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This was a great move by the ACC-------to opt out of the conference now would mean sacrifising your media grants of rights for 15 years------the vote was 15-0 so it would seem beyond the rhealm of possibility that one of the schools would yell illegal down the road the road and attempt to leave on that basis.
Just a few months ago there were multitudes of scenarios on who was going to bolt out the Acc------now with a 15 year deal with espn, the GOR, and the strong probability of a regional pay network with espn, the question turns to who wants in, not who wants out.
(1) SEC: Added Texas A&M and Missouri; No losses; Kept the Big Twelve and the Big Ten out of its traditional footprint; However, did not attempt to expand into North Carolina and Virginia, two growth markets; No GOR - That say's everything. Could attempt to add Oklahoma State and Kansas State down the road.
(2) PAC12: Added Colorado and Utah, two average schools; No losses; No competition in the west; In strong position to expand eastward (Big Twelve) sometime in the future. PAC 12 could add New Mexico or UNLV, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. That would lockup the southwest region.
(3) ACC: Added Pitt, Cuse, Louisville and Notre Dame (a partial member in football); Best Basketball conference but need to find a way to extract greater financial benefits from it, possibly via ACC Network; Lost Maryland (part of DC TV Market); Stopped Big Ten from expanding into Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, thought to be the ultimate prizes for B1G Commissioner Delaney. Assuming Notre Dame becomes a full fledged member, Cincinnati could be added as the 16th school. Puts the ACC in Ohio, a state which produces good football players, like Pennsylvania.
(4) B1G: Added Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers: No losses; Gained TV Markets in NJ and DC; Perceived to have lost in attempt to expand to the southeast region, but Delaney could make further inroads in the northeast by adding UConn and UMass. However, that move would further dilute the football product, which has not improved with the additions of Maryland and Rutgers. Alternatively, B1G could try to add Texas and Oklahoma.
Conference realignment losers are:
(1) Big Twelve minus two: Added TCU and WVU but lost Texas A&M, Missouri, Colorado and Nebraska; Spurned by FSU and Clemson; WVU already complaining about travel; Should've added Louisville and Cincinnati last year; No major schools in play.
(2) Big East: Lost Cuse, Pitt, Louisville, WVU, Rutgers and Notre Dame; What can you say?
It does appear that Bowlsby and the Big XII were out maneuvered once again.....which is more than a trend for the Big XII Brass. Please give us Chuck Neinas back.
Bowlsby will continue to say the Big XII members have the highest member payout and how the teams are happy. Well, I don't know very many fans out there happy being the smallest conference with NO championship game. Give me the Big XII South back please, the most exciting division in all college football.
Clearly, the Big XII should have gone hard after UL when WV came on board, maybe even adding Cincy to the bundle to round out the East and get back to 12. Now the Big XII is limited to wooing BYU again (horrible geographically not to mention Mormon U. will be in the heart of the Bible Belt/OK-TX) and maybe even USF or UCONN!
As a sidenote, two sources have told The World-Herald that the Big Ten has done prior “homework” on Oklahoma, Kansas and Vanderbilt among other schools who might some day be expansion targets. The Big 12 grant-of-rights deal didn’t stop a look-see for OU and KU.
FSU is not much of a winner here. They had no choice of course but we will see how much you like it when you see how much UF gets in revenue when the new SEC deal is released.
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