Prior to Wednesday’s game with Kent State, I sat down with new Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade in Lorenzini’s in Chaifetz and talked about the state of the A-10. Here’s an edited transcript of our talk. (Most of the editing is to make my questions sound better.) I’m appreciative to her for interrupting her dinner to talk to me. I hope the toasted ravioli and asparagus didn’t get too cold. (At least that’s what I think she was eating; I should have taken better notes on that.)

How do like the building?

It’s beautiful. It’s state of the art, a wonderful facility to have on campus, something that will pay huge dividends for the university and the athletic program for a long time to come. I’m very impressed.

The TV contract is obviously a subject of concern, especially in St. Louis, where the number of games on local television has been cut back sharply. Is there any chance for a change under the existing contract or will it be like this until there’s a new contract in place?

We were able to get a few things done this year. We were able to access some additional local games for our institutions that were able to put some games on locally once we finished the contracted number of games. The goal will obviously be to work with our television partners to be able to increase the number of exposures we’re getting and still stay within the parameters of the contract. The exposure and the distribution right now is the No. 1 priority for me as we go forward. We’re in the middle of the contract so we have to try to do it in a positive way with our partners. CBS College Sports has been very interested in trying to work with us positively as well.

SLU has about half as many games on local television as it has in the past. Is there any reason to think that’s going to change?

I think as CBS College Sports gets increased launches as far as their entity is concerned, then you’re going to get more distribution, but in terms of the number of games they are required to distribute and produce in our contract, that number is a steady number for the next two more years of the contract. So what we’re trying to do is see if we can’t free up games that are outside of the contract.

Does the contract work for the rest of the league?

St. Louis is not a different situation. It’s a contract that has a rights fee paid through the conference and that rights fee is distributed back to all the campuses. There’s a financial upside to the conference in a very positive way. At the same time, the hopes when the contract was originally signed with CSTV was with the anticipation that the cable entity would have a further, wider distribution than what has actually materialized. That’s why you see CBS working very hard to try to enhance and increase that distribution model.

I’m no expert, but it seems like CBS College Sports isn’t going to be a basic cable channel anytime soon.

That’s the goal, and that’s what they’re working hard for and that was the hope when the league office entered into this contract.

What other challenges do you see facing the league?

The challenges have all been very positive, the normal challenges of stepping into a new position, in a new city with a new group of schools and administrators. It’s been a transition. I’ve had an opportunity to start building a staff and realign the job responsibilities in the conference office to some degree. We’ve put RFBs (Requests for Bids) out, to see where the future of our men’s basketball tournament will be. We’re in Atlantic City for 2009 but beyond that we’re still making decisions about where the conference will award the tournament. We’re starting to look at a strategic plan that would take into account all the aspects of what’s important to the different 14 schools and build the affinity of the brand of the A-10 which would be an asset to everyone of the institutions and to the coaches who are recruiting student-athletes across the country.

Is going to an on-campus site for the conference tournament an option?

It’s not prohibited. Right now the RFB is out and if there are campus facilities that could bid on it, they could bid on it. Once a conference tournament moves to a neutral site, it’s sometimes hard to go back. But there’s nothing in the current RFB that prevents that from happening or being considered.

Is the league going to do anything to increase the strength of A-10 soccer? There are some schools in the league that offer very few scholarships, in some cases two or three, which lowers the level of the league’s overall level of play.

Any decision like that would come directly from the athletic directors’ group and the presidents council. As you know, the commissioner’s office doesn’t mandate decisions back down in terms of what an institutional decision would be in terms of how much they will fund their program or increase it, but collectively, those are conversations the athletic directors routinely have in terms of the standards and type of championships and support for the programs within the conference. Certainly if everyone collectively commits to a certain level of funding, that can only benefit the conference in the long run.

As a commissioner, is that something you would advocate?

It’s a pretty standard model for conferences to have a set philosophy that every institution would sponsor X number of sports at a certain level and beyond that have to meet certain levels of funding. A lot of that dovetails with the NCAA minimum and maximum requirements.

Basketball season is just a week old, but there is a lot of concern about the level of officiating in the league, that it’s not as good as it is in other leagues. This is the start of your first basketball season, but have you heard that and is that a concern?

With the season just starting I haven’t had a chance to look at our officiating program. I’ll have a chance to look at a lot of things this year and evaluate a lot of things this year. Having come from the world of basketball myself, I feel like I have a pretty good feel and perspective on the different programs throughout the country. We’ll take a look at the season and go from there, but with the season a week old, to see who’s actually on the court calling our games, we’ll see that as we get into the year.

Is there the possibility of arranging the basketball schedule with travel partners to minimize the number of road trips?

I can tell you during my hiring process, the athletic directors as well as the presidents have been tremendously supportive on confirming that the slate is open, giving me the opportunity to take a look at all the policies that are in place and sit down and in consultation with them decide if we need to readdress the scheduling model that we would take a look at that. And the same thing for our other championship sport and their regular season scheduling models.

With that open slate, are there things you want to address and that you will be championing?

I think there’s no question in the visits I’m in the middle of, visiting with the athletic directors and the senior administrative staff and the basketball coaches and presidents and certainly we will embark on a well thought out strategic plan and that will give us a road map for a lot of decisions going forward. The A-10 is a great league, it has great schools and I think with solid roadmapping the future is bright.