THE_UGLi

September 1st, 2023 at 9:59 AM ^

As far as the Big Ten and SEC involvement in realignment, this is in the end game now.  The Pac conference is now gone (Wash St. and Oregon St. will join a minor conference now), and the Big12 has a bunch of member schools that neither the Big Ten nor the SEC is interested in.  The only thing left is for the Big Ten and SEC to strip the ACC of schools that are worth enough when that becomes possible.  The Big Ten and SEC will probably each grab ~4 from the ACC.  The balance of the ACC schools will end up in the Big12, or in some sort of basketball conference (like the old Big East), or in the same situation as Wash St. and Oregon St.

Joined: 04/19/2021

MGoPoints: 15

Dunder

September 1st, 2023 at 8:11 AM ^

While the coaches and players bring us week one:

"When a student-athletes call it a game, the corporate types call it a business. When the student-athletes call it a business, the corporate types call it a game."

 

 

Joined: 09/04/2010

MGoPoints: 8114

cheesheadwolverine

September 1st, 2023 at 8:29 AM ^

Two thoughts:

1) What was the last structural change that made college sports not worse for anyone who is not a television executive?  I guess the cfp ten years ago. 

2) This one is particularly galling for the non-revenue sports.  What is the academic disruption of constantly flying commercial all over the continent to play water polo?

Joined: 10/25/2008

MGoPoints: 7523

HouseHarbaugh

September 1st, 2023 at 11:24 AM ^

The CFP never got to the sweet spot, which for me will always be 8 teams: The 5 P5 conference champions, top G5 conference champion, and 2 at-large. Instead, it jumped straight from 4 (which never made any sense with 5 conferences) to 12 (which makes absolutely no sense and resulted in the death of a P5 conference).

I never thought I would say this, but the BCS was better than the CFP, both now and the one beginning next year.

Joined: 02/21/2022

MGoPoints: 3803

gwrock

September 1st, 2023 at 8:31 AM ^

It's ridiculous.  There should be separate "TV conferences" for football, and the other sports should stay in their original regional conferences.  In aggregate, college football should be able to pull in more TV money than the NFL -- but it doesn't because nobody's in charge.

Joined: 10/05/2010

MGoPoints: 8192

GoBlue96

September 1st, 2023 at 8:32 AM ^

It will be interesting to see if this hurts Stanford's recruiting for non-football sports.  Obviously it's a great school, but if I'm an athlete, I seriously think twice about 10 hours in a plane every week of my season.

Joined: 07/01/2008

MGoPoints: 56025

crg

September 1st, 2023 at 8:34 AM ^

Shocked it actually went through.

SMU would not have been on the top of my list as the most attractive G5 football program still available, but if someone is going to literally pay their way in... makes as much sense as anything else in this game.

Joined: 04/30/2015

MGoPoints: 75057

Blau

September 1st, 2023 at 10:06 AM ^

Eh, a Texas school with wealthy donors willing to essentially pay their own way if you will that doesn't really pose an immediate threat to win the conference isn't the worse thing in the world.

I had an annoying friend in elementary school whose family was what you would refer to "well off" and he had every Power Ranger known to man plus the villains and the weapons they used. He didn't really add anything to the friend group and lived pretty far away but we always made sure to invite him to the birthday parties and sleepovers. I feel sorta like a dick now looking back on it but it was totally worth it. 

Joined: 01/23/2014

MGoPoints: 35391

LSAClassOf2000

September 1st, 2023 at 8:35 AM ^

I assume that this means, in the coming years, that some of the ACC's larger draws - Clemson and FSU - will move on out, and then the ACC television deal will start heading towards (now former) Pac-12 territory, streaming on smart refrigerators and on IP addresses in Eastern and Central Europe. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130776

M_Born M_Believer

September 1st, 2023 at 8:40 AM ^

Since the ACC now has a full continent foot print, the notion of travel costs is a constant.  So for FSU, Clemson, and UNC, it will be about getting more revenue.  Whether they are in the ACC or the BIG TEN, they will have to travel to the West Coast (obviously the SEC not so much).

So, yes, I would expect the SEC to pick up Clemson for sure.  I heard that Florida is against FSU joining the SEC, but really do not know how much clout they have.  I would expect FSU to head to the SEC as well.  Leaving UNC stuck, the BIG TEN is, TV money wise, the pot of gold, but essentially, UNC needs a partner to propose to the BIG TEN as well.

This is all insane and falling into complete chaos...

Joined: 11/11/2009

MGoPoints: 11786

McSomething

September 1st, 2023 at 9:10 AM ^

Allegedly there's any alliance of Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and one other school to keep any other in-state schools from being added to the SEC. A&M may have had no allies to prevent Texas from being added. 

Edit: I think South Carolina may be that fourth school. So if those schools have to ability to make blocks, that leaves FSU, Miami (YTM), Georgia Tech, Louisville, and Clemson on the outside looking in. 

Only time will tell if that block actually exists, and if they truly have the pull they think.

A 20 team B1G with FSU, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and maybe a UNC would look pretty interesting for the people driving all this madness.

Joined: 09/29/2010

MGoPoints: 36898