PITTSBURGH – One of the many things sports and business have in common is the importance of timing. So given all the seismic changes that have taken place in college athletics the last few years, Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade has reason to believe that this is the perfect moment for her conference to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
 
“In today’s cluttered media environment, to have a big anniversary hook to latch onto is good timing for us,” McGlade said during the Atlantic 10’s basketball media day at PPG Paints Arena on Sept. 30. “With the new revenue sharing system and everything else that is happening, this gave us a chance to reset and show people what we’re all about.”
 
The great thing about an anniversary is it presents an opportunity to honor the past while pivoting towards the future. The A-10 likes what it sees in both directions. That was evident during media day, which included a special luncheon that recognized former commissioners, featured a panel discussion about the history of the league and a video recalling some of the more prominent moments of the last half-century, and concluded with a proper champagne toast.
 
Sitting at the collection of tables across the floor were dozens of student-athletes who represented the best and the brightest amongst the league’s 15 schools. Amongst all the chatter about how each team will perform this season was an undercurrent of belief that the A-10 is well-positioned to take advantage of the new revenue sharing system and governing structure around Name, Image and Likeness that were implemented over the summer in the wake of the settlement of the landmark House v. NCAA case.
 
For most of the last half-century, conferences with powerhouse football programs enjoyed a financial and competitive advantage. That will still be the case, but given that the revenue sharing will be capped at $20.5 million, there is an advantage to be had for basketball programs at universities that don’t have football. Yes, there might be less money coming in, but because the basketball programs are the top priority, they stand a chance to have as much if not more actual dollars at their disposal than their power conference brethren when it comes to compensating players.
 
“We’re a basketball-centric league. We’ve made no bones about that. We’ve always been that way,” McGlade said. “The fact that we don’t have to be providing NIL money to football student-athletes allows us an opportunity. We still don’t have budgets as large as they have because we don’t have the (College Football Playoff) revenue, but we can provide what would be considered fair market value to men’s and women’s basketball players that could help level out the playing field.”
 
Added Loyola Chicago coach Drew Valentine, “If you’re a program that is supported financially at a really high level and you don’t have football, you can be competitive. The current model is setting us up to be successful.”
 
When it comes to revenue sharing and NIL, much of the focus goes to the transfer portal and high school recruiting, but having proper resources is also invaluable when it comes to keeping players where they are. “Retention is everything,” St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said. “If you can retain your core, you have a better chance of winning that second year after they transfer in. By that time they’ve had another summer and have started to figure things out. Very few kids come in their first year really knocking it out of the ballpark.”
 
The 50^th anniversary celebration will be chronicled and powered by a dedicated website and will last throughout the school year. It includes an extensive social media strategy (get used to seeing the tagline #A10FIFTY on your feeds) and programming around live events. The league has invited volleyball alumni to attend the championships at VCU in November and will honor women’s basketball alumni at that championship in conjunction with International Women’s Day. The league recently sent more than 6,000 long-sleeved tee shirts to all of its student-athletes. “They loved them and put them all over social media,” McGlade said. “We can’t buy ad space in New York or St. Louis, but the kids are walking billboards.”
 
Selling tradition should be the easy part given that so many of the A-10’s programs are stitched into the history of the sport. The anniversary campaign will give the league a chance to educate the younger generation on noteworthy achievements like Dayton’s two NIT championships and runner-up finish in the 1967 NCAA Tournament under Don Donoher; St. Bonaventure’s run to the 1970 Final Four with Bob Lanier; Fordham’s history of winning big under coaches Bob Hill, Digger Phelps and Tom Penders; Richmond’s first-ever 15-over-2 upset against Syracuse in the 1988 tourney; Saint Joseph’s perfect 2003-04 season led by Jameer Nelson; and Davidson’s dash to the 2008 Elite Eight spearheaded by Stephen Curry. Loyola Chicago, which joined the A-10 in 2022, brought a pair of iconic moments as well: the 1963 NCAA championship earned by the first team to win a title using a majority-Black starting five, and the Cinderella run to the 2018 Final Four that was divinely inspired by the Ramblers’ nonagenarian chaplain, Sister Jean.
 
The approaching anniversary also inspired the league to move its 2026 men’s basketball tournament to PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. That marked a return to the league’s roots as the Steel City hosted five of the first six postseason championships. Pittsburgh was also the site of the 1976 meetings where the original Easter 8 Basketball League was conceived, as well as the place where the first league office was established in 1978.
 
“We liked the synergy of bringing (the tournament) back to Pittsburgh,” McGlade said. “It’s a great venue. They don’t have a home basketball tenant. They like to host NCAA events. You saw what they rolled out for the media day luncheon and all the extra stuff they did. I think they’re really excited.”
 
Like every other conference in America, the Atlantic 10 has had to navigate the choppy waters of realignment over the last two decades. The league recently dropped to 14 members this July when UMass left for the MAC. McGlade said she is open to the idea of adding more schools, but only if they add value by making a financial commitment to athletics while upholding the league’s tradition of academic excellence.
 
Part of maintaining that value to its members has been wide-ranging TV agreements that encompass not just one network, but three partners that offer television coverage of A-10 basketball (men’s AND women’s) to a national audience. Longtime sports TV juggernauts ESPN and CBS have provided the A-10 a platform to showcase its basketball product for nearly three decades. USA Network began carrying the league’s games in the last two years, and will continue another long-standing A-10 partnership that began with a prolific partnership with NBC Sports about 15 years ago.
 
In the meantime, the A-10 is preparing for its 50th basketball season with renewed optimism not only for the next few months, but also the years ahead. “We are always paying attention to what’s happening around the country, but our footprint is good now,” McGlade said. “Our members are strong. We have great commitment right now in terms of NIL and rev share, and I’m anxious to see how we compete on the floor this year.”