USC and UCLA to the Big Ten

[elimunelson]

If they approved playoff expansion, it only would've bought the ACC a little time. Texas/OU to SEC would've still been announced shortly after, and the Big Ten would've scrambled to raid the Pac-12/ACC.

We're approaching the endgame and I'm at peace with it.

Right. We're at the "no matter what we do it won't work longterm" moment of the show. Ultimately you're either ugly or you're beautiful. Bees seems to think we're ravishing and we have nothing to worry about. I happen to agree with him but that doesn't mean in the next 20 years there's a seat for us or the university doesn't ultimately throw in the towel throwing good money after bad

 

[CuseLegacy]

MSN

 

[KaiserUEO]

There is also an exit fee. I think that it is around $50 million.

youre not really helping the masses here...

 

[TerryD]

I admit it. I have never seen the ACC GOR.

But I have read from many sources that the GOR ND signed has a clause that specifically prohibits them from joining a conference for football unless it is the ACC, until the ACC GOR expires in 2036. I just linked to one of the articles above.

So I totally disagree with nd1973, TerryD and Heather on this.

The ACC had the foresight that something like this could happen (ND is all about ND) and they took steps to prevent it.

Maybe all the media reports are wrong. Or maybe this clause of the GOR can be broken. It is definitely not a normal part of a GOR and I don't know for sure if it will hold up in court.

ND is not a free agent the B1G can just snap up. At the least, there is going to be a legal battle and you can be sure the ACC is going to hold ND to its word if it possibly can.

It is now all about how much. All contracts are made to be broken.

 

[Scooch]

If they approved playoff expansion, it only would've bought the ACC a little time. Texas/OU to SEC would've still been announced shortly after, and the Big Ten would've scrambled to raid the Pac-12/ACC.

We're approaching the endgame and I'm at peace with it.

I’m with you. This is all so, so, so dumb. If the alums of UCLA want to watch their football team in Des Moines, and their admin wants to send their womens volleyball team to Columbus on a random weeknight in January, have at it.

Honestly, the best compromise would be for football conferences and all other sports conferences to split up. Let teams align regionally for all things but football, and let the golden 35-45 form 2 football mega leagues. Obviously that won’t happen, and I’m past really caring anymore. I didn’t really follow college sports the first 18 years of my life, I’ll just go back to that.

 

[ForCuseSake]

This broke perfectly for ND to coincide with the expiration of their NBC deal.

They'll settle with the ACC for $100-$200M (for a 2024 or 2025 departure), continue as an Independent in FB while negotiating with both mega-conferences AND broadcasting partners (NBC, ESPN, FOX, etc).

They'll play all sides against each other and could even likely be allowed to stay independent by taking a haircut on TV revenue (sharing TV dollars with the conference that'll take their Olympic sports and their promise to marry them if ever forced to join). Basically broker another ACC type deal with the B1G or SEC.

It'll give the Golden Domers the illusion of being independent without actually being independent.

I expect they'll eventually stash their Olympic sports in the B1G.

Truly, the luck of the Irish.

 

[KaiserUEO]

MSN

ND is going to play teams not in the SEC or B1G then.

lets see how much thats worth...

 

[djorange1989]

People, people. If the big 2 leagues expand to 20 teams each, or 22, that will still leave 25-30 P5 programs(including the new Big 12 teams). That would be a good third league that could negotiate a good new contract with networks and streaming services who desperately want one thing more than anything else: live football, still good football, the one thing that commands ratings anymore. We are already in a conference that has a far inferior TV deal, one that lasts forever. We already are inferior in terms of conference strength. An expanded playoff would very likely include this third new conference, it just wouldn’t get more than that one bid more than likely. As far as SU goes, that isn’t exactly a concern. I bet a new TV deal for a third conference, even divided amongst 25-30 schools, would still be better than what we make now. We already are at the bottom in terms of recruiting so unless scholarship limits are greatly expanded, our talent pool won’t change. Our big problem would come if the big 2 leagues expand to 30 teams each or something like that and we are one of the 10 leftovers, hanging out with Vandy, Kansas, Duke etc in football hell

 

[nd1973]

MSN

Even I find that article ridiculous.

 

[TerryD]

ND is going to play teams not in the SEC or B1G then.

lets see how much thats worth...

I read the article. It had a lot of the guy's opinions in it but not much else.

 

[CuseLegacy]

There is also an exit fee. I think that it is around $50 million.

That's what it was in 2012 when UMD left the conference. I't's more now.

ACC's New Exit Fee: Punitive Or Par For The Course?

The new fee is a huge increase for the ACC, up roughly 250% from a year ago. But is the conference's exit fee really the worst deal in college athletics? Maybe, but a close look at exit fees from around the country shows that there is a lot more to leaving a conference than just paying the bill.

www.forbes.com

"It's first important that we clarify that the $50 million number being thrown around isn't entirely accurate. The ACC's exit fee is actually calculated as three years' worth of per-school conference distributions, which currently stands at a little more than $50 million and will increase as the conference's distributions rise in the coming years. That's a hefty fine, but the payout also comes with a relatively speedy exit. An exiting school must notify the conference and its members of its plans by August 15 in order to leave by the end of the following June, a roughly ten-month wait."

 

[KaiserUEO]

People, people. If the big 2 leagues expand to 20 teams each, or 22, that will still leave 25-30 P5 programs(including the new Big 12 teams). That would be a good third league that could negotiate a good new contract with networks and streaming services who desperately want one thing more than anything else: live football, still good football, the one thing that commands ratings anymore. We are already in a conference that has a far inferior TV deal, one that lasts forever. We already are inferior in terms of conference strength. An expanded playoff would very likely include this third new conference, it just wouldn’t get more than that one bid more than likely. As far as SU goes, that isn’t exactly a concern. I bet a new TV deal for a third conference, even divided amongst 25-30 schools, would still be better than what we make now. We already are at the bottom in terms of recruiting so unless scholarship limits are greatly expanded, our talent pool won’t change. Our big problem would come if the big 2 leagues expand to 30 teams each or something like that and we are one of the 10 leftovers, hanging out with Vandy, Kansas, Duke etc in football hell

oh, be sure there will be $$ for Cuse v WV in football, the ratings will still be higher than duke-unc hoop, but will happen is there will likely be 3 tiers of football.

right now theres 2...FBS & FCS.

FBS Major, FBS Minor & FCS is the future.

i suppose the FBS Minor can hold its own 4 team playoff or whatever and crown a champion too.

 

[florange44]

Where does this stop? If it goes down to 2 super conferences, seems like there needs to be like a 50 year agreement between Fox/BIG and ESPN/SEC where the revenue is the same for each school/conference, or else we will be at the scenario again shortly after the super conferences are formed

Isn’t that collusion of some kind and wouldn’t that require an anti-trust exemption?

 

[djorange1989]

oh, be sure there will be $$ for Cuse v WV in football, the ratings will still be higher than duke-unc hoop, but will happen is there will likely be 3 tiers of football.

right now theres 2...FBS & FCS.

FBS Major, FBS Minor & FCS is the future.

i suppose the FBS Minor can hold its own 4 team playoff or whatever and crown a champion too.

The playoff thing will be interesting. Do they expand? Does it include anyone outside of an expanded Big 10/SEC? I think both could happen, but your scenario is quite possible too

 

[TheCusian]

ND will buy its way out of any ACC contracts. I have heard the range of $150-175 million.

ND will recoup that in about 3 years with a Big Ten payout of $100 million a year.

Terry! My man! I knew you’d love joining a conference for the right amount of cash

 

[chop block]

I just resigned myself to the fact they ruined college sports so a handful of people can make gobs of $ while the average athlete will earn nothing and normal students will graduate tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

 

[TheCusian]

I just resigned myself to the fact they ruined college sports so a handful of people can make gobs of $ while the average athlete will earn nothing and normal students will graduate tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

Couldn’t design a more backward way of doing it

Unbound capitalism makes horrible dreams come true

 

[sutomcat]

MSN

It is going to be interesting to see what role that clause in the GOR specifically for ND football plays in what ND does for the next 14 years.

I think Terry and nd1973 should take it more seriously.

Question for lawyers:

How does standard law work when it comes to a party clearly violating a contract like the ND fan boys are saying the Irish are going to do?

Isn't the penalty related to the damages breaking the contract will cause to the other party?

If the ACC schools are getting $40 million per a year now and if ND joined, it was determined the ACC payout would increase to $70 million, are the damages then

$30*14 (number of schools in the ACC affected) * 13 (number of years of revenue that would be affected?

That number is just under $5.5 billion. Is that what ND would be on the hook for? What does the law say?

 

[sutomcat]

It is now all about how much. All contracts are made to be broken.

A GOR has never been broken. At least not one with 14 years left on it. If this was 2034, yes, I would agree with you.

Maybe the language of the contract is poor and ND will find a way to wiggle out only paying a few hundred million.

What are your feelings about ND abandoning its business partners and its cherished football independence? If ND joins the B1G, will that make you happy? Do you care about independence at all any longer?

 

[Trueblue25]

Id rather spend my Saturday watching Syracuse lose a section 3 qualifier to Liverpool than not watch SU and see some SEC mega conference matchup.

Anyone here watch the G League? Doubt it

 

[HRE Otto IV]

People, people. If the big 2 leagues expand to 20 teams each, or 22, that will still leave 25-30 P5 programs(including the new Big 12 teams). That would be a good third league that could negotiate a good new contract with networks and streaming services who desperately want one thing more than anything else: live football, still good football, the one thing that commands ratings anymore. We are already in a conference that has a far inferior TV deal, one that lasts forever. We already are inferior in terms of conference strength. An expanded playoff would very likely include this third new conference, it just wouldn’t get more than that one bid more than likely. As far as SU goes, that isn’t exactly a concern. I bet a new TV deal for a third conference, even divided amongst 25-30 schools, would still be better than what we make now. We already are at the bottom in terms of recruiting so unless scholarship limits are greatly expanded, our talent pool won’t change. Our big problem would come if the big 2 leagues expand to 30 teams each or something like that and we are one of the 10 leftovers, hanging out with Vandy, Kansas, Duke etc in football hell

The money wouldn't be worth it IMO. I rather stay in the ACC and get to 10 teams. A 20+ team national leftovers conference wouldn't be significantly higher in TV $. It actually might be worse. Even if it is slightly better, is it worth it for all the travel? Especially for non revenue sports?

ACC potential leftovers
SU, BC, Pitt, Duke, Wake, Louisville, Miami

Potential adds
Cincy, Temple, UConn, WV, Vandy, UCF, USF

Get to 10 teams from that and have a true round robin in FB and BBall.

 

[KaiserUEO]

The playoff thing will be interesting. Do they expand? Does it include anyone outside of an expanded Big 10/SEC? I think both could happen, but your scenario is quite possible too

IMO: the smart move would be to organize their own championship, sort've an NIT on steroids.

I'd move the FBS Major playoffs to 6 and allow for 1 or 2 Minor teams to make it if they can (think undefeated only with a stud QB), this way the SEC & B1G can get 3 or more teams in the playoffs...and then also have a Final 4 for the Minors. if they want to do 6? go ahead, knock yourself out. we all know what really matters and its not 3v6 & 4v5 in the FBS Minor league...but i get people will watch, i will.

 

[SWC75]

The ACC’s arrogance has put them in this position. They have never been forward thinking and are always two steps behind. They should go after ND, Penn State, Maryland and Northwestern. I doubt any of those teams want to send their sports teams traveling all over the country. ND and Northwestern give us Chicago’s market. ESPN will still need programming. They would be smart to put out a number if the ACC picks up these schools.

And the Big East was always two steps behind the ACC.

We haven't had much forward thinking in this area of the country since the 70's.

 

[nd1973]

It is going to be interesting to see what role that clause in the GOR specifically for ND football plays in what ND does for the next 14 years.

I think Terry and nd1973 should take it more seriously.

Question for lawyers:

How does standard law work when it comes to a party clearly violating a contract like the ND fan boys are saying the Irish are going to do?

Isn't the penalty related to the damages breaking the contract will cause to the other party?

If the ACC schools are getting $40 million per a year now and if ND joined, it was determined the ACC payout would increase to $70 million, are the damages then

$30*14 (number of schools in the ACC affected) * 13 (number of years

A GOR has never been broken. At least not one with 14 years left on it. If this was 2034, yes, I would agree with you.

Maybe the language of the contract is poor and ND will find a way to wiggle out only paying a few hundred million.

What are your feelings about ND abandoning its business partners and its cherished football independence? If ND joins the B1G, will that make you happy? Do you care about independence at all any longer?

A GOR has never been broken. At least not one with 14 years left on it. If this was 2034, yes, I would agree with you.

Maybe the language of the contract is poor and ND will find a way to wiggle out only paying a few hundred million.

What are your feelings about ND abandoning its business partners and its cherished football independence? If ND joins the B1G, will that make you happy? Do you care about independence at all any longer?

Heather Dinich @CFBHeather A source told me that if Notre Dame were to withdraw from the ACC, it can play football wherever it wants. It would have to pay exit fee and grant of rights fees for its other sports.

 

[dollarbill44]

RIP Pac 12, ACC, and Big 12 with this news today.

USC and UCLA leaving (assuming report is true) is beyond huge on so many levels. It's the LA market leaving the Pac 12 and west coast with nothing.

SEC and Big 10 will each have 30 or 32 schools, they break away from the NCAA. Don't have to worry about any rules at all. Cut their own TV deal which will be on the level of the NFL money wise.

THIS.IS.HAPPENING!

I may just stop watching football and basketball if this all goes down. The NFL and NBA should be concerned. What's to stop the SEC and BIG from just making their leagues full-on professional and keeping guys for their whole playing careers?
If I'm those leagues, I start taking the physically ready kids right after high school.