raiders114 wrote:
Just an idea for all of u. Shouldn't the ACC go for the kill and just ensure the absolute demise of the Big East? I think they should go to 20 teams, with 16 football schools along with 4 non-football schools. Add UCONN and Rutgers along with recent additions Pitt and Syracuse for football and then add four non-football schools from the Big East. I would choose Georgetown, St. John's, Villanova, and Notre Dame. I think this would work for Notre Dame because this way they could keep their status as an independent for football but play in the arguably now the best basketball conference in the country. This would also salvage Georgetown, St. John's, and Villanova from playing in what would be a lackluster Big East. This arrangement would secure the whole Eastern Seaboard for the ACC and would make it a financially lucrative television commodity due to all the big TV markets it would possess. I know it may seem extreme but why wouldn't the ACC do this? It would put it on the same page financially as the other power conferences.
Recap:
Add Rutgers and UCONN (football schools)
Add Georgetown, Notre Dame, St. Johns, Villanova (non-football schools)
If you read the history of this thread, even going back just 1.5 weeks ago, you'll see the one of the main points for years now has been that the ACC, unlike any other conference, has been in the position where they NEEDED to be proactive. Other conferences can wait. Even the Pac-12...because if they didn't add anyone what is the worst that can happen in their region? Nothing. It's not like the MWC would ever surpass the Pac-12 nor ever put much of a dent in their reign.
But with the ACC, when you look at the trends, they were in trouble. Without strength, they would have been at risk, very soon. of losing schools...powerful schools to the SEC. That happens, and Maryland is a flight risk to the Big Ten, along with Big East schools. And we almost saw the remnants of the Big 12 merge with the Big East.
In toher words, the ACC needed to be proactive.
And luckily for them they were.
Adding Pitt and Syracuse put a HUGE dent in the Big East and it will not recover. The conference in no way recovered when they lost Miami, VA tech and BC. But they remained just, and I mean just, good enough on the football side to retain the BCS AQ. The losses of the top 3 MWC schools aided that.
But for the ACC, they had BC INNNN the northeast markets but did not have much penetration into those markets.
With SU and Pitt, that changes. Those two schools, along with Uconn and Rutgers provide the bulk of the revenue in regards to the TV contract valuations by analysts. And TV contracts are just like athlete contracts: think of all the great players who are the best in their positions in a sport who are not the top paid in even their position because they signed something long term before the contracts escalated. so slightly above average players at times make twice as much as the best player of a position due to them being up for a new contract. So the existing team bids as do competitor teams to drive up the price. NCAA TV contracts are the same. So by the nature of the Big East contract being the next one up for bids, and more networks now in existence (NBC/Comcast merger) and the limited volume of available conferences to sign...the Big East contract was supposed to be as much as 50% more than the 1.4 billion ESPN bid that the bE turned down.
But now, with 2 of the top programs gone and the replacement pool adding little interest, that BE contract will not be what it would have been with Pitt and SU.
And in time, perhaps as early as this year, the ACC will work to renegotiate it's contract to include the value of the two top BE programs they added. We can almost assume that preliminary discussions already occurred between the ACC and it's partners as the ACC would not likely have made a move without some sort of soft deal already in place.
Point is, there is the argument that now, the aCC has made the kill.
The Big Ten still has the #1 program in the region from a TV value perspective (after ND) in Penn St. The ACC now has #2-4 in the order of Syraucse, BC and Pitt. The Big east has Uconn (newbie in FBS by most standards), Rutgers and on the southern fringe, WVU.
This is why while less conservative, I too think that the ACC CAN and very well MIGHT go for a harder kill in the near future. Because if the ACC can get 2 from the Notre Dame, Uconn and Rutgers pool, it's over, Done deal. ACC would have 5 schools in the region, perhaps the top 5 after Penn St and ND...and might even be able to score Notre Dame.
Even without ND, it's a huge win. Even leaving WVU out of the mix it's a win. Because there is an assumption we CAN make: if the ACC were to take 4 of the top schools in market value used to dictate the value of the upcoming Big East contract, then at worst, a great majority of the value would now be shifted to the ACC. So even with a discount, the renegotiated ACC contract would be much., much greater than the new Big East contract for a school pool of: WVU, Louisville, Cincy, ECU, USF, UCF, Memphis, Houston...since we know TCU would not join the Big East at that point (either B12 invite or remian in MWC).
So yes, the ACC could do more damage, find more security with more additions from Big East. But the damage is already done. And the dagger in the heart would be as simple as TWO more schools to get to 16 total. They wouldn't need to do any more because a hybrid with Providence, ECU, Nova, GTwon, Houston, etc isnt going to have the cache in hoops as the aCc. And if there were a split, the non-football schools would be taking a step back anyways since they lose the only programs of worth in UL and WVU. Once you get past Nova, GTown and now StJohns, the non-football side (sans Notre Dame) are not big money TV programs. MU has been great, but has less value than even StJohns right now.
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