Swofford holds semi-annual Commissioner's Forum

ACC commissioner John Swofford touched on several subjects, including NCAA sanctions, at Tuesday's Operation Basketball media event

CHARLOTTE -- As is his tradition twice each year, ACC commissioner John Swofford held a question and answer session with the media on Tuesday as part of the league's Operation Basketball event in Charlotte.

In addition to extolling the virtues of his conference and addressing the impact of California's "Fair Pay to Play Act,” which would give athletes at private and public California college the right to profit from their name, image and likeness, Swofford touched on several other topics.

Among them was the recent proliferation of ACC basketball programs being hit with NCAA sanctions. Georgia Tech became the third in the last six years to receive at least a one-year postseason ban while NC State currently has a Notice of Allegations on its table.

Here is what Swofford had to say about the situation and what, if anything, the ACC can do to stem the tide ...

"It's an institutional issue in each instance, obviously, first and foremost. But, yes, I'm concerned about it, always have been concerned about it anytime we have one of those situations within our league.

Our history in the ACC has been one that I and many others have been very proud of. And the fact that we've really been on the low end of that; we've had it. We've had them. But we've been on the low end of it. And we're not at the top end of it now but we're not at the lowest.And we talked about this last week, collectively in our meetings in Blacksburg, and it's not unusual for us to talk about that.

But I think you want to eliminate those. Zero is the right number of those. We're a larger league now and the larger you are, the more of everything that happens. But it's something that I think you have to keep at the forefront of the discussion collectively and be in a position that if our institutions have something that they feel collectively we can do as a league that minimizes the potential for NCAA violations at any of our schools, we need to do it.But the first thing is awareness and keeping it constantly in front of the entire conference membership, because it's a part of our culture.

With the ACC opting to begin its basketball season with a slate of conference games, Swofford was asked if he thought the move would become permanent or if this year's schedule is a one-time experiment to highlight the launch of the new ACC Network ...

 "We don't know yet. We're going to go through it this year and talk about it and then make some decisions going forward. But I'm excited about it. I think that it will grab basketball fans of the ACC and of the nation right out of the chute so to speak."

"I've said that I think that basketball needed some kind of -- something nationally to tip off the year. Football pretty much has that. I think with the huge success of the College Football Playoff, I think that's had an impact on the basketball regular season. So I think it's more and more important to start the basketball season in a way that it deserves and that really grabs fans' attention."

"So we're really excited about tipping off the year in that way with conference games. And obviously it's outstanding in terms of the ACC Network. That was the stimulant but that may also become the norm. We'll experience it and then talk about it and then move forward from there."

"But I think it's terrific, particularly in the first year of the network. And it was something we could do as a conference that where we didn't have to have national buy-in on anything. So it was much easier to address it as a conference."

Finally, Swofford was asked about the importance of the ACC tournament returning to Greensboro for the first time since 2015 and if the venue will remain in the league's rotation moving forward ...

"I'm glad it is there this year because we've had so much history in Greensboro. It's been in Greensboro more than any other venue. We were here in Charlotte last year and had just a fabulous experience in every respect."

"We've been in a rotation. We went to Brooklyn for two years. Felt like we really needed to do that and the experience there was outstanding. And that was coming off going to Washington."

"We're fortunate because of what this league has been over the years and its tradition and history and the great coaches and great players that our tournament is successful wherever it goes. It's just a question of how successful. Is it different in one location than another? Yes. But I think that's probably good. But it is good to be coming back to Greensboro. And that's a different experience in Greensboro, obviously, than Brooklyn or DC or even Charlotte. But it's a very good experience."

"We'll see what the future holds. But I think the rotation or something similar to what we're doing now is probably what you will see in the future."