An interesting sidenote to emerge from today's news that the Pittsburgh Panthers and Syracuse Orange would be joining the Coastal and Atlantic Divisions of the ACC, respectively. According to ACC Commissioner John Swofford, neither school actually had a vote in the changes.
Via The Daily Press' David Teel:
While the primary issue of when Syracuse and Pitt will arrive is unresolved, Swofford said "the good thing (is) we’ve been able to address the competition questions."
Officials frpm Syracuse and Pitt "were full participants (in the discussions)," Swofford said, "short of having a formal vote. They were fully agreeable and supportive of the end points."
It all worked out for the schools so there's nothing to complain about. However it reveals just how precarious a situation both schools find themselves in during the interim. The Big East has shunned both programs from votes and discussions that affect that conference and the ACC has yet to allow them to vote on conference matters there. The two schools are basically at the mercy of both conferences until they've officially left one for the other, and neither has too much incentive to favor the schools until then.
Nothing too drastic is likely to come of it, unless you assume that both schools will get screwed on the travel schedules while still in the Big East, but it's worth noting.