Word on the street today is that the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has officially announced it will be adding current Big East members Syracuse and Pittsburgh, bringing the conference’s membership to 14 schools. Is this decision a smart one for the schools? Yes. Is it a wise one for the ACC? Most definitely.

But as always, there’s a glaring loser in the higher education game of musical chairs: the fans.

Let me say this first: if this decision was motivated by football, as it almost certainly was, there was no reason for Pitt and Syracuse to not make the jump. Following the 2005 addition of Boston College, the ACC reached 12 teams, the NCAA-mandated minimum for staging a conference football championship game. The Big East has never staged a football championship game, as it has never had more than eight football members at one time since it began sponsoring the sport in 1991. ACC football schools have won a combined 25 football national championships, compared to 13 for the Big East—all but two of which were won by Pittsburgh. Thanks to a $20 million exit fee, the ACC is virtually assured of future stability, while the Big East (and its $5 million exit fee) always seems to find itself at the center of realignment rumors.

But who has made college football such a lucrative operation? The fans. And it’s those same fans that suffer as a result of the latest conference shuffling.

I grew up in ACC territory, but everyone who reads this column knows I’ve been a UConn fan my entire life. While the football Huskies are certainly no slouches—especially for a program that was not elevated to Division I-A until 2004—the UConn sports scene has long been dominated by basketball. It was basketball that led to the founding of the Big East in 1979—only two of the seven charter members (Boston College and Syracuse) sponsored I-A football at the time—and the league’s first addition, in 1980, was Villanova, a national basketball power that fielded a I-AA football program.

Miami and Virginia Tech are known first and foremost for their success on the gridiron, and Big East basketball did not suffer greatly with their 2004 exit. The loss of Boston College in 2005 was partially offset by the additions of longtime powers Cincinnati, Louisville and Marquette. But losing Syracuse and Pitt is a different matter.

Pittsburgh and UConn tied for the best record in the Big East from 2001-09, with each school going 96-36 in that time. The only other school to win more than 80 games in that span? Syracuse, naturally (81-51). The Huskies and Panthers met in the Big East title game three straight years from 2002-04, with UConn taking home the crown in 2002 and 2004 and Pitt doing the honors in between. And need I remind everyone of the six-overtime UConn-Syracuse thriller in the 2009 Big East tournament?

In winning last year’s Big East championship, UConn had to go through Georgetown, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse. With all due respect, a five-point overtime win over Texas Christian in the semifinals just wouldn’t feel the same.

But this isn’t just about UConn. What about the Backyard Brawl, as the annual Pitt-West Virginia football meeting is known? The teams have been playing since 1895, and this year’s meeting will be the 104th in series history. But what happens when Pitt defects to the ACC? Instead of their century-long rivals, the Panthers could be facing the prospect of ending the season at, say, North Carolina State. Now there’s a tradition-rich meeting!

I want to see Jim Boeheim and John Thompson matching wits at the Carrier Dome. I want to see DeJuan Blair flipping Hasheem Thabeet over his shoulder as they battle for a rebound. But sadly, those days are now numbered.

Obviously, Pittsburgh and Syracuse need to do what’s in their best interests, and in this case, that happens to be joining the ACC.

But it’s a sad testament to the current state of college athletics when the best interests of the schools and the fans are completely at odds.