ACC, PAC-12, and BIG alliance / conference realignment

[nd1973]

There is a rumor going around that ND, NBC and the Big Ten have all agreed in principle to a deal that sends ND full time to the Big Ten.

The rumor is comes from SEC sources (not Big Ten or ND---have no idea how the SEC guys would know this) and they point to the fact that only ND is named in the Big Ten TV deal for future adds and a specific amount added to the contract if ND joins.

They also cite the fact that ND/NBC have not executed a TV deal renewal despite ND and NBC reportedly agreeing to terms back in August as "proof" that ND has agreed to join the Big Ten at some point in the near future.

The rumor further is that ND will sit back and let FSU and Clemson do the heavy lifting and take the bad PR regarding challenging the ACC GOR and will then leave if those two are successful in that challenge, maybe even signing a new 5 year NBC deal (with appropriate Big Ten language in it) shortly if ND needs five years to let things ride things out.

(The FSU Warchant realignment thread states that the ND/NBC contracts have always had a penalty clause in them if ND football ever joined a conference and had to terminate the deal. They claim that the proposed new contract has similar language, but that NBC has specifically agreed to waive those penalty claims if ND joins the Big Ten)

Whether any of this is true or just a bunch of unfounded rumor is anyone's guess at this point.

I sure hope not.

"May you live in interesting times" is the old Chinese curse.

Yep, we are in an interesting time. So many moving parts and legal decisions to come. I can see us sitting back and letting FSU do the tough work. FSU has a burr in their boot and may get antsy.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

SU might sneak into the Big but will most likely end up in the 3rd conference with a nice paycheck each year and a punchers chance to make the playoffs every once in a while.

I don't think we end up in the B1G. I cannot see the B1G settling at 16. Any expansion between 16 and 30, I think we get left out. But I do see a pathway to 32 or 36 teams. That is a looooong shot, but in either case we would make it.

I suppose it is possible that the SEC goes national and in order to get ND, they take SU/BC/Pitt. I am sure ESPN would love that. But I think the SEC sticks to its roots and stays regional. I think this is an even longer shot than the B1G.

Getting left behind in a 20 or more team B12 Frankenstein has no appeal to me. And I don't think we have a puncher's chance of winning that conference.

 

[All4SU]

I have more than 13,000 posts on this board. I’ve been a season ticket holder in multiple sports at SU since matriculating. Like everyone here, I’ve traveled to away games, bowl games, and tournaments. I’ve been at weddings and family events with earbuds in to keep up with game scores. I’ve bought SU gear for family members numbering in the several dozens. I’ve jumped through hoops to attempt to watch games when I’ve been out of the country. I have many SU prints on the walls of my office and home. I’ve made SU fans of my kids and many relatives.

I never thought the day would come when I can foresee losing all interest in college football and college sports in general. These schools are run by idiots.

 

[SmilinBob]

Show me one quote from anyone at ND that "hinted" that ND football would one day join the ACC.

Every single ND comment since 2012 has said the exact opposite, loudly and often.

They joined during covid, so yes...that could be considered a hint. You weren't so loud against it then were you.

 

[qdawgg]

An interesting turn this board has taken from a bunch of posts hating ND and threatening to kick it out of the ACC ("In or out !! ") if it doesn't join in full to "needing to attach" to ND somehow.

ND killed a kid. And didn’t care

 

[TerryD]

They joined during covid, so yes...that could be considered a hint. You weren't so loud against it then were you.

A one year safe harbor during a global pandemic.

I am talking about ND ever making a statement that football was going to permanently join the ACC.

There are none. However, I keep seeing references to ND hinting that it would join forever and in full. That is false. That never happened.

If anyone in the ACC says that they believed differently, well, there were mistaken and/or delusional or just lying.

 

[qdawgg]

I have more than 13,000 posts on this board. I’ve been a season ticket holder in multiple sports at SU since matriculating. Like everyone here, I’ve traveled to away games, bowl games, and tournaments. I’ve been at weddings and family events with earbuds in to keep up with game scores. I’ve bought SU gear for family members numbering in the several dozens. I’ve jumped through hoops to attempt to watch games when I’ve been out of the country. I have many SU prints on the walls of my office and home. I’ve made SU fans of my kids and many relatives.

I never thought the day would come when I can foresee losing all interest in college football and college sports in general. These schools are run by idiots.

It’s sad. I’ve mostly stopped watching the BB team the last few years or a little longer. Not with the same intensity I used to watch them, everything else in my life was put on hold if a game was on. FB, strangely that hasn’t happened yet even though in was a BB fan first. But I have no interest in following the program if we get dropped to a level like where the Big East is now. It’s sad to think that’s where it could be headed.

I do wonder if politicians start getting involved though. As all of this with NIL and realignment completely changes what FB and BB looked like compared to 10+ years ago, if the government gets involved it’ll be interesting how that impacts things.

 

[TerryD]

ND killed a kid. And didn’t care

ND didn't kill anyone.

A student died in an accident during a football practice.

ND did care. Ask his parents.

LSU hired Brian Kelly knowing this. Complain about him to them.

 

[qdawgg]

ND didn't kill anyone.

A student died in an accident during a football practice.

ND did care. Ask his parents.

LSU hired Brian Kelly knowing this. Complain about him to them.

Oops, did I post that in the wrong thread. My fault. You’re right, now that Brian Kelly works at LSU, him killing a kid at ND is an LSU issue now.

 

[TerryD]

Oops, did I post that in the wrong thread. My fault. You’re right, now that Brian Kelly works at LSU, him killing a kid at ND is an LSU issue now.

Reading is fundamental.

Brian Kelly didn't kill anyone either. Weather conditions did.

It was an accident. The parents were pleased with how ND handled it afterwards. Ask them.

Brian Kelly was hired by LSU with full knowledge of this. I am sure their fans would love your take on him.

 

[Shenexon]

I have more than 13,000 posts on this board. I’ve been a season ticket holder in multiple sports at SU since matriculating. Like everyone here, I’ve traveled to away games, bowl games, and tournaments. I’ve been at weddings and family events with earbuds in to keep up with game scores. I’ve bought SU gear for family members numbering in the several dozens. I’ve jumped through hoops to attempt to watch games when I’ve been out of the country. I have many SU prints on the walls of my office and home. I’ve made SU fans of my kids and many relatives.

I never thought the day would come when I can foresee losing all interest in college football and college sports in general. These schools are run by idiots.

I've become more discouraged as a fan over the past few years and no current events are improving that perspective. Not everything is about money but that's the road we've chosen. Not just SU but other educational institutions in a conspiracy of greed.

It sounds as though many premier schools will stop requiring their players to be students to focus on playing their sport and making more money for their "school". Many of those schools are operated by various states. When players are just hired by the schools to make money for them, how is that not interference in the free market by states? Are states allowed to sanction or operate commercial entities? If the enterprise no longer has links to the educational institution other than financial, how is that not state-sanctioned commercial enterprise? If I was a group that wanted to own a professional sports franchise, I'd take offense to the state competing with me.

As a fan, we were in the ECAC when I joined. That was pretty good for a while. We played regional teams and thrived, at least as an athletic organization. Then we helped form the Big East, and that was pretty good for a while. Our basketball was at its zenith and we played well in football. Then we joined the ACC, solely because we needed or wanted the money. We haven't competed well in either since we made the move, and now are fretting about the failure of SU's sports programs because we won't be aligned with the schools that command the majority of the tv cash for the content provided by college athletics.

I just want it all to make sense. Align with peers that make sense, make what money SU can for broadcast rights to the quality athletic contests that are our tradition, line up with whoever takes the field or court against us, and compete. SU is an educational institution. It used to be enough that kids could go to school for free because of their athletic ability. That's still meaningful to the majority of college players, though profit-sharing should be a thing. Personally, I don't want SU to solely become a semi-pro minor league feeder program to the pro leagues. "College" players should be students who also play sports. What's the meaning otherwise?

 

[mscanlo]

There is a rumor going around that ND, NBC and the Big Ten have all agreed in principle to a deal that sends ND full time to the Big Ten.

The rumor is comes from SEC sources (not Big Ten or ND---have no idea how the SEC guys would know this) and they point to the fact that only ND is named in the Big Ten TV deal for future adds and a specific amount added to the contract if ND joins.

They also cite the fact that ND/NBC have not executed a TV deal renewal despite ND and NBC reportedly agreeing to terms back in August as "proof" that ND has agreed to join the Big Ten at some point in the near future.

The rumor further is that ND will sit back and let FSU and Clemson do the heavy lifting and take the bad PR regarding challenging the ACC GOR and will then leave if those two are successful in that challenge, maybe even signing a new 5 year NBC deal (with appropriate Big Ten language in it) shortly if ND needs five years to let things ride out.

(The FSU Warchant realignment thread states that the ND/NBC contracts have always had a penalty clause in them if ND football ever joined a conference and had to terminate the deal. They claim that the proposed new contract has similar language, but that NBC has specifically agreed to waive those penalty claims if ND joins the Big Ten)

Whether any of this is true or just a bunch of unfounded rumor is anyone's guess at this point.

I sure hope not.

"May you live in interesting times" is the old Chinese curse.

Did ND sign the ACC GOR? If they did, it excludes football, unless i am mistaken. If the rumor above is true, wouldn't it make financial sense (maybe not overall sense, and thus the holdback) for ND to make the move and leave behind the non-football rights to the ACC?

edit - That being said, who knows, maybe they are getting a payment to "hold them over"/"bridge the gap" without having to make a scene

 

[qdawgg]

Reading is fundamental.

Brian Kelly didn't kill anyone either. Weather conditions did.

It was an accident. The parents were pleased with how ND handled it afterwards. Ask them.

Brian Kelly was hired by LSU with full knowledge of this. I am sure their fans would love your take on him.

You’re slower than I thought. Reading isn’t actually the important part. The ability to process information you’re reading is what’s important, reading itself is a pretty low level skill by itself.

Weren’t the weather conditions already a factor prior to him going up to record. As opposed to, he went up in perfect conditions and out of nowhere the conditions changed too fast before anything could have been done to prevent an “accident”. Again, reading by itself isn’t important. Processing information that you’re reading is the real skill that I think you may need to work on. And that’s okay, nothing wrong with that. Other than believing you’re a good “reader”.

Probe of student's death contradicts ND's story

INDIANAPOLIS — Despite insisting the weather was uneventful — even beautiful — the day Declan Sullivan toppled to his death last fall while filming football practice, members of the University of Notre Dame athletic department worried about the safety of another student videographer and initially…

www.latimes.com

 

[Hoo's That]

Did ND sign the ACC GOR? If they did, it excludes football, unless i am mistaken. If the rumor above is true, wouldn't it make financial sense (maybe not overall sense, and thus the holdback) for ND to make the move and leave behind the non-football rights to the ACC?

edit - That being said, who knows, maybe they are getting a payment to "hold them over"/"bridge the gap" without having to make a scene

The B1G would want all or nothing. Yes, football is the biggest part of every TV contract, but they would want ND for b-ball, too.

I'd be very skeptical about a rumored ND move to the B1G coming from the SEC. I think Warchant and FSU fans were played for suckers on this. And, besides, no conference realignment scheme is official until it is blessed by the Dude from WV and MVher.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[CU44SE]

A one year safe harbor during a global pandemic.

I am talking about ND ever making a statement that football was going to permanently join the ACC.

There are none. However, I keep seeing references to ND hinting that it would join forever and in full. That is false. That never happened.

If anyone in the ACC says that they believed differently, well, there were mistaken and/or delusional or just lying.

Haven’t you said in the past you still play Navy because they helped you out? But now it doesn’t matter for the ACC to give you a spot to land not once, but 2 times? Gave every sport except for football a home and then during COVID gave you games to play?

 

[nd1973]

Haven’t you said in the past you still play Navy because they helped you out? But now it doesn’t matter for the ACC to give you a spot to land not once, but 2 times? Gave every sport except for football a home and then during COVID gave you games to play?

We were going to lose the whole school, not just one season of football. Not comparable.

We owe nothing to the ACC, it is on a slow death decline and even ND can't stop it. The ACC signed a disastrous contract, that is not our issue or fault. The whole system is being reconstituted so who knows where it all ends. Just prepare to find a lifeboat.

 

[CU44SE]

I will say this again.

1- the ACC has a ton of dead weight. BC and Wake forest are absolutely non existent and help hold the ACC back. Very small colleges that no one outside of alumni’s pay attention too. At least BC is part of Massachusetts and “TV sets”.

2- if the Big does indeed get teams and kills off the PAC the ACC will die. Not today or tomorrow. But by 2030 the ACC will be done. They will be the 4th conference. Everyone will be going onto their second contract and the monetary difference will only expand. By that time the GOR will not mean anything when 3/4 of the teams will vote to disband because they can not compete. It is imperative the ACC is the third conference. If the ACC is the third conference. They would not be on the same level as the SEC and Big 10 but just a small step behind. This would allow them to revist the contract and monetary value. Increasing because of more tv sets with ACC Network. Gives ESPN a late window for television. It would be one conference but different divisions. Travel would not be terrible because you wouldn’t play those teams as often as geographical close teams.

We will know a lot more in the next 2 months. This would be a death shot to the ACC if the big 12 is able to take PAC teams.

 

[CU44SE]

We were going to lose the whole school, not just one season of football. Not comparable.

We owe nothing to the ACC, it is on a slow death decline and even ND can't stop it. The ACC signed a disastrous contract, that is not our issue or fault. The whole system is being reconstituted so who knows where it all ends. Just prepare to find a lifeboat.

1- You don’t think Norte dame would have been in trouble if the ACC didn’t give it games to play? Everyone would have left and you would have had to start from scratch.

2- John Swofford killed the ACC. He negotiated the worst contract in the history of sports. He got his son paid, but killed the conference at the same time. People love the GOR. That was only a last ditch effort after he negotiated a terrible contract and lost Maryland. He saved the conference with the GOR. But I don’t see the ACC lasting long term even with the GOR.

 

[nd1973]

1- You don’t think Norte dame would have been in trouble if the ACC didn’t give it games to play? Everyone would have left and you would have had to start from scratch.

2- John Swofford killed the ACC. He negotiated the worst contract in the history of sports. He got his son paid, but killed the conference at the same time. People love the GOR. That was only a last ditch effort after he negotiated a terrible contract and lost Maryland. He saved the conference with the GOR. But I don’t see the ACC lasting long term even with the GOR.

ND would have had repercussions for sure. But it does not change it wouldn't have shutdown the whole university. The scenarios you compared are not comparable.

 

[TerryD]

Haven’t you said in the past you still play Navy because they helped you out? But now it doesn’t matter for the ACC to give you a spot to land not once, but 2 times? Gave every sport except for football a home and then during COVID gave you games to play?

That was a business deal that benefited both the ACC and ND.

That was also a one year deal. That is not sufficient to for ND football to anchor itself to a dying ACC long term. Sorry.

ND didn't cause the ACC's problems, the ACC did. ND has no duty to harm itself to save the ACC...from itself.

 

[TerryD]

1- You don’t think Norte dame would have been in trouble if the ACC didn’t give it games to play? Everyone would have left and you would have had to start from scratch.

2- John Swofford killed the ACC. He negotiated the worst contract in the history of sports. He got his son paid, but killed the conference at the same time. People love the GOR. That was only a last ditch effort after he negotiated a terrible contract and lost Maryland. He saved the conference with the GOR. But I don’t see the ACC lasting long term even with the GOR.

If the ACC deal in 2020 had not happened and the ACC refused to play ND at all, then ND would have had to cobble together a totally independent schedule.

It would have been dog meat, but irrelevant after 2020. A one year blip on the screen.

Joining the ACC and tying ND football up in knots (with the ACC GOR) forever for a one year deal that benefited both sides would have been/would be a horrible business decision.

If it were SU in ND's place, I seriously doubt SU would have rushed in to join the ACC in full for that one year lifeline.

 

[gmoney44]

I have more than 13,000 posts on this board. I’ve been a season ticket holder in multiple sports at SU since matriculating. Like everyone here, I’ve traveled to away games, bowl games, and tournaments. I’ve been at weddings and family events with earbuds in to keep up with game scores. I’ve bought SU gear for family members numbering in the several dozens. I’ve jumped through hoops to attempt to watch games when I’ve been out of the country. I have many SU prints on the walls of my office and home. I’ve made SU fans of my kids and many relatives.

I never thought the day would come when I can foresee losing all interest in college football and college sports in general. These schools are run by idiots.

My fandom of SU sports and college sports in general has been death by a thousand cuts the last 3 or 4 years. I’m in dire need of new blood in SU basketball. Some spark to make me stick around. As far as football a reason to be optimistic after Halloween every few years would be nice too.

 

[oldpinepoint]

Who cares about ND, they aren’t joining the ACC full time, why even discuss it. My only issue is how the ACC caters to them. I can honestly see a point where conferences (Big 10 and Sec) act like the premier league and schools can be delegated to the top or be sent down to the next level. I can also see dead weight being kicked out of conferences too

 

[HRE Otto IV]

It is smart of those schools to keep talks open should the P12 TV contract be crap. But they aren't going to move the needle for the B12 TV contract. The B12 would add Phoenix and Denver to its footprint but would be adding 4 teams, which minimizes the addition.

All four are decent brands but they aren't impact brands. I don't see any of those teams creating regional, let alone national interest. Only local interest. I would think adding ASU, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington is the better play. If you get the later 3, ASU would have no choice but to leave behind Zona. Or even San Diego and USF, if Oregon and Washington say no.

If the P12 does implode, it will be interesting to see if the B1G comes in. I am sure they didn't want to be the ones to kill off the P12, let the B12 do the dirty work. They could then take Oregon, Washington, Stanford, and Cal. Washington State and Oregon State go off to the MWC.