I almost don’t want to bring this up, but it is the off-season and it is an inevitable topic…..
I have really cooled on wanting to leave the ACC. With the addition of Louisville, who is making strong statements in both football and basketball, I think Maryland leaving is helping the brand. We definitely traded “up” as far as sports are concerned.
Another interesting aspect of the ACC is a potential ACC Newtork is being discussed:
We have a 5 year look-in and that will most certainly be addressed as the league has changed and I am pretty content with the ACC. I don’t think FSU and Clemson should be so quick to leap to the Big 12….. Maybe if the SEC came knocking but I think our league is making some good strides.
If this were a stock I would be in a “Hold” position…..
Anything other then the SEC would be a bad move in my opinion. I think the ACC is stepping back up. We will probably be recruiting better in the north east now that we added some BE teams. A couple reasons I don’t think it would be good to go anywhere besides SEC.
*more travel expenses to games and recruiting expenses in the west (remember ALL of our sports programs would have to travel A LOT farther)
*hurts recruiting. If you recruit in our region you have to tell the parents that half you games will be over 1000 miles away which most people cant handle. If you go SEC you just get deeper in to prime recruiting territory.
*Texas is boss over there and seems to be greatly resented by the rest of the conference (kinda like the NC schools in the ACC). Do we really want to go to the greed conference where everyone has to have their own network to get money?
*extra jetlag for our travelling players
Anything other then the SEC would be a bad move in my opinion. I think the ACC is stepping back up. We will probably be recruiting better in the north east now that we added some BE teams. A couple reasons I don’t think it would be good to go anywhere besides SEC.
*more travel expenses to games and recruiting expenses in the west (remember ALL of our sports programs would have to travel A LOT farther)
*hurts recruiting. If you recruit in our region you have to tell the parents that half you games will be over 1000 miles away which most people cant handle. If you go SEC you just get deeper in to prime recruiting territory.
*Texas is boss over there and seems to be greatly resented by the rest of the conference (kinda like the NC schools in the ACC). Do we really want to go to the greed conference where everyone has to have their own network to get money?
*extra jetlag for our travelling players
You, like SoPines assume that the Big 12 won’t make an eastern division. Not that much of a difference of traveling to Boston or Syracuse every other year….add in Miami sometimes and I fail to see the travel argument.
The BE would never eat the ACC. The BE is about to lose what 7 catholic, 3 to ACC, and 1 to the Big 10. There will be nothing left. If four schools left the ACC they would be replaced by remaining BE schools.
“You, like SoPines assume that the Big 12 won’t make an eastern division. Not that much of a difference of traveling to Boston or Syracuse every other year….add in Miami sometimes and I fail to see the travel argument.”
In the big 12 every away game would be like going to Syracuse, that’s kinda a big deal for the team, fans, and athletes parents. Unless you are suggesting the big 12 would add 6 schools in ACC country which they wouldn’t.
The idea that the Big 12 is somehow not the weakest link in the 4 conferences 16 team scenario is so stupid.
Where the hell is the PAC-12 going to get 4 more teams? The Big 12 that is where. Plus they are about to make less money per school than the ACC despite getting a good deal only split 10 ways. Texas and OU leave and the Big 12 is weaker than the Big East.
Sounds like a great place to me! Clemtgrs will love it. Enjoy West Texas and Morgantown. Visit once and you will never need to go again. Think of all the travel money you will save, while your school and its recruiting gets eaten alive by your neighbors.
The idea that the Big 12 is somehow not the weakest link in the 4 conferences 16 team scenario is so stupid.
Where the hell is the PAC-12 going to get 4 more teams? The Big 12 that is where. Plus they are about to make less money per school than the ACC despite getting a good deal only split 10 ways. Texas and OU leave and the Big 12 is weaker than the Big East.
Sounds like a great place to me! Clemtgrs will love it. Enjoy West Texas and Morgantown. Visit once and you will never need to go again. Think of all the travel money you will save, while your school and its recruiting gets eaten alive by your neighbors.
I think you are making the most sense in this silly discussion. The eSECspn conference made their intent very clear when there went west for expansion. It is all about TV market. If the eSECspn conference adds 2 more teams, it will most likely be Texas an some other Texas school or Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. (These 2 schools are attached at the hip). There is a lot more money to be made with those schools than with FSU and Clemson.
If the eSECspn conference poached 2 from the Big 12, then I would imagine the PAC 12 would come looking for the “best” 4 remaining and would get them. That could easily be the end of the Big 12 making WVU ripe for the plucking to get them in a league where they belong.
If the eSECspn conference did look east, they will be looking in the NC/Virginia markets.
With all of that said, I really think things are about to stabilize with a few stragglers getting sorted out. I do think the Big 12 will stay at 10 unless they can land a couple of schools that will increase their split of the pie.
I agree…I actually think that the major 5 are about to stabilize also. I think all the realignment craziness has shifted to the smaller conferences as consequences of the major moves.
If the Big 10 were to move again though I think it might actually be to the SeC where they might go after Mizzou. I think both Mizzou and the Big 10 realize they made a mistake over that one. The SeC response would not be east in that case and would be to further go west with a Texas/OU/OSU move to keep them from the PAC 12.
I look forward to watching all the smug WVU, Kansas and Kansas St fans on message boards who tried to sew the destruction of the ACC enjoy their time in the Mountain West or whatever is left of the Big East. Nobody wants them and I would not be so mean spirited if their fans had not run their mouths so much on message boards.
Make no mistake the Big 12 is the vulnerable conference not the ACC. That is why they are rattling sabres and talking a big game. They are the Iran of the college sports world, a cat backed into a corner. Of course that is where Seminole and Clemtgrs want to be. I hope they get it. They will love it.
I also hope the ACC does not go for a network. I think the cable network idea is like the projections of payments on your 5 year ARM. They sound great now but i dont think they will ever be seen. Cable is a dead man walking once sports are sold a la carte on the internet.
I would like to see the ACC work a deal for its digital rights through some kind of ESPN3/You Tube thing.
Cable customers are cutting the cords by the thousands. In a few years it will be millions and the Big 10 network will go the way of the rust belt economy it is based in. Enjoy it Maryland. You deserve it.
Pines, I don’t people realize how close the ACC can be to being as lucrative as the B1G if not bigger.
I am going to invoke to dirty little word around here. Basketball. The SEC literally has all of its marbles in Football. SEC Basketball is NOT watchable. From top to bottom that product is not bad, it is horrible. So the SEC had better stay good in Football. We all know that what the SEC is doing will not last.
The B1G plays great Football and Basketball which makes it a pretty profitable conference with the B1G network being a cash cow for that league.
If the ACC’s football brand can just get to the level of the B1G, which I don’t think we are far from, our superior basketball and hopefully a solid football league would make us all the money we need.
All the ACC needs to do is just win their dang football games in Non-Conference play the majority of the time and this league will be set.
Money is important, but of course it is not everything.
A potential recruit needs to consider so many factors: the coach, proximity to home, the team’s overall philosophy, the probability of starting (and getting exposure), the opponents, opponents proximity (for family), the facilities et al.
Of course, shiny, new facilities are impressive. Big stadiums are impressive. Committing to a big-time program (IMO) is high risk, high reward. Do you think an RB like Doug Martin would have fared as well anywhere else? Would he have the amount of visibility he had with BSU compared to riding the bench for a “top tier” program?
There are so many factors involved. The money definitely helps with hiring and retaining staff. But then again, its not that clear—-> Why is Peterson still in Idaho??? Really… He could have made big bucks somewhere else. Why is Foster still at VT? He could have made better money as a DC in the SEC or as a HC at a mid level school. Why is Saban still in college football after 4 titles? Well, I’d imagine his life is pretty damn comfortable as it is… the money is “enough” and his life is comparatively easier compared to being in the NFL. We’ll see how happy Chip Kelly is going to the Eagles. He’s making the big time money—- but with it comes big time expectations. Imagine his position—-> Philly has been SO SO close to winning a Superbowl… Andy Reid took them to so many NFC Title games… and Kelly is gonna have major expectations along with his paycheck…
SoPines I completely agree with the internet statement. Very soon games will be able to be watched anywhere with wifi. Any time any where. Now I don’t know if this is in the works but I would keep my eyes on the Google/youtube giant making its move to crush cable within the next couple years. A standard youtube partner can live-stream on 480(p?) right now. I’m pretty sure some events are streamed in HD already on youtube. I wouldn’t be shocked if youtube made its own network that could start buying into event coverage like sporting events. If that happened the playing ground would be leveled a little and cable networks (who could still be useful to make live-stream content) would take a big hit to their overall usefulness and value. And Google/youtube own the internet they would have the capital to buy into something like this. Sorry if I’m veering a little off topic but I heard earlier this year that somebody is developing a new type of video format that would allow you to stream video two times faster then the current format. So video that is twice the definition of a current format is downloaded with no increase in DL time. This could be the catalyst that ends the reign of TV.
