ND to the ACC (not football, of course)

[Madbiker]

I don't love this but just about everyone else in the world thinks it's great. It's great for ND. Don't see that the ACC gets much benefit. ND will not join full football ever now.

The ACC has now said they will not be adding any more schools. The 15 team format could work in basketball by going to 3 divisions of 5. You play home-and-home within division for total of 8 games. Then play each team in the other divisions once each year (alternating home court each year) for a total of 10 games out of division and yielding 18 conference games.

Divsion A allows the old core ACC to play home/home
UNC
Duke
NC St
Maryland
Virginia

Division B
BC
Syracuse
ND
Pitt
Va Tech

Division C
Miami
FSU
GaTech
Clemson
Wake

Then figure out a seeding formula for the ACC tourney.
This would make a 16th basketball -only team unnecessary. Sorry GTown, Nova, STJ.

 

[igor]

as nd gets better and both su and pitts too we move to top of food chain

 

[newmexicuse]

We left the BE for this ???

I am so sick of ND and their holier than thou attitude about their over the hill football program.

Why on earth did we let em in wo football ???

 

[senorpalmer]

ACC did the BE a favor with this move. And now we get to play bball with yet another team that can't get past the first weekend of the NCAAT. Considering that all this expansion is supposed to be about football, the ACC has done little to nothing to bolster that area despite all these moves, its baffling.

 

[cpatrocks]

the more I think about this, the more I think this will be a huge win for the ACC. ND will be a full time member once their contract runs out with NBC and then the ACC will get an even bigger payday from ESPN. ND is locked in since they won't want to pay the $50MM to leave. This is all gonna work out just fine becuase the ACC knows what they are doing and won't F it all up like the BE did.

 

[BlackSquirrels]

I think most of the people in this thread who are against this move are failing to see the big picture. While full membership from ND would have been the ideal scenario, this deal is still pretty much a no-brainer for the ACC.

The ACC's schools run a spectrum from heavy basketball emphasis (UNC, Duke) to heavy football emphasis (FSU, Clemson). After adding SU and Pitt, the football schools became a little restless. They were afraid SU and Pitt did not add enough value to the conference's TV deals. FSU had members of its board of trustees running their mouths off to the press about Big 12 membership and rumors started swirling that the Big 12 might extend offers to FSU and Clemson. There were also rumblings of the Big 12 inviting ND as a full or partial member.

I'm not going to pretend like I know how close the above scenarios were to occurring. IMO some, such as ND going to the Big 12, were farfetched, but the ACC had to take a step to solidify itself on the football side. ND is no longer a perennial top-10 team, but their program still attracts a relatively large number of eyeballs and $$$. Plus, it's not like they have fallen to doormat status. They are an upgrade compared to the average ACC team and certainly the best football program that was available for poaching in any sort of alliance.

As a result, the ACC is positioned to be dominant conference in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic for football and hoops. With respect to football, it's not the same as owning the South, but the ACC would never be able to surpass the SEC in that region. The East Coast is the best it can do. In hoops, networks would already love to be able to broadcast their games to an East Coast audience 3-4 nights per week during the winter months. Even if ND slightly dilutes the product (which I'm not sure is true), the ACC is by far the most attractive conference for TV. You may scoff at Clemson and Virginia Tech hoops, but they are certainly no worse than programs like Seton Hall and South Florida.

Finally, this move hastens the crumbling of the Big East, which only makes the ACC stronger. The long awaited new TV deal for which the Big East was hoping is now even more of a pipe dream. There is chatter among the basketball-only schools to break away from the football schools. It's tough to imagine SU being part of that poopstorm. What would you prefer: playing at Virginia Tech and later getting a crack at Duke or playing at Boise St. and later getting a crack at UConn? I'll take the former every time.

That, in 500 words or less, is why this is good for SU and the ACC. I'm still trying to settle on a title for this essay. I'm thinking about "UConn: See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya."

 

[cpatrocks]

^ I was gonna like this post until I read the last line.

 

[newmexicuse]

I think most of the people in this thread who are against this move are failing to see the big picture. While full membership from ND would have been the ideal scenario, this deal is still pretty much a no-brainer for the ACC.

The ACC's schools run a spectrum from heavy basketball emphasis (UNC, Duke) to heavy football emphasis (FSU, Clemson). After adding SU and Pitt, the football schools became a little restless. They were afraid SU and Pitt did not add enough value to the conference's TV deals. FSU had members of its board of trustees running their mouths off to the press about Big 12 membership and rumors started swirling that the Big 12 might extend offers to FSU and Clemson. There were also rumblings of the Big 12 inviting ND as a full or partial member.

I'm not going to pretend like I know how close the above scenarios were to occurring. IMO some, such as ND going to the Big 12, were farfetched, but the ACC had to take a step to solidify itself on the football side. ND is no longer a perennial top-10 team, but their program still attracts a relatively large number of eyeballs and $$$. Plus, it's not like they have fallen to doormat status. They are an upgrade compared to the average ACC team and certainly the best football program that was available for poaching in any sort of alliance.

As a result, the ACC is positioned to be dominant conference in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic for football and hoops. With respect to football, it's not the same as owning the South, but the ACC would never be able to surpass the SEC in that region. The East Coast is the best it can do. In hoops, networks would already love to be able to broadcast their games to an East Coast audience 3-4 nights per week during the winter months. Even if ND slightly dilutes the product (which I'm not sure is true), the ACC is by far the most attractive conference for TV. You may scoff at Clemson and Virginia Tech hoops, but they are certainly no worse than programs like Seton Hall and South Florida.

Finally, this move hastens the crumbling of the Big East, which only makes the ACC stronger. The long awaited new TV deal for which the Big East was hoping is now even more of a pipe dream. There is chatter among the basketball-only schools to break away from the football schools. It's tough to imagine SU being part of that poopstorm. What would you prefer: playing at Virginia Tech and later getting a crack at Duke or playing at Boise St. and later getting a crack at UConn? I'll take the former every time.

That, in 500 words or less, is why this is good for SU and the ACC. I'm still trying to settle on a title for this essay. I'm thinking about "UConn: See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya."

What part of the "they aren't in for football" did you miss ???

 

[BlackSquirrels]

What part of the "they aren't in for football" did you miss ???

Um, I get that. It's why I said that full membership would be ideal.

ND is going to play five football games annually against ACC schools. Do you think that means increased or decreased ratings, interest and money for ACC football?

(The answer is "increased.")

 

[orangefan13]

I cant see the ACC taking any basketball only but Gtown. The money just isn't there. Hate them or not Gtown is a good top tier academic law school.

I do feel ST Johns would be a good grab to be able to split the acc tournament into two, up north and down south.

But, I also feel splitting the acc tounrament could be bad.
1.It would be in ACC baskebtall's best interest not to make one division stronger then the other unless you play each other all year instead of playing every team in your division twice.
2. And splitting the acc tournament up to MSG up north and a site in Carolina down south could reinforce a misbalence because there is no way Duke and UNC split up, and unfortunately you can't say any of them belong in MSG for the ACC touranment either. Still one would be nuts to not like the idea of the ACC touranment coming to MSG.

In conclusion though a split basketball wise could lead to a opinion the ACC north is way overrated going into march, because SU, Pitt, Maryland and ND have what 2-3 Final fours in the last 25 years. It would be better for the ACC north to be part of the whole ACC and seen as dangerous darkhorses then to be a seperate weak overated division.
That is what made the NBE so dangerous, and the best conference in basketball.

It will be in the ACC's interests to be a deserving BCS conference in football and a top 2 conference in basketball. And if that includes a breakoff of 2 divisions then they should make sure both divisions are respected to help save any threat of a split.

 

[ORRange]

This was an aggressive move by the ACC to put the shovel in the Big East's grave. If they didn't make this move the Big 12 would have. ND will never share football $$. The ACC must be proactive if they want remain an elite conference. A great move. Anyone who thinks it wasn't a great move doesn't have a clue. It will be really hard to poach the ACC with that exit fee and ND on board.

 

[edowd26]

I'm 98.7% sure this is how it went down... Swafford is played by Mel Gibson and Swarbuck is played by the future king of scotland

 

[baggerbob]

Notre Dame will join in a couple years for football, Swarbrick can't just announce to the Alumni we've joined the ACC for football. This way in 2 or 3 years after playing everyone in the ACC, he can move all in with little opposition, and the ACC along with Notre Dame get a big payday.

 

[zeekay]

3 years. 2015 their contract with NBC expires. Rumors are, there is an under the table agreement that ND will join fully at that point, however it can't be discussed due to contracts/obligations etc. For now ND will try to pay off the BE and play in ACC for couple of years as independents in football.

The 16th and final member will most likely be invited in 2015 and it will be a football program. A good football program. Clemson/FSU etc. were not happy at all with SU and Pitt coming and so these moves are designed to appease the traditional football powers in the ACC and get two good football teams. I don't think the final member will be UCONN as a result.

 

[IthacaMatt]

This was an aggressive move by the ACC to put the shovel in the Big East's grave. If they didn't make this move the Big 12 would have. ND will never share football $$. The ACC must be proactive if they want remain an elite conference. A great move. Anyone who thinks it wasn't a great move doesn't have a clue. It will be really hard to poach the ACC with that exit fee and ND on board.

The only way ND football joins is if (a) their ratings on NBC suck and their exclusive TV deal doesn't keep up with what the ACC teams are getting, 0r (b) conference winners become the invitees to the championship playoffs, and there is no road for ND as an independent.

 

[zeekay]

The only way ND football joins is if (a) their ratings on NBC suck and their exclusive TV deal doesn't keep up with what the ACC teams are getting, 0r (b) conference winners become the invitees to the championship playoffs, and there is no road for ND as an independent.

I hope NBC sticks it to them on negotiations for having a sub par product on the field for a decade now. Hey ND, come join the party... in full

 

[pfister1]

The 16th and final member will most likely be invited in 2015 and it will be a football program. A good football program. Clemson/FSU etc. were not happy at all with SU and Pitt coming and so these moves are designed to appease the traditional football powers in the ACC and get two good football teams. I don't think the final member will be UCONN as a result.

Who exactly is a good football program that will (i) fit the ACC profile and (ii) be reasonably free to move in 2015?

 

[tbonezone]

the irish and their "sacred" football. i'm so sick of their b#llsh&t. get in or get the F OUT!