Atlantic Coast Conference presidents held a 3½-hour conference call Tuesday night but did not immediately announce a decision on an expansion plan.

It was the fifth time in two weeks that the presidents met via phone as they tried to finalize possible expansion that could include any of four Big East schools -- Miami, Virginia Tech, Syracuse and Boston College. Such an expansion could lead to a lucrative conference football title game on television.

However, the ACC has been unable to come up with the necessary seven votes needed to move forward with expansion. ACC schools Duke, North Carolina and Virginia are opposed to inviting BC, Miami and Syracuse. A lawsuit was filed June 6 by five Big East schools -- Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and West Virginia -- trying to stop BC, Miami and Syracuse from leaving. A Connecticut judge is scheduled to hear preliminary arguments Thursday in the suit.

In Tallahassee, Florida's attorney general said he's prepared to intervene on behalf of the University of Miami in a lawsuit aimed at blocking the school and two other Big East members from transferring to the ACC. Attorney General Charlie Crist said Miami has the right to choose which conference it wants to play in and that he was prepared to oppose a lawsuit filed earlier this month by representatives of the Big East Conference, including the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia.

The Choices

Three different expansion models -- two with Virginia Tech and one with just Miami -- that are being mulled over by the ACC presidents: Model 1: A 10-team ACC by adding Miami from the Big East; Model 2: A 13-team conference by adding Big East schools Miami, Boston College, Syracuse and Virginia Tech; Model 3: A 12-team conference that included Miami, Virginia Tech and either Boston College or Syracuse. -- ESPN.com's Andy Katz

The suit claims the movement of Miami and possibly Boston College and Syracuse to the ACC would effectively bankrupt the Big East. A Connecticut judge will hear preliminary arguments Thursday.

"This is a fundamental dispute among athletic conferences and universities," said Crist, who was asked by Miami to intercede. "Universities have the right to join any conference that invites them. The law does not compel Miami, or any institution, to rebuff a legitimate overture, as long as existing contractual obligations are satisfied."

He said he will most likely ask that the suit be dismissed.

Before the fifth conference call in recent weeks began, a New York Times report indicated there was growing belief that a vote on the possible expansion of the ACC would take place.

Big East Conference founder Dave Gavitt threw his support behind a compromise plan to have only Miami join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Gavitt's proposal follows similar suggestions by North Carolina chancellor James Moeser and Rutgers athletic director Robert Mulcahy as administrators struggle to resolve the Big East-ACC expansion dispute.

"The ACC should agree to expand only by accepting Miami and otherwise leaving the Big East intact,'' Gavitt said Tuesday in a statement obtained by The Associated Press.

"The Big East and the ACC should agree to collaborate on ideas to strengthen both conferences, including the idea of an inter-conference championship games and other forms of confederation.''

But Miami has to decide, if invited, whether it wants to join the ACC without Boston College or Syracuse where the Hurricanes have a Northeast alumni base.

There is some indication that that is unlikely.

A source close to Miami told ESPN.com that the Hurricanes are not convinced that they would go into a 10-team ACC and that they would have to discuss the pros and cons of doing so before accepting an invitation.

There are those on campus who believe that if the ACC isn't going to take BC and Syracuse, then the 'Canes aren't ready to go by themselves, the source said.

Miami is in favor of a 13-team ACC, and one of the only reasons it might accept a 10-team ACC, according to the source, is because the school already is "so far out on the limb in this process" that it would be hard to go back.

For more than a month, the nine-team ACC has been talking about expanding by inviting three, or possibly four, Big East teams -- Boston College, Miami, Syracuse and perhaps Virginia Tech. Such an expansion could lead to a lucrative conference football title game.

However, the ACC has been unable to come up with the necessary seven votes needed to move forward with expansion. ACC schools Duke, North Carolina and Virginia were currently against inviting BC, Miami and Syracuse.

"I think geographic location should play into it and respect for your brethren in college athletics," Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said during The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio. "I think Miami makes sense. I'm not sure if the other schools do."

A lawsuit was filed June 6 by five Big East schools -- Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and West Virginia -- trying to stop BC, Miami and Syracuse from leaving. A Connecticut judge is scheduled to hear preliminary arguments Thursday in the suit.

Gavitt said it's time for the leagues to "put an end to public acrimony and to join together to restore the collegial and cooperative relationship that has existed between them for decades.''

Gavitt cited former ACC commissioners Bob James and Gene Corrigan for their "advice and counsel'' as the Big East was formed and also noted that the ACC and Big East were "at the core of the formation of what now as become the Bowl Championship Series.''

Gavitt warned that college sports is at risk unless a satisfactory resolution can be found.

"Far more is at stake than the particular composition of any one conference,'' Gavitt said. "If intercollegiate athletics are to remain an important part of American higher education, we must never lose sight of the greater public interest we are obligated to serve.''

On Monday, Mulcahy said "We'd love to have Miami come back. If they have to go, stop it at that and let our conference survive.

"It's time that this whole thing came to an end. Reasonable people should be able to sit down and come to a compromise without destroying a league.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.