Say goodbye to tradition: Philadelphia’s Big 5 gets facelift

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Big 5 is no more.

Well, at least not the incarnation most fans of the famed Phillybasketball series remember from its heyday, when the Palestra waspacked, fans hurled colorful crepe streamers on the court after thefirst basket and student signs known as rollouts poked fun at theother schools.

And when the Palestra, the basketball cathedral on Penn’scampus, was sold out, someone would always say, “corners,” meaningeven the cheap, angled seats in the corners were filled. As collegehoops evolved, the Big 5 was dying on the vine in Philly, so afteryears of traditionalists squawking — and attendance and interestwaned and teams outside of the Main Line saw their programs sink —the time was ripe for a change.

Oh, it’s still the Big 5 by name. The brand still meanssomething in college basketball.

Only Penn, La Salle, Temple, Saint Joseph’s and Villanova willbe joined by Philly’s sixth Division I program, Drexel. Gone isround-robin play. Schools instead will be split into three-teampods with games played at on-campus arenas, with the teams thenseeded for a Dec. 2 tripleheader at the Wells Fargo Center thatwill crown the Big 5 champion.

“We all have to promote Philadelphia basketball more than wedo,” La Salle coach Fran Dunphy said Tuesday at the arena.

The Big 5 — the name was coined by Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter Herb Good — was officially formed in 1954, and the schoolsstarted round-robin play for “City Series” bragging rights in 1955.The first game was 68 years ago when Saint Joseph’s beat Villanova83-70 on Dec. 14, 1955, in front of 2,636 fans at the Palestra.

Nationally televised conference games, destination-site Novembertournaments, March Madness and a brief abolition of round-robinplay in the 1990s chipped away at the Big 5’s nationalimportance.

On a local level, the schools did little to keep the rivalriesalive. Students lost interest and fewer star players on each teamwere from the Philadelphia area. For all its charm and history, thePalestra isn’t equipped with modern amenities such as suites,convenient parking, a variety of concessions and otherrevenue-generating staples found at a modern arena such as theWells Fargo Center, home to the 76ers and Flyers.

Villanova’s rise as a national power under Hall of Fame coachJay Wright — who championed the changes to the Big 5 — came at theexpense of its city rivals. The Wildcats won a series-record 25straight games from 2012 to 2018, and most of them weren’tclose.

The other programs slumped and when Villanova did this year,too, under first-year coach Kyle Neptune, Philadelphia failed toplace a team in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since1977.

The Big 5 tried to reignite interest in November with adoubleheader at the 8,700-seat Palestra and it was a disaster. Thegames were played with almost no student sections and only about3,000 fans total. While not necessarily the catalyst for change,schools knew at that point there was little risk in throwing outthe staid format and starting fresh.

Without a gamble that the revitalization attempts will work, theBig 5 was at risk of fading away.

“We were kind of at an inflection point with Big 5 basketball,with the national landscape of NCAA sports, what can we do toperhaps infuse some energy, some life and protect our brand ofbasketball,” Drexel athletic director Maisha Kelly said.

And no, Kelly said, Drexel didn’t want a series name change likesome had suggested to the City Six.

“That’s the brand. It’s Philadelphia. It’s the Big 5,” she said.“It’s part of our story and history. So 100 years from now, whenpeople say, why is it Big 5 when there are six institutions, we getto tell the first 68 years of the story of what it was and in 2023it was Drexel arriving.”

In the new format, Temple, La Salle and Drexel are in one pod;Villanova, Saint Joseph’s and Penn are the second pod. Those gameswill be played in November.

There are still some kinks to work out, such as which teams gethome games, and how a tiebreaker would be settled. The women willjoin the field — though those games will not be played at the WellsFargo Center — in 2023-24. TV rights are still to be decided. Andthe tripleheader is not expected to be included in a team’sseason-ticket package.