Pitt's 29-year stay in the Big East is coming to an end, as the University will join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The ACC will also add Syracuse, one of the founding institutions of the Big East. Pitt and Syracuse will reunite with Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College, who left the Big East in 2003 for the ACC.

"This is a great day for the University of Pittsburgh," Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said on a conference call Sunday morning. "We were flattered by the ACC's interest in us, we're grateful to receive the invitation to join this very special conference, and feel privileged to be moving forward in [the league's] company."

Click Here to view this Link.ACC commissioner John Swofford said that the ACC began addressing the topic of expansion on Tuesday and continued conversations throughout the week. Pitt and Syracuse applied for membership late in the week and received acceptance via a unanimous vote of the league's Council of Presidents.

"Our culture has long enjoyed a rich tradition of balancing academics and athletics, and the addition of Pitt and Syracuse strengthens our league," Swofford said on the teleconference. "Both universities will enhance the ACC's reach into the states of New York and Pennsylvania and geographically bridge our footprint between Maryland and Massachusetts.

"With the addition of these two schools, the ACC will cover virtually the entire eastern seaboard of the United States."

The ACC is currently split into two divisions. Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Maryland, North Carolina State, and Wake Forest make up the Atlantic Division; the Coastal Division consists of Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Miami, Virginia, North Carolina, and Duke. Swofford said that no decisions have been made on how Pitt and Syracuse will fit into the divisions.

Regardless of the division distinctions, Pitt maintains an eastern presence in its conference, and Nordenberg said that was a key component in making the ACC appealing.

"The geography of the ACC is very important to us. Although we recruit students from all corners of the globe and have graduates living around the world, our principle focus always has been on the eastern seaboard. To be regularly competing up and down the Atlantic coast from Boston to Miami also is a very big plus for Pitt as a university."

Pitt joined the Big East in 1982, three years after the conference's inception as a basketball-focused league. In 1991, the Big East began playing football as a conference, but the league has lacked stability as a football conference since the departures of Miami and in 2003 Virginia Tech and Boston College in 2004.

Following those departures, the Big East adjusted its policy to charge a $5 million exit fee and demand a 27-month notice for schools that wish to leave the conference. Swofford said that the ACC would "fully respect the bylaws of the Big East Conference in teams of Syracuse and Pitt's departure from the Big East," but Nordenberg insinuated that the 27-month period could be shortened.

"I would think in the weeks ahead everyone will be looking at the transition period and trying to determine whether the 27-month notice period really serves everyone's best interests," Nordenberg said.

Nordenberg did add that the ACC made it clear the conference would be comfortable with the 27-month period "if that is the way that things unfold."

When Boston College, Miami, and Virginia Tech left the Big East, Pitt and Syracuse was among the schools that led the charge in holding the conference together. But in recent months, Pitt leadership appeared to lose faith in the league's leadership.

Last July, the ACC signed a contract with ESPN for exclusive broadcast rights. The deal has been reported as being worth $1.86 billion over 12 years, but Swofford said that the contract does allow for re-opening negotiations in the event of expansion.