Re: AP: Ruining the Party … Big Ten & SEC Power Play
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2024 11:30 am
Charleston Pony wrote:Graceland Tar Heel wrote:AS for me, I know it would be a bad thing for the state of NC for UNC, MooU (NCSU) , and Dook to be split. We are all key parts of the Research Triangle, and the RT is extremely important to NC. The 3 of us need to remain tied together in as many ways as possible.
What I think can be done now is that we lose FSU, but use that loss to get dels from ESPN to help overcome it nd remain easily the most important and financially secure conference. Both Amazon Prime and Apple want to get into live college sports, and ESPN has been looking for investors. I hope that either Amazon or Apple or both will want to invest in ESPN by investing in showing the ACC - and also demanding a larger ACC, for more content and more geography. We need more TX schools to mark a real presence, especially in and near DFW. WE could use UAZ, AZ ST, and maybe Utah (all are AAU). Cincinnati could be a nice addition. And lacking FSU we need to add USF - which now is an AAU school with an on campus stadium.
So basically you are advocating growing the ACC into the largest conference in college athletics? I suppose it could be re-named the "Coast to Coast Conference" since the American Athletic Conference and Conference USA titles are already taken. Of course, if the numerically challenged Big XII is still o.k. with their name...
It would be wild to be part of a 24 school athletic conference some day and it might help bring back some regionalization and reduce travel for student athletes and as you say, the networks would have plenty of live sports to offer. Who knows where this thing is headed but in this dog eat dog environment I fully expect the B1G and SEC will control and the ACC and Big XII will compete against each other for survival.
The ACC is already coast to coast. UU, UofA, and ASU would all be between Calford and SMU, which is far west of the Mississippi. That trio would be geographic bridges.
I am saying that, as you note, it seems the ACC will have to fight it out tooth and nail with the Big XII to be the 3rd most wealthy and powerful.I think the best way to do that is, first, to survive by losing only FSU. Then by actively wooing both Apple and Amazon, both of which would love to show national live college sports (hence a truly national conference would help). USF makes sense isn FL repayment for FSU - it is AAU and larger than FSU. I think getting many of SMU's old SWC rivals into the ACC would solidify the ACC in TX. I like Cincinnati as a possibility because it is the clear #2 state school overall in OH and the #2 sports college in OH, which is a large and football crazed state that borders both KY and IN. The Cincinnati TV market turns out more football talent than all of New England and NY combined.