Where in the BE, after we leave, is the equivelent of playing Duke, NC and NC State? Other than Louisville, nobody I can see on an ongoing basis. Others in the ACC are not than much of a stepdown from the middle teams in the BE. And, unless the BB teams in the BE go off by themselves, there will be less talent anxious to play there.
Assuming there is any kind of ticket availability, there are a ton of fans in the ACC boundries that will give SU an advantage at away games.
First and foremost (at least for me), the ACC is an academic upgrade. Instead of the likes of Fried Chicken U (great BB but virtually no academic standards), seton hall (thug u), cincinatti (good research but nothing special academically), St Johns, etc., we're joining a 60 year old conference with Virginia, UNC, Duke, BC, Maryland, Georgia Tech ... all quality academic institutions. We lose a good school in GT (good riddance), but the other good schools in the BE, ND and Pitt, are coming with us. I think it was Waters in the PS that observed that all the ACC schools are in the top 50 or 60 in the country. So that's a factor that has to be considered.
Second, it goes without saying that ACC revenue and stability are significant upgrades over the BE (and no GOR). As most are aware, the BEC had reached the point (from a FB standpoint, primarily) where we simply had to make a move.
But reallignment has a downside. I think our BB reputation is growing nationally, but our recruting base -- and our primary television market -- is still New York/NYC and the tri-state area. In the ACC, BC will our new "partner" -- we will play each other home/home every year. Boston is obviously in the northeast, but it's outside of our recruiting sphere (I'd rather see ND as our ACC partner, but that won't help recruiting either). Pitt gives us a second game in the northeast, and U of Maryland does give us a game in a recruiting hotbed (Baltimore). But this isn't the same as playing GT in DC, St. Johns at the garden or UConn at the XCL Center.
We could still arrange OOC games with St. Johns, UConn, Louisville or GT. But realistically, there's not a lot of scheduling room pre-season for this kind of a game (outside a tournament). All the same, I'd like to see at least a game every year against a BE team in NYC/-tri-state area. This is a must for our ["NY's College Team"] brand and our huge NYC fan-base.
We also have fan support in southern cities, but it's more diffuse (spread across a larger geographic area). The Carolinas have a 'Cuse contingent, especially in the Raleigh/Durham area, and we have fans in Atlanta and in Florida. I'd like to hear from other posters what kind of crowds we'll get playing in SC (Clemson), Winston-Salem (WF), Blacksburg (V-Tech), Charlotesville (UVA) and the other tabacco road venues.
