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

[MikeSU02]

Other than paying significantly more to lease office space, how would moving the ACC office to NYC change anything we are talking about here? If a NYC presence is so important, why didn't the AAC move there instead of Irving, Texas? If the location of a league's headquarters is important (which I do not think it is), the ACC should move to Bristol, CT.

Oh, and NYC is no longer the center of sports broadcasting:

ABC/ESPN - Bristol, CT
CBS Sports - NYC
Fox Sports - LA
NBC Sports - Stamford, CT

Of course, Larry Scott moved the Pac headquarters from the suburban Bay Area to San Fran for appearances and it worked out well for that conference.

So we should stay a southern focused conference? Works out great.

BTW, every client meeting I had with ESPN was in NYC. At one of their multiple NYC offices or studios. This isn't counting their LA offices.

NYC would be part of a bigger endeavor to be a national conference with access to premiere talent, partnerships and money.

 

[Noexcuse]

It's a good time to add these teams on the cheap. Cal and Stanford may be down, but they have the clout to do well especially if they are aligned with the ACC. Same with SMU. They are in my opinion a sleeping giant. Another potential Utah. As to not caring about the academics would you rather have Stanford or West Virginia? Cal or Rutgers? SMU or Cincinatti?

I get the academic side of things but frankly Rutgers West Virginia and Cincinnati are all schools we have historically played and have had rivalries with.

 

[MikeSU02]

They could buy a team really fast. Basically what TCU did.

And their mission really isn't that different than the private - semi private nature of most of the ACC schools. Its another school filling up with east coast kids.

Also, Stanford, Cal and SMU are a safety net if/when Clemson, FSU, UNC and UNC's little cousin keep trying to leave.

It also reduces those four teams' voting power.

If four teams want out right now, we have to have a 100% secure landing spot to not want these new teams in.

And, if anyone still cares, it would be nice to have Stanford in (and Cal) for resources academically.

 

[Bayside44]

So we should stay a southern focused conference? Works out great.

BTW, every client meeting I had with ESPN was in NYC. At one of their multiple NYC offices or studios. This isn't counting their LA offices.

NYC would be part of a bigger endeavor to be a national conference with access to premiere talent, partnerships and money.

The conference should bump all their administrative and people costs by a lot for something that's solved in an hour plane flight? I don't want to sound like a jerk but this isn't Mad Men type stuff anymore.

 

[TexanMark]

Also, Stanford, Cal and SMU are a safety net if/when Clemson, FSU, UNC and UNC's little cousin keep trying to leave.

It also reduces those four teams' voting power.

If four teams want out right now, we have to have a 100% secure landing spot to not want these new teams in.

And, if anyone still cares, it would be nice to have Stanford in (and Cal) for resources academically.

Don't you doubt for a moment Stanford and Cal are dangling research consortium out to the No Votes

Syracuse and Micron sure could benefit from it

 

[TexanMark]

The conference should bump all their administrative and people costs by a lot for something that's solved in an hour plane flight? I don't want to sound like a jerk but this isn't Mad Men type stuff anymore.

I get what Mike is saying though.

The important thing is Charlotte at least is better connected than Greensboro.

 

[MikeSU02]

I get what Mike is saying though.

The important thing is Charlotte at least is better connected than Greensboro.

BTW, to be clear, I love Charlotte. I love North Carolina. I do think Charlotte isn't bad. It's a massive banking and financial hub in the US and an easy fly in / fly out city.

 

[MikeSU02]

Don't you doubt for a moment Stanford and Cal are dangling research consortium out to the No Votes

Syracuse and Micron sure could benefit from it

Yep. Would really love for upstate NY to reap the benefits of having those universities in conference.

 

[kcsu]

I get what Mike is saying though.

The important thing is Charlotte at least is better connected than Greensboro.

Charlotte in case you haven't noticed is filled with East coast transplants.

 

[HouClone]

These are University Presidents and thus “Academics“ are important to them or should be.

Totally agree. Associating with academic schools is a lot more important than athletics. Stanford is the top school in the nation in combination of academics / sports.

Sincerely,

Tony Altimore
George Kliavkoff

 

[sutomcat]

Charlotte in case you haven't noticed is filled with East coast transplants.

It is also the home of the ACC and SEC networks….

 

[NYCCuse826]

What’s with the SMU fascination? Yuk

Pure desperation.

If the ACC wanted to stoop this low, they would have considered UCF who is in their backyard and far enough from Miami and Tallahassee to where the two rejecting the idea would be ludicrous.

 

[jr4750]

As long as the new funds are load balanced among all members I am good. Absolutely cannot provide FSU, UNC or Clemson anything additional above the other members. They are leaving no matter what. Paying them anything extra would have zero returns.

Totally agree. No need to appease them. All are gone the minute they can go.

 

[Bayside44]

I get what Mike is saying though.

The important thing is Charlotte at least is better connected than Greensboro.

It's an administrative office. We've never lived in a time where location has mattered less.

Charlotte is a major hub and I don't think the taxes / costs are nearly as bad as the Tri-State area.

 

[Chris02M]

Pure desperation.

If the ACC wanted to stoop this low, they would have considered UCF who is in their backyard and far enough from Miami and Tallahassee to where the two rejecting the idea would be ludicrous.

we already have 2 flagship florida schools

 

[Bayside44]

I'll stick this here...good read:

Inside Virginia Tech's post-Frank Beamer struggles -- and how the Hokies are trying to recover

Virginia Tech reached unprecedented heights under former coach Frank Beamer but suffered its worst season in 30 years in 2022. A look at how the Hokies got there and whether they can get back.

www.espn.com

 

[MikeSU02]

It is also the home of the ACC and SEC networks….

Southstreet seaport is a much nicer studio to broadcast from, just saying.

I get your point though. It's a fair counterargument.

 

[Killdozer]

Charlotte in case you haven't noticed is filled with East coast transplants.

It is unbelievably loaded with NY'ers. I am always getting the 'CUSE yell as people see my SU emblems on my vehicle. Charlotte is a large, clean, pretty safe city and easy to get to from the rail system.

 

[hoopsupstate]

I'll stick this here...good read:

Inside Virginia Tech's post-Frank Beamer struggles -- and how the Hokies are trying to recover

Virginia Tech reached unprecedented heights under former coach Frank Beamer but suffered its worst season in 30 years in 2022. A look at how the Hokies got there and whether they can get back.

www.espn.com

Interesting read. Sounds like SU not investing in the program during Coach P’s final years. It’s easy to fall behind, but hard to catch up. I give Wildhack credit, investments in the program are starting to show. Coach White said while leaving that SU is really close. Building depth and investing in all parts of the program are important. Now the coaching staff has to step up and take us to the next level. The key moving forward is to keep players from leaving and taking advantage of the development they make at SU. Losing Duce, Carter and Greer to major programs hurt. They were potential stars and future pros.

 

[NYCCuse826]

we already have 2 flagship florida schools

Let's stop pretending this about academics. It's not. The ACC being asleep at the wheel is why they can't focus on academics anymore, but the best fit period. Stanford and Cal don't move the needle in athletics. Their revenue generating programs are among the worst in the country. What value do they add besides names that are not relevant to this generation?

 

[Chris02M]

Let's stop pretending this about academics. It's not. The ACC being asleep at the wheel is why they can't focus on academics anymore, but the best fit period. Stanford and Cal don't move the needle in athletics. Their revenue generating programs are among the worst in the country. What value do they add besides names that are not relevant to this generation?

subscriptions from increased rate for in state vs out of state for acc network

 

[Sherman20]

Let's stop pretending this about academics. It's not. The ACC being asleep at the wheel is why they can't focus on academics anymore, but the best fit period. Stanford and Cal don't move the needle in athletics. Their revenue generating programs are among the worst in the country. What value do they add besides names that are not relevant to this generation?

You and others keep making the mistake in assuming that the ACC is trying to catch up to the Big 10 and SEC in TV revenue. That’s never ever gonna happen—unless ND miraculously walks through that door. We can hopefully close the gap a bit, but even that might be difficult. The fight right now is about outflanking the Big 12 as the third strongest/highest revenue conference, so we’re ready and have reinforcements for the next round of realignment in 2030-35.

 

[shantydaze]

It is about timing. FSU cannot go anywhere before the B12 GOR expires. If teams are making $25M in the B12 and could make $35M in the ACC, why stay in the B12 even knowing FSU will eventually leave? The same thing just happened to the P12. Texas and Oklahoma were leaving, schools came.

Also for ESPN isn't FSU more valuable in the ACC than the SEC? In one conference they are making lesser programs more interesting. In the other they are just one of the same.

For example, now you have FSU vs SU (will do well in the Northeast) and Ole Miss vs Arkansas. If FSU moves to the SEC you get FSU vs Ole Miss instead of Ole Miss vs Arkansas. Is that really going to be a big difference? And on the other side you get GA Tech vs SU instead of FSU vs SU, which is a pretty big difference. On top of that ESPN would be paying FSU $30M instead of $60M.

The B18 is a different story as they are lacking the brands.

I was a little surprised by your comment that the B1G lacks brands and, as a result, may want to FSU. How could a league that has Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, USC, and Oregon lack brands? But before I questioned you post with my subjective thoughts on brands, I decided to see what the internet had to say and I found out it is still largely subjective and mostly contain articles from non-traditional media websites.

I did see this ranking from 2019 from the Wall Street Journal. Based on its methodologies, FSU, at 27, would be the 12th largest brand out of the (soon to be) B1G's 18 teams (SU was ranked 57). The SEC is far and away the winner in this ranking with seven of its teams or soon to be teams in the top 10. The highest ACC team was Clemson at 26 and the highest team in the new XII was Arizona State at 25.

As for the teams being discussed as expansion candidates, Stanford (34) and Cal (40) would be the fourth and sixth most valuable team in the ACC respectively and SMU (74) would be last.

Honestly, I am not sure I buy into some of the placement of certain teams and I assume it is partially based on revenue, so skews SEC and B1G teams higher, but it is a starting point.

 

[SU68]

What about good sports programs ? That actually make the conference attractive and valuable.

Academics… the TV money will be beating down the door for that one…that’s funny.

Good sports programs? What programs are available that will move the needle with ESPN?

 

[sutomcat]

So it looks like Cal is also willing to play for not pay for a while, so each current ACC school can expect something in the neighborhood of a 7-8 million increase in annual revenue. That is a substantial bump.

Again, some would go to cover additional travel costs but for olympic sports, we are probably talking about one extra extended road trip to stop at the 3 additions. Can’t be that much. They would surely clear over 5 million each year in extra money. Hard to turn that down.

One thought. Adding 3 schools gives the ACC 17 schools for football, 18 for everything else. Not good to have an odd number of teams ina conference that plays football. It means someone can’t play a conference game during the conference season every week.

This can be done by scheduling OOC games through the season (most would probably be against ND). Or by spreading byes for ACC schools through a couple of months of class Terence okay. Neither is ideal.

The more I think about it though, the more comfortable I am with it given ND can serve as the de facto 18th football conference team 5 weeks of the season (hopefully 6). That mitigates the issue some.

Assuming these three get added today, still wouldn’t be shocked to see the ACC seriously consider adding one more school to make scheduling easier. If they do, thinking it would be San Diego State, Tulane or UConn.
thought I saw UConn rumored to offer to forgo revenue for 5 to 7 years as well. Guessing the others would too.

So one more team probably means more money still to current ACC members. That would get them in the range of 10-12 million in extra revenue per school per season.

Probably not going to happen but something to think about….