« The A-10 Recruiting Haul | Main | Five Questions - Charlotte Associate Head Coach, Rob Moxley »
College Chalktalk Exclusive: Interview with New A-10 Commissioner, Bernadette McGlade
By Jason Rhodes | July 18, 2008
(Interview Date): Wednesday, July 16, 2008
_____________________________
College Chalktalk (”CCT“)– Welcome to the A-10 Conference, we are excited to have you as our guest. Thank you for taking some time to visit with us.
Commissioner McGlade — Thank you.
CCT – What are your short term and long term goals for the conference?
Commissioner McGlade – Well, on the short term, obviously I am looking forward to a smooth transition. I just actually arrived here in Philly on Monday, which was my first day at the office. It’s been a great first three days. And I’m looking to make a smooth transition–to really listen and get a great idea of what some of the goals and aspirations are for every member school of the A-10 Conference–and continue to move the conference forward. We have a great tradition, great history of great basketball in this league and hopefully we will continue to aspire to greatness.
CCT — Did former Commissioner Bruno leave you with any thoughts, suggestions, or words of wisdom?
Commissioner McGlade – To be honest with you I have not had the opportunity to meet with her yet. But certainly the goals for everyone are to continue to grow, including the men’s basketball tournament and certainly the women’s basketball tournament. We have the men’s tournament committed for Atlantic City this year… and then we’ll be making decisions for the future of the tournament. We will also continue to offer and sponsor great championships for all the student-athletes in this league. We have over 5,000 student-athletes between the 14 member institutions and hosting great championships and post-season opportunities is one of our largest missions as far as the league is concerned.
CCT – One of the most pressing questions for fans and alumni is, how do you plan to improve the overall visibility and exposure of the conference’s athletics? In particular, of course, basketball (but the other sports as well) on the local and national levels. For example, on the local level, certain fans in certain markets are unable to watch their team play on television, even for home games.
Commissioner McGlade – Well, I’ve already had a great meeting with our television partner, CBS College Sports, and I’ve had several meetings with various athletic directors. We’re just working very hard to continue to improve that CBS television package. As you know, and the general public knows, that’s a contract that runs for five years….we’re into our third year, with two additional years on the contract then the possiblity of single-year extensions. So I think that CBS taking over CSTV is a terrific opportunity. When you are looking at a large national conglomerate like CBS and what they do in the world of media, it can only be a positive statement for the A-10. So we’re going to continue working every day as we have been doing — and like they’ve been doing here before me — to get every possible benefit out of that current television contract. In addition to that we’re going to take a good look at what we can do in our local syndication package and the opportunity to increase and leverage additional exposures should that become possible in each one of our individual markets. Branding the A-10 and the schools participating in it is a valuable exercise for us to be able to just really keep our name out there, and the goal is, as you said, to bring A-10 basketball into the homes of all the fans in the markets that we all reside in.
CCT — We understand you played a large role with respect to the ACC’s positive TV relationship with Fox Sports. Are you going to use that as a template for the A-10 and its relationship with CBS, now that they’ve converted CSTV to CBS College Sports? It seems that CBS is a great partner to have and there should be a great deal of opportunity to increase local and national exposure. An example of that would be akin to ESPN’s Full Court package where a lot of BCS conference programs have games televised each weekend or whenever the games are played, especially during conference play. Similarly, the ACC has its partnership with Fox Sports.
Commissioner McGlade — I certainly have had the benefit of being able to obtain great associations with many folks in the TV business, and certainly with Fox Sports and other entities, be it ESPN or other local affiliates that are really all over the East Coast. And any time anyone comes into a new position, one of the greatest assets that I’ve found in this business is your relationship with people, and trying to re-establish them, or new relationships, for not only what we can do with basketball, but what we can we do with the other sports as well. Certainly, I’ll make every effort to capitalize on the experience that I have had the privilege to gain by being at the ACC for the last 11 years and then working on some of the other national committees. But I really want to be clear that it doesn’t happen with just any one person; I was able to sit and observe a long line of people and I just hope to bring that skill-set to the table as we move forward with A-10 initiatives.
CCT – As we know, over the last five to ten years, the Internet has become ubiquitous in nearly everybody’s everyday lives and certainly with respect to sports. What are the plans for using the Internet and technology in general to promote the A-10? For example, over the recent years, CBS has done a solid job with its Internet coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament. We’re wondering if there is anything in the works between the A-10 and CBS to maximize the use of this media?
Commissioner McGlade — It is a little premature for me to give you a great outline of what our plans are but we are like every other conference and every other member institution, college, university, and business out there. So the opportunities that the Internet brings to all of us, whether it is getting into our fan bases’ households, or increasing the awareness of the A-10 brand and our member institutions are great. The possibilities are truly unlimited. One thing I can tell you is that we intend to continue to capitalize and take advantage of every aspect of technology that’s out there and hopefully use it to our benefit and enhance the league.
CCT — Clearly, one way to increase national exposure is for more programs to schedule games with major BCS conference teams. Temple is playing Kansas this year, for example, and Xavier, Dayton and others have a good track record of playing strong out of conference schedules. What role are you able to play in this regard? In other words, are you able to push-the-envelope a little with respect to the schools that are doing well to line-up games against the powerhouses?
Commissioner McGlade – What we can do is help facilitate that possibility by being flexible in the way that we put our conference schedules together. As you know, sometimes dates and getting matching opportunities are really difficult to secure; so having flexibility from the conference office (because we do put together the conference schedules) is something that we certainly would do. It will be an individual school’s decision if they decide to embark upon those types of matchups, but I think everyone in this league is committed to stepping up and there has been a great initiative that’s been started (chaired by Judy Rose at Charlotte), which is a committee on athletic standards. It’s a group of athletic directors committed to unifying the league and being able to, as you say, put together these premier matchups that not only help the individual institutions, but they are also great for fan interest. They also help the overall conference RPI. At the end of the day when you play those types of games in the season it only better prepares you for the NCAA post-season, which is ultimately every teams’ goal; to get in the tournament and win a national championship.
CCT – While the A-10 is primarily known as a basketball conference, likely the only source of meaningful sports revenue for the schools; how does this reality interplay with Title IX and the importance for the A-10 to offer other athletic opportunities for the league’s non-basketball student-athletes?
Commissioner McGlade — I think that it puts the colleges in a really unique position because from a conference standpoint, the fact that we do not have a football championship–those numbers as you know are very difficult to match up when you start calculating opportunities for participation and championship opportunities. So the conference is really well-positioned as far as its balance of championships and the number of opportunities it offers for males and females because we do not have that one large sport that skews the percentages. So, in that respect, the A-10 is really in a great position as it relates to Title IX and can really give support and offer great opportunities for the women’s teams that are in our conference championships.
CCT — Are there any imminent plans for conference membership changes? Saint Louis is a team that comes to mind.
Commissioner McGlade – Well, I would only say to you that hopefully there are no changes in our membership makeup. Two big things when you come into a position in a conference office as a commissioner are that you want to preserve your conference membership and you want to protect your conference revenue distribution and championship opportunities. They are things that are always on my radar and I would hope that we do not have any movement in that regard. Saint Louis is a great university and a great member of this conference. Hopefully we are going to stay strong together as a league and get better as we move forward.
CCT — Thank you again for spending some time with us here at College Chalktalk and for sponsoring us as one of the A-10’s supporters.
Commissioner McGlade – You are more than welcome.
Topics: General |
July 20th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Is the SLU out of the A-10 train starting to pick up steam?
August 16th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Thanks for the interview. As a tip, you don’t have to give an example of what you are asking before each question. It’s annoying and limits the response.