Is more college football realignment on the way? Amid congressional sports bill drama, Miami's president says 'You cannot lock us into a conference'
MIAMI — Inside the University of Miami's presidential conference room, on giant television monitors against the far wall, CNBC's afternoon program projects a dismal day.
The latest stock market numbers crawl across the bottom of the screen — a reminder to Joe Echevarria, the school's president, of his past life as a business executive for the world's largest professional services and accounting firm, Deloitte.
"You see that ticker thing?" he points toward the screen. "We used to get pounded by shareholders. Every. Single. Day. Now, we lose a football game and it's bad. But that world prepared me for this one."
In a dark, slimly fitted suit, peering through black spectacles and moving with the suave befitting of the U itself, Echevarria (pronounced ehchuh-vah-reeuh) makes no apologies for his present position: The University of Miami refuses to accept the current status quo as a member of the second class in the growing caste system within college athletics.
And if anyone questions him, Echevarria has a simple retort: It's just business.
"We are proud members of the ACC. If the economics were even, we wouldn't be having any of these conversations," he told Yahoo Sports in an interview this week. "Thing is, we sit in the second tier. It's a reason we don't get a vote on the 24-team playoff and the Big Ten and SEC do."
A calculated businessman, Echevarria presides over one of the country's most attractive private universities (18% acceptance rate), with a burgeoning healthcare system that he resurrected years ago ($5.2 billion in revenue), a research department that carries the highest designation available (R1), and a member in one of the most exclusive clubs in higher education, the Association of American Universities (AAU).
Oh, and a football program — the essential brand of the university — that has roared back to life under coach Mario Cristobal and, coincidentally, on this particular week, is
The buzz across campus over the top billing — a fleeting and inconsequential numerical figure, Echevarria acknowledges — is emblematic of the football program's brand. He describes it as "outsized."
"I recently hired a world-class scientist, a luminary and no one is asking me anything. He's No. 1 in the world! Zero talk!" the president says, bellowing with laughter. "We get to No. 1 for one week and we're back and the greatest!"
Echevarria taps the pin affixed to his suit jacket's lapel: Miami's iconic, two-toned 'U' logo that, while representative of this place as a whole, is most recognizable because of the football program’s famed helmets.
This, he says, is why Miami is now positioning itself for a move into college athletics's top financial and social stratosphere, the SEC and Big Ten; why the school (and several others in the ACC) has been forced to explore aspects of football independence; and why the university, despite rebuke from congressional lawmakers and those connected to the White House, is fighting against a federal bill that stands to prevent further realignment in the industry.
"You cannot lock us into a conference," he says, flatly.
"The fact is that we won about every game you could win last year and maxed out in revenue in our current [ACC] sharing model. And we made the same amount of money as other institutions [in the Big Ten and SEC] whose football programs operate at different levels of investment and performance."
If projections are accurate, Echevarria says, the Big Ten and SEC, already distributing an average of $25 million more to each of their schools than the ACC, will almost double their edge when they renegotiate their television contracts in 2030 — the year that the SEC may execute a look-in clause with ESPN and when the Big Ten's current media rights deal expires.
The ACC's binding television contract with ESPN doesn't end until 2036, and though the league pushed through an uneven revenue distribution model, the financial inequities with the power two leagues is fixed — still very much a frustrating point for administrators like Echevarria.
The financial gap has materialized into on-field, on-court success as well as viewership ratings and, perhaps most concerning for him, governing authority.
Over the last two academic years — since the two behemoths expanded to further consolidate college football's biggest brands — the SEC and Big Ten have been responsible for 63% of College Football Playoff participants, 66% of Sweet 16 teams and at least 85% of the top-10 most-watched regular season college football games. Two-and-a-half years ago, as the two conferences threatened to start their own football postseason, the other leagues granted them authority on future format — something that, this very week, they used to expand to a 24-team field starting next year, agreeing to a new contract of more than $1.6 billion annually with ESPN instead of testing the open market.
"There's a reason certain conferences and programs have a greater influence in shaping the future of college football," Echevarria says. "Their collective competitive success and viewership give them leverage. There's no secret to this. It's just business."
Miami, as well as other ACC programs, have accelerated their exploration into future conference membership. But the reasons go beyond the financial, athletic, viewership and governance differences mentioned above.
How independence, Amazon could factor in
A bill working its way through Congress, the Protect College Sports Act, features a provision that caps power league membership at 20 schools and requires a university moving within power conferences to operate as an independent for three years before joining a new league. The concept has divided the ACC, with 13 members fully behind the legislation and four against it.
It's made for some awkwardness. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and the league office is in an "impossible position," quipped one person familiar with the matter. "He's trying to make the best of it."
Presidents at Miami, Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina signed a letter encouraging leaders in the House of Representatives to increase the power conference cap to 22 teams and to eliminate the independent probationary period. It would pave an easier path for the aspiring schools to join the Big Ten, currently at 18 members, or the SEC, currently at 16.
The provision is an "unfair advantage" that "no modern enterprise" would dare accept, Echevarria says. "It's illogical."
Others see it differently. The provision, Section 205 of the bill, is intended to prevent the SEC and Big Ten from "joining forces to create a super league," bill author Sen. Ted Cruz says.
But in a recent interview with Tomahawk Nation, Florida State board chairman Peter Collins, leading the Seminoles' efforts against this provision in the bill, says the concept "effectively eliminates our [expansion] options that we just fought for" with the ACC. The settlement of a lawsuit filed by FSU and Clemson against the ACC resulted in more palatable exit fees for those wanting to leave the conference.
By 2030 — there's that year again — the fees drop below $100 million per school.
Section 205 has expedited realignment conversations among the schools, many of whom — including Miami — have been exploring life as football independents with possible media entities such as Amazon, those with knowledge of the talks tell Yahoo Sports.
While Echevarria did not disclose details or even acknowledge those conversations, he said that the bill passing Congress would "force us to do it."
"If we have to go independent, I like our chances because we are a national brand," he says. "I wouldn't like to do that because scheduling [other sports] is really tough. It's great for football but what about track, volleyball and the golf team?"
He "hopes that reasonable minds prevail" and House members amend language in the provision. The House is scheduled to return to session in mid-November, where lawmakers are expected to examine the bill, which passed the U.S. Senate last month with a sweeping majority of 77 votes. Any amended bill must be re-adopted by the Senate, a potentially lengthy process that may serve as a death knell for the legislation.
Will Miami end up in the Big Ten? SEC?
In the meantime, Echevarria and the Hurricanes are preparing for what may be next.
"As an AAU research institution, we line up with the Big Ten's profile," he says, in a jarring comment from a prominent executive about potential membership in another conference. "We have an exceptionally strong profile that compares favorably with leading research institutions across the country. On the geography idea, we line up better with the SEC."
While leaders at the SEC and Big Ten have shown little to no signs publicly that they are willing or plan to expand in the immediate future, expansion moves traditionally unfold under the cloak of darkness.
However, the Big Ten already finds itself stretched east to west across three timezones. Is it worth a dip into the south to further exacerbate travel expenses? It is true that the conference and its television partner, Fox, have shown more aggression in expansion, and the league may benefit from adding bigger brands, such as Miami, to increase the value of its regular season schedule?
In the SEC, expansion conversations among executives — not at all formal — have often centered around other schools outside of the state of Florida. North Carolina and Virginia provide the league with a presence in two new states, high achieving academic brands and strong basketball programs.
Within the league, Florida and South Carolina stand as threats to any addition of other in-state programs such as FSU, Miami or Clemson. A similar situation unfolded years ago with Texas A&M. The Aggies privately objected to the SEC's pursuit of Texas.
One thing, though, is quite clear: Miami is investing millions in its football program and has a roster that many believe exceeds $40 million, topping not only schools in the ACC but many of those in the SEC and Big Ten.
While also managing the academic and research components of the university, Echevarria sits as the top decision-maker on many football-related financial decisions, including the millions approved from donor and sponsor assets to the football program. Echevarria and his executive vice president, Rudy Fernandez, hold daily conversations with athletics personnel about operations and roster spend.
As a Miami graduate, Echevarria saw the rise of Hurricanes football, from after-thought in the 1970s to five national championships in an 18-season span starting in 1983.
"He is very involved," says one person of the president, "like an NFL franchise owner."
And why shouldn't he be? The program costs hundreds of millions of dollars to fund and its success shapes the national narrative of his university. It's why Echevarria isn't afraid to say the quiet part aloud. When Miami joined the ACC in 2004, the landscape was drastically different.
"The next time all these contracts come up, we'll have to revisit that decision," he says. "Does it still make sense or not?"
Echevarria says it's "evident" by the split within the ACC room over the congressional bill — 13 vs. 4 — that not all universities hold intentions of investing to compete with the football powers in the SEC and Big Ten. And that's fine. Those schools have "their own objectives," he said. Those choosing to invest and compete at a high level in football will "search for a place to do that."
Considering the continued growth in the financial gaps between the SEC/Big Ten and everybody else, can Miami afford to wait until the expiration of the ACC's contract a decade from now to make its big move?
Echevarria crosses his legs, leans back in his chair and his eyes dart toward the CNBC stock market ticker running across the screens before him.
Does that make business sense?
"If you're not going to be great at something," he says, "you shouldn't be in it."
