
RESIDENCE: Providence
AGE: 63

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