ACC and PAC to Make a Super Conference?

[1Funduck]

    How does this grab you?

 

The ACC has reportedly found their 8th school in conference to break away without an enormous Grant of Rights (GOR) penalty. One would think that all 8 are NOT going to be united in their final destination. So, it's easy to see a few going to the SEC and a few going to the B1G. The domino effect would have the Big12 welcome the four corners and the B1G grab UW and UO.

 

But, hold on, and Walk down insanity lane for a second would ya?

 

What kind of deal could a Coast to Coast league get? Stay with me. 

 

UW, WSU, OSU, UO, Stanford, Cal, (Utah and Colorado) for the PAC coastal division

Miami, FSU, South Carolina, Clemson, Louisville, and (1-3 others)??    ACC coastal division

 

I'm not saying its perfect, I'm simply saying that we all get north of $40 million with this set up. $50-$55 million looks about right. Maybe an unequal revenue share for the less drawable schools. $55-$60 million for the top tier and $45 million for bottom tier? It brings a powerful BBall conference as well. We could 'Allow' ND to remain in the ACC and be independent for FB. Ooooooooo, I'm liking it!!!

 

If we could play our pods of 7 games and 2 from the Atlantic coast, say 1 home and 1 away, then it would be negligible for sheer impact and would be a cascading cash cow. We wouldn't need the absolute top dollar and would preserve our reasonable chance for a CFB playoff spot...or two. 

 

I'm cheering some semblance of this scenario.

 

 

[Tandaian]

South Carolina isn't leaving the SEC.  I don't see the Pac 10 willing let Arizona leave because of their basketball history.

 

The additional teams for the ACC would likely be Virginia, Va Tech, Duke and NCST.  Although, how do you leave out Syracuse and their NY market?

[Jon Joseph]

On 5/18/2023 at 5:35 PM, Tandaian said:

South Carolina isn't leaving the SEC.  I don't see the Pac 10 willing let Arizona leave because of their basketball history.

 

The additional teams for the ACC would likely be Virginia, Va Tech, Duke and NCST.  Although, how do you leave out Syracuse and their NY market?

Amen and Clemson and FSU if freed up? ESPN will find a way to usher these 2 into the SEC.

 

If you think LA to B1G locales is crazy travel? Travel between ACC schools and Pac whatever schools would be worse.

 

Cuse does not have a strong influence in the NYC market any more than does Rutgers. Duke, NC St, UVA, and NC St will not move the media market needle. San Diego State, Fresno, UNLV, SMU, UTSA, and Tulane would all be better and closer markets than any ACC market except perhaps Charlotte but the ACC breaks up and UNC is off to the B1G or the SEC.

 

Miami has a smaller market size than UCF. 

[Jon Joseph]

On 5/18/2023 at 5:39 PM, cartm25 said:

I just made a "way too long" post in the "ACC Demise" topic about this. I think you and I will agree!! See my post below:

 

I think we might be referring to the same thing: If merged, there would be more attractive matchups and less attractive ones.

 

But doesn't every conference have this characteristic? We all love Oregon v. USC/Utah/UW . . . but the rest are snoozers (historically speaking). I don't think Oregon vs. Minnesota is any more or less attractive than Oregon vs. UVA.

 

Now don't critique this with a fine-tooth comb, but I'm going to list out as many teams in each P5 conference that I think are "relevant"; some combination of recent/past success, cool, flashy, good branding, etc. I'll "try" and remove my P12 bias. Also accounting for known changes coming in conference realignment.

 

Summary: 1st Bold # - If I were flipping through games on Saturday, these are the teams I would pause and watch because of some baseline level of intrigue. 2nd Bold # - IMO, teams that are traditional blue-blood programs and/or that have had significant (i.e., national) recent success (no particular order):

 

P10:  Oregon, UW, Stanford, Utah, WSU, Colorado (included CU because PrimeTime has already, and will continue to make the Buffs very relevant) - 6 / 3 (UO, UW, Utah)

ACC:  Clemson, FSU, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Duke, Notre Dame, (including Notre Dame given recent relationship with ACC) - 6 / 4 (Clemson, FSU, Miami, Notre Dame)

B12:  BYU, TCU, Okla. St., Baylor - 4 / 1 (TCU)

SEC:  Bama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma - 9 / 6 (Bama, LSU, GA, FL, Texas, Oklahoma)

B1G:  tOSU, Michigan, Penn St., Mich. St., Nebraska, USC - 6 / 4 (tOSU, Mich., Penn St., USC)

 

The combination of P10/ACC would give that conference 7 high-level teams which is on par with the SEC.

 

Now I 100% realize that the SEC's 6 makes the P10/ACC combo 7 look like a JV squad (outside of ND, UO and Clemson), but the P10/ACC combination outclasses the B12, and IMO, compares favorably to what the B1G has to offer.

 

Putting logistics/location aside (I'll address those soon), doesn't a P10/ACC Conference seem fun and exciting, especially if you take the upper half of each conference? Not to mention what Oregon might do in recruiting in those ACC areas (i.e. Carolinas and FL).

 

If "rumors" are true, or even if it's a remote possibility, that the P10 and ACC are headed for extinction (or stuck in less than stellar deals), why not swing big and think/go for something outside of the box?

 

General Musings to Ponder:

- The P10/ACC Conference would have two divisions: Pacific and Atlantic, seriously, PERFECT. Both divisions effectively "act" as separate conferences for scheduling/logistics/etc.

 

- How about a hybrid approach like BYU / ND did as Independent? BYU football did its own thing scheduling, while all other sports were part of the West Coast Conference.

 

- P10/ACC football can schedule cross-country games as they see fit because long travel is more doable in a sport that's played once a week. All other sports play within their Pacific or Atlantic division (with reasonable crossover), and the best teams from each division battle it out in the end. Great West Coast vs East Coast rivalries and intrigue.

 

- Seems like it would be "relatively" easy, if both ESPN and the ACC liked this idea, to work out a new media contract. If they both like the idea, why wouldn't they?

 

- Uneven revenue sharing to keep the big boys happy? OR, incentive based so that the top half of the P10/ACC conference at the end of each year shares in a higher % evenly, while lower half gets less % shared evenly?

 

- Why only scenarios where the B1G and SEC poach teams, and the rest of the conferences/schools are left to rot?

 

- How about a direct challenge to the B1G and SEC with a massive conference that stretches nation-wide with West Coast and East Coast territory claimed?

 

- Hell!! How about the P10, B12, and ACC combine to stretch from "sea to shining sea" (including the state of Texas)?

 

- As you can tell, I'm a bit annoyed with the B1G and SEC getting whatever they want. How about a direct shot across the bow at those two conferences?

Why would ESPN that has the ACC 'locked up' through 2036 at $20M a year like this? Why would Disney like this? 

 

If ESPN liked anything it would likely be Clemson and FSU to the SEC.

 

This is an unwieldy deal geographically that IMO could not work travel-wise and would not IMO, score more money for the Pac-10 than if the Pac-10 stays together. 

 

There are better expansion candidates in better markets and closer to the Pac-10 footprint.

[Jon Joseph]

Whether I think of any of the ideas for realignment posited on the board doesn't matter.

 

It is a fun exercise to move the college football chairs around. Fun to ponder and fun to discuss.

[Haywarduck]

On 5/18/2023 at 5:19 PM, Jon Joseph said:

Whether I think of any of the ideas for realignment posited on the board doesn't matter.

 

It is a fun exercise to move the college football chairs around. Fun to ponder and fun to discuss.

I'm glad you guys like this, but if this was a cocktail party, and the discussion turned to anything to do with conference realignment I would be like......

 

Glad we all have our interests, and I can guarantee you there are things that would do the same, just ask my wife!

[Rufus]

The top brands in the PAC and ACC will be in the B1G or SEC within the next decade.  The schools remaining wouldn’t be viable enough to maintain a hypothetical Atlantic/Pacific conference. 

[Jon Joseph]

On 5/19/2023 at 11:13 AM, cartm25 said:

Why wouldn't they like this?

 

I'm not sure how P10 scores more money alone.

 

You can have UO, UW, Utah, and a bunch of irrelevant teams OR You can have UO, UW, Utah, Clemson, FSU, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame (possibly), and a bunch of irrelevant teams.

 

IMO, one group has significantly more value than the other.

 

IMHO, San Diego St. and SMU are not better expansion candidates than Clemson, FSU, Miami, and North Carolina.

 

RE: travel, I think it's time to get creative. We've all come to terms that streaming is the way of the future even if it's not the ideal option in the near term.

 

If the end result were a coast to coast conference challenging the B1G/SEC in size and number of marquee teams at the top, then I believe exchanging more traditional thinking about travel/scheduling for more creative, forward-thinking options would be worth it. 

Dave, I love the thoughts. But you can put a whole bunch of bronze medal winners in a room and they won't turn into silver or gold winners.

 

I do not particularly like it but Oregon's best long-term athletic interests lie with the B1G.

 

Quantity does not equal quality. And ESPN today is in no position to fund this kind of realignment.

 

Again, great thoughts, and this stuff is fun to ponder.