Big East Commissioner: ‘It will be a happy ending to the basketball season this year’

Val Ackerman, Commissioner of the Big East, joins Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman and Alexis Christoforous to discuss March Madness amid the pandemic.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: 68 teams and one very big bubble. March Madness is coming back, folks, and it's going to all be happening in Indiana. It is a big endeavor, and involved in that endeavor very much so is Val Ackerman, commissioner of the Big E. She joins us now. Val, thank you so much for being here. What is the biggest logistical challenge that you're looking at with this really ambitious March Madness that you're about to start on?

VAL ACKERMAN: Well, you're right. It is a big project and a very important one to the college sports community. The yeoman work involved has been done by the NCAA's national office, which is based in Indianapolis. And Dan Gavitt, SVP of basketball, has really been manning the oars to guide the association to, hopefully, a happy ending in college basketball this year. It's been an enormous undertaking by the staff.

All 32 Division I conferences, of which the Big East is one, are, you know, intently interested in seeing this event happen. The Ivy League was not able to participate this year, but we think the NCAA has a great plan. They will have a very controlled environment in Indianapolis that will make for as safe as possible a management of the event. And, you know, many doctors have been involved in pulling this together.

And, you know, I think for student athletes, this is what they live for. They want to be there. You know, they want to vie for a national championship in such an important sport. So it's exciting that all the pieces are going to come together. And hopefully, as I said, it will be a happy ending to the basketball season this year.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: It is great news indeed for those players, but also for all of us fans, being able to watch them. Congratulations to you, to the coaches, to the league for getting us to this point during this unprecedented time. I know the Big East is going to kick off at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. And Governor Cuomo announced last week, I think it was, that there can be some fans in the stands. Talk to us about how you pivoted quickly and what the ticketing policy is for that because I'm not sure if just regular everyday fans can go, or are these people who are somehow connected to the players who are able to go?

VAL ACKERMAN: Yeah, it's the latter. The governor announced today, reduced capacity policy that will allow up to 10% of the venue's seating capability to manage fans in the Big East. We've elected to go with a smaller number. We're really just going to open it up to the friends and the families of the team participants, the coaches, the student athletes, other travel party members. So at any one time, there probably won't be more than about 800 people in the Garden who are going to be watching the game.

But nonetheless, we thought it was important for our athletes, in particular, to have their family members attend and watch them play. Many have not had that opportunity this year because of restricted attendance policies in our 11 jurisdictions. So but we're excited to be playing basketball at this time of year. And we know, even without the large crowds that we're accustomed to for this particular event, we think it'll be just hard fought and exciting competition. And I know our schools are eager to get back on the court at MSG.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, I'm sure the players are very excited about that prospect. Talk to me about the league's relationship with MSG at this point, given, obviously, you all have been through a tough year. They've been through a tough year. So what does now the next year look like in the partnership between you?

VAL ACKERMAN: Well, the Big East tournament is really a staple. In New York City and at MSG in particular, we as a conference have been there for 38 years and counting. It's a tremendous partnership. You know, we get a great building to play in, often thought as the premier college basketball venue, premier basketball venue in the country. And they get an event every year that brings out fantastic crowd support and always ends with great basketball competition. So it's a win-win all the way.

You know, we have a great working relationship with MSG. And of course, there's going to have to be adjustments this year because of COVID, in terms of how the court is set up and what arrangements we have to make to make sure it's a safe environment for our participants this year. And again, it won't be the full house that we're used to. But we're very excited that it's around the corner. And we have many, many years to come with our arrangement with MSG. So we know next year will hopefully, given the news that we're getting about the vaccine. And so, on that, we'll be back to normal at the world's most famous arena.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You know, Commissioner, congratulations to you on re-upping your contract for another three years as head of the Big East. That is certainly exciting. You're one of the few women in such a leadership position. Talk to us about what some of your goals are over the next three years, and what will you be prioritizing?

VAL ACKERMAN: Well, it's been an honor to have this position. I've been in the role for eight years. I took over when the old Big East had gone through an intensive period of fragmentation. And then the new Big East came out of that with seven original schools, more or less, and then adding three additional schools from the Midwest.

And so, the new Big East, really, the goal was to pick up on the vision of the original conference when it was formed back in 1979, which was to put basketball front and center. We have 22 sports now in the conference. We have an 11th school with the University of Connecticut, which joined us last year. They were a charter member of the conference. And then we had a parting of ways, and now they're back. And so it's very exciting to have them with their history and their rivalries, old, and the new ones that are going to be formed to be kind of part of things.

So, for me, it's just been very exciting to be able to lead this great sports organization. I'm really proud of what we've done to keep our league relevant competitively, but also, we've done a host of endeavors off the court to capitalize on the priority that our schools place on academics, as well as their interest in service and community engagement, which is part and parcel of many of their missions.

So it's been a great run, and I'm very glad that my board saw fit to keep me at it. So, exciting times for sure for the conference. And I'm glad to be helping guide them as they look to the future.

JULIE HYMAN: A lot of things have had to change over the past year. I'm sure one of them is recruiting. And so, I'm curious what that process has been like as we head into the spring, and then a new academic year in which, hopefully-- fingers crossed as you say-- things will be getting back more to normal. How has recruiting been going? I mean, everybody's sort of starting at the same point right now.

VAL ACKERMAN: Well, recruiting, at this point, has been largely virtual, just because of travel restrictions that many of our schools have. And so, it's been a lengthy dead period for our schools in terms of recruiting. So they've had to make do, as I've said, mostly virtually in order to attract student athletes to their programs. The NCAA's council, which is made up of representatives from all 32 conferences, is monitoring the environment, will be considering adjustments in the recruiting calendar and methodology in the coming months. But for now, schools, again, have largely had to make do.

And I think it'll be interesting to see exactly what happens with recruiting coming out of COVID because many have noted that there are some benefits to our coaches not being on the road quite so much. There's been some cost reductions, which have been important for our schools in that process. But at the same time, everybody recognizes that that face-to-face interaction is a critical part of a student athlete's important decision about where they want to go to school and who they want to play for and so on. So I expect that you could see some adjustments on that in the coming months.

JULIE HYMAN: There is no substitute for that in person interaction for almost anything, is there? Val, thank you so--