The ACC and Big Ten were rejected. The Big East is going nowhere despite overtures from those power conferences.
It has reached a contract extension to continue to play its postseason tournament at the Garden for at least the next decade, as first reported by The Post Sunday morning. The extension is for two years, going through 2028, though there was an opt-out for both sides after 2022. According to a source, the Big East will pay significantly more in the new contract.
“We have renewed our vows,” Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said during a press conference during Sunday’s Holiday Festival at the Garden. “For the Big East, this building is home. It’s in our DNA. It’s who we are.”
The ACC and the Big Ten had been in contact with the Garden to potentially play their conference tournaments there, according to sources, putting pressure on the Big East to act. But now, they’ll either have to play them a week early, like the Big Ten did last year, or go somewhere else. The ACC has played its tournament at Barclays Center each of the last two years and is scheduled to return to Brooklyn in 2022.
“The Garden and the Big East are synonymous with each other. The Big is a part of the fabric of Madison Square Garden and Madison Square Garden is a part of the fabric of the Big East,” said Joel Fisher, the executive vice president of MSG Marquee Events. “The Big East is a pillar on our calendar. People plan their social calendars around coming to the Big East Tournament.”
During the press conference, Ackerman presented Fisher with a commemorative basketball autographed by the league’s coaches, presidents and athletic directors. St. John’s coach Chris Mullin also was part of the press conference, just an hour before the Red Storm faced Princeton.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Mullin said. “It is our home. It’s wonderful for the conference.”
Unlike the Big East, which has played its tournament at MSG every year since 1983, the Big Ten and ACC rotate their sites. That rotation won’t include the Garden for the next decade at least unless either conference plans to move theirs up.
“There was a lot of talk around the other conferences, and we were honored that they were interested,” Fisher said. “All of these conferences needed to know for the future, so the timing made sense for us to lock it down.
“It’s nice to be wanted, but the Big East and us feel loyalty means a lot.”
