More Realignment on the Way?

[aughnanure]

Que sera sera. I'm not really sure how this affects us other than possibly taking UConn of the table (which it was basically never on any way).

Honestly, the only football playing program (that is valuable in basketball for us) that I could see realistically popping free for us is Memphis. Which would be great. Cincy is probably going to be added to the Big 12 at some point, but they would just double a market just like Temple anyways.

[Bill Marsh]

A post identical to the OP is on the Pack Pride site at scout.com. The discussion there is really interesting.

One of the posts claims that it costs $50 million more annually to compete in all sports in the Bog Ten than in the ACC. I don't know if. That's true, but if it is, it would give ND a major incentIve to prefer the ACC over the Big Ten. It's certainly tough to compete against schools that have the revenue from stadiums that can hold 100,000+ if your stadium only holds half that or less.

Second, Notre Dame's chances of actually winning the ACC are greater than winning the Big Ten. If such a decision were made for football reasons - and what isn't in realignment? - then this would certainly be a strong reason for Notre Dame to prefer the ACC.

Finally, Notre Dame has hated the Big Ten for generations. They've made it clear since they were first offered a spot in that conference in the '90's that they have no interest in joining that bunch.

As for the Big Ten poaching the ACC, some at Pack Pride seem to think it could be the other way around. The OP claims to know 4 schools who are on the ACC's short list, but was given the names in confidence. Maryland had its own individual reasons for leaving the ACC. Their decision doesn't mean that it's automatic that any ACC school would be better off in them Big Ten.

Let's face it, unless Penn State were to come to the ACC, the big player that everyone wants is Texas. Would they go the ACC as #16? I don't know, but maybe if Notre Dame were part of the package they would. Stranger things have happened in realignment. The point is that it's unlikely that Notre Dame would be added in isolation. It's likely that #16 would be added at the same time and my guess is that the ACC would shoot high, preferring not to just settle for any warm body to fill the last spot. Bringing in ND would give them a lot of leverage to entice another P5 school to come on board.

[marquette]

Que sera sera. I'm not really sure how this affects us other than possibly taking UConn of the table (which it was basically never on any way).

Honestly, the only football playing program that I could see realistically popping free for us is Memphis. Which would be great.

Given their academics I'm not sure the presidents would be interested. Every candidate that the presidents have mentioned has been light years apart from Memphis academically. I wouldn't be too surprised to see them wind up in the Big 12 though.

[marquette]

A post identical to the OP is on the Pack Pride site at scout.com. The discussion there is really interesting.

One of the posts claims that it costs $50 million more annually to compete in all sports in the Bog Ten than in the ACC. I don't know if. That's true, but if it is, it would give ND a major incentIve to prefer the ACC over the Big Ten. It's certainly tough to compete against schools that have the revenue from stadiums that can hold 100,000+ if your stadium only holds half that or less.

Second, Notre Dame's chances of actually winning the ACC are greater than winning the Big Ten. If such a decision were made for football reasons - and what isn't in realignment? - then this would certainly be a strong reason for Notre Dame to prefer the ACC.

Finally, Notre Dame has hated the Big Ten for generations. They've made it clear since they were first offered a spot in that conference in the '90's that they have no interest in joining that bunch.

As for the Big Ten poaching the ACC, some at Pack Pride seem to think it could be the other way around. The OP claims to know 4 schools who are on the ACC's short list, but was given the names in confidence. Maryland had its own individual reasons for leaving the ACC. Their decision doesn't mean that it's automatic that any ACC school would be better off in them Big Ten.

Let's face it, unless Penn State were to come to the ACC, the big player that everyone wants is Texas. Would they go the ACC as #16? I don't know, but maybe if Notre Dame were part of the package they would. Stranger things have happened in realignment. The point is that it's unlikely that Notre Dame would be added in isolation. It's likely that #16 would be added at the same time and my guess is that the ACC would shoot high, preferring not to just settle for any warm body to fill the last spot. Bringing in ND would give them a lot of leverage to entice another P5 school to come on board.

I know it's not your original information so please don't take this as criticism directed at you...but...Maryland left the ACC because they were drowning in debt. They were willing to pay a $31 million exit fee to do so, just to get their hands on that tv revenue. They left behind rivalries, a comfortable travel schedule, and significant academic relationships. No one will ever convince me that the cost-benefit ratio of the B1G is lower than the ACC. Additionally, consider the source. Pack Pride? I'm sure they have no reason to delude themselves into thinking they are in the driver's seat of realignment. B1G can't poach the SEC or Pac12. Ditto for the other two. Everyone else is up for grabs.

[aughnanure]

Que sera sera. I'm not really sure how this affects us other than possibly taking UConn of the table (which it was basically never on any way).

Honestly, the only football playing program that I could see realistically popping free for us is Memphis. Which would be great.

Given their academics I'm not sure the presidents would be interested. Every candidate that the presidents have mentioned has been light years apart from Memphis academically. I wouldn't be too surprised to see them wind up in the Big 12 though.

They mention it because ... PR. Not sure you can really take what the president say at a press conference that seriously. Regardless, there is no rush to add anyone for the foreseeable future.

[Bill Marsh]

Honestly, the only football playing program that I could see realistically popping free for us is Memphis. Which would be great.

Given their academics I'm not sure the presidents would be interested. Every candidate that the presidents have mentioned has been light years apart from Memphis academically. I wouldn't be too surprised to see them wind up in the Big 12 though.

They mention it because ... PR. Not sure you can really take what the president say at a press conference that seriously. Regardless, there is no rush to add anyone for the foreseeable future.

I don't know if there is a plan to add anyone for the foreseeable future, but complacency will kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Fox took a gamble on the Big East, betting that the league would do for their new cable sports channel what it did for ESPN 35 years ago. So far it hasn't played out that way. If the Big East wants to get another lucrative contract after this one runs out, it better figure out a way to attract more viewers. An obvious solution would be to bring in some schools with bigger enrollments and/or a bigger names. VCU and UMass would be examples of basketball schools with bigger enrollments while Gonzaga would be a school with a bigger name.

[NJRedman]

It's not going to happen for one very good reason. ESPN. They own the rights to the ACC for the next 15 years, they aren't just going to give that up to NBC. The portion Raycom has is leased from ESPN. I highly doubt they can then sell those off without ESPN's permission. ESPN has been working on an ACCN for sometime, why would they just hand all of this over to a hated rival in Comcast/NBC? As Frank the Tank has pointed out on that other board that ESPN has worked with both Fox and Turner to keep NBC from getting major properties. Why would they then turn and just hand over a major property to them? It makes ZERO business sense to do this.

This is not going to happen unless the ACC wants to wait until 2029 to premiere their new network with NBC.

[cujaysfan]

all of the arguments for ND to the ACC as a permanent member (and the even more uninformed conjecture to the big ten) make me chuckle.

it's not happening

it's not being considered

[NJRedman]

I don't know if there is a plan to add anyone for the foreseeable future, but complacency will kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Fox took a gamble on the Big East, betting that the league would do for their new cable sports channel what it did for ESPN 35 years ago. So far it hasn't played out that way. If the Big East wants to get another lucrative contract after this one runs out, it better figure out a way to attract more viewers. An obvious solution would be to bring in some schools with bigger enrollments and/or a bigger names. VCU and UMass would be examples of basketball schools with bigger enrollments while Gonzaga would be a school with a bigger name.

Thats not true, Fox didn't sign us to be it's backbone. 10 small private schools were going to carry Fox Sports 1? No. We were just one of the many sports contracts that Fox is and plans on collecting to become a full blown sports network. They also have all or a piece of the Pac, UFC, MLB, NASCAR, MLS and the Big XII. They are planning on getting a piece or all of the B1G contract soon as well. We don't have to be the back bone and pull in insane #'s off the bat to get another good deal in the future. We just have to show an increase each year in viewers since both sides knew going in it was about building something. Sports viewers have had one set of channels to go to for sports for 30+ years, breaking that wont happen over night and both sides know that. We have increased our amount of viewers from last year. We need to continue to do that and if we do we will be fine. Your notion that they expected us to make FS1 into ESPN prime is silly. They were planning FS1 for a lot longer than we were available. They signed UFC and the Pac-12 before we even broke off. Our deal was a short notice thing and them taking advantage of the fact that we were a new conference full of college BBall name brands. They didn't plan FS1 around us, we just fell into their laps as they were planning to announce the channel.

[marquette]

all of the arguments for ND to the ACC as a permanent member (and the even more uninformed conjecture to the big ten) make me chuckle.

it's not happening

it's not being considered

Guess it's time to close up the thread then. Hey! I've got an idea! As long as we are outlawing speculation and hypothetical discourse, let's just shut down the whole internet!