Tuesday Conference Realignment Midday Update
By: Larry Williams
Earlier today we shared that the ACC's consideration of Stanford and California is a very real thing, and there's also conversation about bringing SMU aboard.
A lot to unpack here. Let's give it a shot after spending a significant portion of this morning talking with contacts:
-- Twelve votes are needed from ACC presidents to approve these moves.
Clemson, as we told you this morning, is a hard no. As are Florida State and North Carolina.
There are nine schools who are strongly in favor.
And then three -- N.C. State, Virginia, Virginia Tech -- who are hard to read. And by that we mean that their ADs would be likely to vote no, but their presidents seem in favor of voting yes (and here we can get into the importance of alignment up and down the chain of command at universities on realignment matters, but that's probably a lot of words for another article).
-- For the ACC, the obvious benefit to adding schools is that ESPN then is contractually bound to come back to the table and shell out money on a pro-rata basis for the extra inventory.
-- It's hard to pick which is the more glaring problem for the ACC regarding the prospect of this:
1) The obvious practical obstacles of having, say, the Miami women's basketball team flying to Palo Alto and back for a regular-season game (and so on and so on and so on).
2) The obviously brutal optics that come from the ACC, once again, looking like a total reactionary player in the realignment game as the aggressive and visionary moves happen elsewhere.
The Big Ten, for all its supposed emphasis on the high-minded academic thing, just took Oregon and Washington and left two prestigious academic institutions (Stanford and Cal) at the curb.
And now the ACC, whose clear existential predicament is falling hopelessly behind the Big Ten and SEC in annual TV payouts, is seriously considering going after two schools that -- and this just sounds like a punchline after this past Friday's events -- "fit the ACC's academic profile."
-- And here's the kicker: The ACC spent a lot of time over the past year looking closely at adding several Pac-12 schools. One contact told us it was four schools, but another told us this morning it was "a minimum" of four.
So back to the optics thing: The ACC spends a ton of time and effort trying to be proactive after the mammoth summer developments in 2021 (Texas/Oklahoma to the SEC) and 2022 (USC/UCLA to the Big Ten).
But the conference ... just ... can't ... do it. Almost like a quarterback who looks great in practice but then melts when the lights turn on and there are 80,000 fans in the stands.
And you go from thinking big to, after watching two other conferences actually go big Friday, seemingly desperate to grab the last two standing.
Wow. Just wow.
-- What about a timeline here?
As of this morning we were told there wouldn't be a final vote of the presidents in their conference call.
"It's not that far along yet," a source said.
The hope from Clemson's side -- and FSU's and UNC's -- was that the plug would get pulled on it this morning.
"That's not likely though," the same contact said. "I'm not confident that there will be enough no's.
"It's really tenuous right now."
Wow.
Just wow.
NOTE: Please do not copy/paste or summarize any portion of this post to other message boards or social media, as it is a direct violation of copyright laws. Thank you!
LINK: New Clemson Nike Zoom Pegasus 40 Running Shoes!
By: Larry Williams
Earlier today we shared that the ACC's consideration of Stanford and California is a very real thing, and there's also conversation about bringing SMU aboard.
A lot to unpack here. Let's give it a shot after spending a significant portion of this morning talking with contacts:
-- Twelve votes are needed from ACC presidents to approve these moves.
Clemson, as we told you this morning, is a hard no. As are Florida State and North Carolina.
There are nine schools who are strongly in favor.
And then three -- N.C. State, Virginia, Virginia Tech -- who are hard to read. And by that we mean that their ADs would be likely to vote no, but their presidents seem in favor of voting yes (and here we can get into the importance of alignment up and down the chain of command at universities on realignment matters, but that's probably a lot of words for another article).
-- For the ACC, the obvious benefit to adding schools is that ESPN then is contractually bound to come back to the table and shell out money on a pro-rata basis for the extra inventory.
-- It's hard to pick which is the more glaring problem for the ACC regarding the prospect of this:
1) The obvious practical obstacles of having, say, the Miami women's basketball team flying to Palo Alto and back for a regular-season game (and so on and so on and so on).
2) The obviously brutal optics that come from the ACC, once again, looking like a total reactionary player in the realignment game as the aggressive and visionary moves happen elsewhere.
The Big Ten, for all its supposed emphasis on the high-minded academic thing, just took Oregon and Washington and left two prestigious academic institutions (Stanford and Cal) at the curb.
And now the ACC, whose clear existential predicament is falling hopelessly behind the Big Ten and SEC in annual TV payouts, is seriously considering going after two schools that -- and this just sounds like a punchline after this past Friday's events -- "fit the ACC's academic profile."
-- And here's the kicker: The ACC spent a lot of time over the past year looking closely at adding several Pac-12 schools. One contact told us it was four schools, but another told us this morning it was "a minimum" of four.
So back to the optics thing: The ACC spends a ton of time and effort trying to be proactive after the mammoth summer developments in 2021 (Texas/Oklahoma to the SEC) and 2022 (USC/UCLA to the Big Ten).
But the conference ... just ... can't ... do it. Almost like a quarterback who looks great in practice but then melts when the lights turn on and there are 80,000 fans in the stands.
And you go from thinking big to, after watching two other conferences actually go big Friday, seemingly desperate to grab the last two standing.
Wow. Just wow.
-- What about a timeline here?
As of this morning we were told there wouldn't be a final vote of the presidents in their conference call.
"It's not that far along yet," a source said.
The hope from Clemson's side -- and FSU's and UNC's -- was that the plug would get pulled on it this morning.
"That's not likely though," the same contact said. "I'm not confident that there will be enough no's.
"It's really tenuous right now."
Wow.
Just wow.
NOTE: Please do not copy/paste or summarize any portion of this post to other message boards or social media, as it is a direct violation of copyright laws. Thank you!
LINK: New Clemson Nike Zoom Pegasus 40 Running Shoes!
