interesting. administrators from seven schools-- FSU, Clemson, UNC, Miami, NC State, UVa and Virginia Tech-- have discussed the idea of 8 to 10 ACC schools voting to break away from league, end grant of rights with majority decision and creating a TV deal that would be just as...— Dick Weiss (@HoopsWeiss) May 16, 2024
Haven't seen anyone remotely reputable share this yet, so I thought that was interesting. I also don't think this will actually happen.
But it's the offseason so 🤷♂️
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I'll believe it when I see it, but, if true, could you imagine being an SMU fan? Finally get back to a power conference to have it dissolve within a year.
Hasn't that been their MO since the SWC dissolved?
The mustang curse.
Man this would be awesome if it happens. I've been hoping that the bigger programs in the league would break away and form a new ACC, maybe even inviting WVU too. If there's a way to make this and the finances make sense, this is far more preferable to me than trying to jump to the SEC or the Big Ten.
FSU
Clemson
VT
UVA
Miami
UNC
NC State
Louisville/GT
Pitt
WVU
Round robin, 9 game conference schedule. Would be a very compelling league. Just some of the rivalry games that would happen annually that could help boost the TV deal:
FSU-Miami
Clemson-FSU
VT-Miami
VT-WVU (Black Diamond Trophy)
WVU-Pitt (Backyard Brawl)
UNC-NC State
Clemson-NC State (Textile Bowl)
VT-GT
GT-Clemson
VT-UVA (Commonwealth Cup)
UVA-UNC (South's Oldest
RivalryPillowfight)And other compelling matchups that just haven't happened enough in the ACC:
FSU-VT
VT-Clemson
Clemson-Miami
UNC-Clemson
and so on. I'm signing up to watch that. Throw WVU in the mix against too and I think that's a pretty awesome slate of games with great regional rivalries. Could make an argument either way between GT and Louisville being included, but I think that would be my 10.
I'd say GT stays in due to the Atlanta market. And GT has great academics, way better than Louisville.
Nah take Louisville not GT. GT is dead weight. Louisville is the largest US city without pro sports and has a super passionate fanbase that shows up for losing teams more than GT fans show up for winning teams.
Simple solution, keep both teams and add Notre Dame.
(But if it gets down to it Pitt is the odd team out of the three)
I would say if this hypothetical new conference were to invite WVU, that Pitt would be great to pair with them. But if it came down to Pitt/GT/Louisville and WVU isn't a part of the equation, I may be inclined to take GT and Louisville. But having the Backyard Brawl as part of the equation I think would be a big selling point. WVU and Louisville also had a pretty intense rivalry going back at the end of the Big East days which could be fun to reignite.
GT is tough for me to make a lot of arguments for though. What compelling rivalries do they bring to the table? And in Georgia, this isn't a UF/FSU or SCAR/Clemson type situation. UGA completely dominates the state - GT really doesn't even bring that much from the Atlanta area as far as viewership I'd be willing to guess (pro sports town and still UGA is the biggest draw). They have also showed a lack of financial commitment to athletics in a lot of ways. I just don't see the value there if we only had ten spots to fill and WVU was taking one of them.
Also selfishly, from a brand perspective, I would want VT to be the only 'Tech' in the league TBH.
What, no Wake Forest? ;^)
We're just gonna get the Magnificent 7 Rumor every offseason til the GOR expires
If it ever happens I hope they run with that name for the league.
If this happens, would other conferences do the same? The Illinois, Rutgers, Vandy, type schools should also be getting nervous depending on how this plays out
Ehh..this seems like a great idea on the surface, but there is also strength in numbers.
Does anyone really think that any Network is going to pay the same $$$ for a conference with 40% less schools?
I could maybe see a scenario where the "top dawgs" in the B12 and ACC combine and the leftovers become a G5+ conference but that would take an immense level of cooperation and would be vehemently fought by the teams getting left out.
You wouldn't be hoping for more overall money, just more per school, with the idea that more games between the better schools would be a more attractive option to the networks, instead of having the additional games with the lesser schools. Maybe it would be more per school than the current ACC deal, but I don't think it would come close to the SEC/Big Ten deals. Between the NFL, and NBA deals, and then the SEC and Big Ten deals, I don't know how much money the networks want/have to spend, especially as subscriber numbers keep dropping. Even MLB is getting squeezed with some of its deals.
Reasonable point..maybe each school gets a bigger piece of pie, but I think it would be pretty slight. And quite a bit would be eaten up in legal fees extracting from the GoR.
Agree that whatever the number would be, it would likely be far short of SEC/B1G money which begs to ask what would be the point?
You then are left maybe slightly richer, in a smaller conference. So then the SEC puts the ESPN talking heads to work diminishing any conference champion because they aren't in a "full conference", ect. You also lessen opportunity for NCAA bids in multiple sports.
Again, beyond the surface, I don't see how this kind of plan becomes beneficial in long-term.
Agreed. The ideal end game seems to be to end up in either the SEC, the Big Ten, or whatever hybrid super league it all ends up as. If that won't happen if the ACC gets broken up before the 2035, then you're right, what's the point? Maybe some schools think it'll be easier to stay available to be picked up out of a smaller league?
It seems pretty short-sighted in a lot of ways to chase the dollar by seeking P2 membership. Long-term, it's not going to be good for the sport to alienate so many non-P2 teams and fans and I fear it will ultimately decline in popularity. People aren't going to stop pulling for their college team and choose to root for Ohio State or Alabama.
Also eventually, the bubble is going to burst on these tv deals. TV networks are eventually going to struggle paying more and more money to these conferences who are adding more teams. College football has historically gone through cycles with conferences - we did these huge super leagues like the old SoCon and it eventually led to a split between SEC and ACC and a preference for more leagues with smaller membership. Things ebb and flow and I don't think everyone trying to consolidate in two leagues is realistic or going to last long-term.
I also feel that the ACC is our best fit from a geographic and cultural standpoint in many ways. I think the next best fit would be many of the SEC east teams, but I just don't see our administration aligning with a lot of the shady politics and dealings of the SEC. And I don't see us as a fit for the Midwest either in the Big Ten. We are a mid-Atlantic east coast school. I also think long-term we can be more competitive in the ACC. With the SEC, you're never going to compete against the Bamas and Georgias. And same in the Big Ten - no one is realistically competing against OSU and Michigan, it's their league and always will be.
If the ACC football schools can get their stuff together, Clemson, FSU, VT, and Miami is a very strong top group of football schools that we can compete with. And add in UNC, NC State, Pitt, and WVU, that could be a very strong core for a league of 10 schools with a lot of great rivalries and good football and basketball.
Realistically I'm just looking out for the best long-term interests of the sport and where I think VT can best flourish. But I'm sure if we got a P2 offer tomorrow we would take it. For better or worse.
I mean yes if all things remain equal, the ACC is our best fit. But things are not equal, and they're so far from equal that being P2 vs not being P2 is probably the difference from having a financially solvent athletic department in 2030 for the vast majority of schools out there. The gap is too large to overcome.
We can survive if we don't make it there, but we will effectively be a D2 school unable to financially fund a competitive program at the highest level in any sport. And there are maybe 5 schools in the country who wouldn't be in that same boat.
Shoot, it's always the rich get richer. And the poor are on the outside looking in. VT (and others) will never be at the table. We're always looking for scraps.
The only way we (us and similar schools) can control our destiny, is to not play that game.
We'd be better off finding say 8 total schools and self-funding a conference: say 8 schools with 80,000 alum each=640,000 conference alum. Make each pay $1000=annual payout of 80 million/school per year. Then, have the conference have its own TV network. With the monies generated from all the above, sponsorships, advertising, uniform deals, etc the schools would be whole.
And, no more suckling at the teat of the Nike/NCAA/ESPN beast.
Crazy talk, I know. But point being, we don't have a winning hand to play now. So a fan/alumni funded conference would get rid of THE MAN.
✊🏼
I'd be all for this.
Which is why I'll be surprised if it happens.
Seems incredibly unlikely. I don't know that it's a winning option either. Which network would pick up the newly formed league? Certainly not ESPN. If, let's say, 9 teams leave the ACC to void the GOR and form a new league do the remaining teams stay in the ACC and stick with ESPN or do they get dropped like a rock because, theoretically, they are the dead weight? So the new league wouldn't have to pay the exit fees but they also need to have a deal lined up that's worth leaving for. Who is going to sign up for that? ESPN and Fox are set. Is Amazon big enough to get in the game? Are these 9 or so teams worth it? It could create a monumental shift in the sport. But also, the sec and big are already so far ahead that I'm not sure a move like this, at this time, is going to save the teams in the league. Maybe if this happened 15 years ago. I just think it's too little too late for something like this to work. Would be interesting to see it play out tho.
With most industry reports speculating that Amazon has invested well north of one billion dollars (insert Dr. Evil gif) on the two seasons of Rings of Power, I would guess that IF Amazon wanted to get into the business of broadcasting college football, that money would not be an issue for them.
Yea, money is not the issue. I don't think any CFB conference wants to put the majority of their inventory on streaming (unless it's Amazon is willing to drastically overpay)
At a certain point, there are many more people who do have Prime than don't, and it's actually more convenient to have a network on Prime than any of the RSNs or even deal with ESPN and their channels. A dedicated stream per game that doesnt run the risk of being run into by a previous broadcast? Yeah I'm down with it
It's not about how many people have prime; it's about how many college football fans have prime.
Personally I would absolutely love to have every ACC game in one place, on a streaming network, preferably one that I already subscribe to. I probably would have subscribed to the P12 Apple TV service. But I don't think your typical college football fan would - that's why that deal fell through.
If they were really gonna do this they wouldn't have invited Stanford, Cal and SMU.
It's like people aren't even putting thought into these fake rumors anymore.
Lol, shouldn't UVa be part of the "dead weight"?
They are being included for BB only. That and all the teams want at least one bad team at football in the conference.
Pitt Gt UVA should get lower shares for sure. But they aren't without value, they do give us an important free win every year
pitt and gt being free wins?
lol. I had the same thought. And then I tried to imagine what DC would say when he sees this assertion.
Not effectively.
Pitt and ga tech free wins, that dog won't hunt
It would create more revenue. Problem is once the GoR is broken there's nothing to prevent Clemson and FSU from changing their mind and bolting to the SEC/B10. In which case everyone else is praying for a bid, Miami and UNC probably get one, VT and NC State are probably left high and dry with the Big 12 being the only viable option
This was my thought as well, someone is going to get left high and dry if GOR is broken, and its most likely 4 to 5 of the schools that helped do away with it
no way there would be enough votes to break grant of rights without those voting yes already having a landing spot lined up. No pres/AD is going to take that risk.
Then it won't ever break because they need 9 votes to break it after the new additions I believe. No one besides Clem FSU Miami UNC VT and NC State is getting a P2 bid. Even if the Big 10 was dumb enough to take UVA and GT that's still only 8
This is on the spectrum of a "verbal commit". I'll believe it when I see it...
No way - this is more of 'he's signed up for an unofficial visit'
I think you're really overestimating the stock I put into "verbal commit"
So on par with "my uncle's barber coached the kid in Pop Warner and says he's a strong VT lean?"
More or less
FTFY
800%
I could see the following leaving and forming a new conference:
1. FSU
2. Clemson
3. VT
4. UVA
5. Miami
6. UNC
7. NC State
8. Louisville
9. GT
10. Duke
I can see Duke getting in due to the history with the league and the basketball strength over Pitt and/Or WVU. I am not sure the new conference would want to touch WVU at all and not sure why they would leave the B12 for a chance. As much as Clemson/FSU might scream, I think the new conference would need a GOR as well to prevent the breakup of the new conference the instant their was a B1G or SEC offer for a team. I still can't see C or FSU going to the SEC. But I could potentially see the SEC interested in UNC or NC State without the GOR slowing them down.
A nine game round robin with or without a conference championship would give the conference some punch in football while keeping 3 Non-Conference or rivalry games out of conference.
I personally think if the Mag 7 and a few others break off and start a new ACC, Duke shouldn't and likely wouldn't be a part of it. That may seem shocking, but this is about football viewership far above all else. Duke just doesn't move the needle in football at all. They are a small private school with most of their alumni in the northeast. They made their way into the elite ranks under Coach K and got quite a bandwagon following, but is that realistically sustainable now in the post Coach K era? We know basketball is a distant second as far as revenue from these tv deals - does Duke honestly move the needle that much in this new landscape?
IMO, they would be better suited playing in the Big East with other small private basketball-focused schools and set up an associate membership with football for the Sun Belt/American Conference.
WVU is a state school with a bigger alumni base and following. The ratings from our recent Black Diamond Trophy games and their Backyard Brawl renewal with Pitt show that those are games that people want to watch. WVU helps bring eyes for football games IMO, and I think there are a ton of interesting regional matchups there if they joined an overhauled and football-focused ACC. I think if the money made sense or was even close, their fanbase would much rather have that slate of games than the travel in the Big 12.
Case in point, of all the Duke basketball fans you see during basketball season, how many do you think are actually watching and/or showing up for Duke football? Versus WVU fans who are diehard in all sports. We have learned this lesson in the ACC that bigger state schools matter and move the needle more for football interest than small private schools.
Regarding Duke, their biggest draw may actually be people watching them hoping they'll lose. If basketball is at all important, they are the most consistently good team the ACC still has. UVA may be pretty good, but they don't score much, and per Shoresy, "Nobody cares."
I feel like WVU is the creepy uncle you hope doesn't show up to family reunions because he married a cousin and seems to be a fair amount too fond of his sheep.
No way that the ACC would leave out any of the Tobacco Road schools, so I think Wake would be in as well. Just my two cents.
What impact would a settlement in this case have on the future of the ACC?
The following was quoted from a different article.
Commissioner Jim Phillips earned $2.76 million for the 2022-23 fiscal year, while former commissioner John Swofford was listed as the second-highest paid at $2.59 million. Since his retirement in 2021, Swofford has made nearly $6 million from the ACC.
My question is why are we paying a former commissioner anything, let alone over 2 million a year.
Talk about "dead weight" amirite?
Dude should be paying the ACC 2 mil a year for his gross incompetence