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Colonel Jessup

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Member since: December 28, 1999
Last post: 05/11/2022 07:03 AM ET

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Headed to B’burg. Tailgating or any pregame activities?

Looking at $34 tix in Section 101. Staying in a hotel downtown with family. Any advice on things to do appreciated. We’ll do our best to make it loud.

BCS formula. NET. LOL.

People always going to complain and think someone or something is getting one over on them.

There is no way to box in criteria like this

like many request. If it made sense to do so then it would be a formula with no committee needed. We go through this every year with basketball. The weight of factors vary from year to year and team to team because the data set is never the same. You have to find differentiating factors.

It’s hurting gaining young fans, too. My 6th grader

Is a very rabid sports fan. He roots for VT and ACC - even quad boxing last night on AppleTV. He is trying his best to be a college basketball fan but I see it is a struggle and he will eventually peel off to your average March Madness fan. The Kenny Brooks thing really ticked him off and I didn’t speak ill of it at all.

A compromise that everyone would be cool with and not litigate

Find that very, very hard to believe. We know the courts would tear up that compromise. Once the door opened it was all over.

Who are the Mag7 again? Here is my ideal reconstituted conf

Miami FSU Clemson GT UNC NCSU Duke VT UVA ND (partial for tv $) Gone: BC, Syr, Pitt, Louisville, Wake, SMU, Stan, Cal Also considered: WVU, Cincy No point in getting leftover schools to the west, IMO. But if tv dictated 7 and 7, the ones I’d take out west are: Kansas Arizona Utah Colorado Oklahoma State (Don’t care on other 2)

This is what Doug Rohan (@RohanLaw) is saying

He is lawyer who is an FSU grad commenting from the outside with an obvious agenda. Could be right but I question anyone’s opinion with an agenda. Heard about him today running across a conversation with John Kurtz (B12 podcaster I believe) on YouTube. You all may know this already.

What is that based on? I live in NOVA

and I don’t know of any non-VT alum who is a fan / watches their games. We have a lot of alums and wear/display VT but that has nothing to do with capturing the area beyond the alums. It is not a college area - period. Just alums from VT, UVA, PSU, JMU, and others sprinkled in who watch their schools play. I think VT captures Roanoke. Probably has a bigger overall influence in Richmond/Beach than NOVA.

My proposal to drop lawsuits, make ACC workable

Proposal: for football only, two sub-conferences with promotion/relegation though 2032. Bottom conference receives a slightly lower payout than today. Top conference gets an increased payout from ESPN. Motivations ESPN - keep ACC intact. None of its properties go to B1G and don’t have to pay SEC money to any school that would land there. Much better tv matchups with different aspects of intrigue. ACC - stop legal fees; have court-free conference for another 8 years. Provides a large window to find a way to survive in longterm while the new landscape sorts itself out. Top half arguably toughest top-to-bottom in nation some years. FSU/Clemson: increased payout, no settlement, stop legal fees, get out 4 years early if they choose to leave. Recruiting helped by being in a better league.

I don’t see that as leverage to increase per team payout

If it would somehow then, great. Would regionalize your opponents. The networks drive this and would not be happy about paying a premium for a big conglomeration, IMO.

Rant: I despise streaming

I am 46 and work in an IT field. I dread every time I have to go outside of Fios. App location, username/password, buffering, ensuring to smarten my non-smart tv, etc. I resign myself to troubleshooting duty. It is not a bandwidth issue - I had 7 kids simultaneously doing remote schooling during COVID. For NFL, I skipped most Amazon games even though I have Prime. Worked without issue a couple times. Twice I found out through Twitter it was an Amazon issue. Another time I never figured out the root cause. This past NCAA Tournament I had one tv on Fios and one using AppleTV. Worked fine for several hours and was a disaster after that. AppleTV issue? March Madness app issue? Bandwidth? Who knows…frustrating. I get those who stream 100% of the time likely do not have many of my issues. But we like Fios and want to stay with it. Bottom line: I am not getting a Netflix account and will skip those NFL games.

Us in Northern VA would appreciate B1G

We have a large alumni base in Northern VA. Close to UMD and B1G alums far outnumber SEC alums here — UMD aside.

People love pile on Swofford and the ACC

So the length of contract is always laughed at. But that is what is keeping the top ACC programs in the fold (or will get paid handsomely if they leave) and not well below market rate for a while. ACC was doomed longterm with having so many football anchors and lack of huge universities with elite programs. With the latest playoff payout distributions the ACC is once again taking less but it simply has to when looking out for all members and not just a few who would leave if they could.

Tensions high. #2 of SC celebrating in Johnson’s face

It was obviously not a good situation but I don’t look down on any of the players for any of that. It happens. Kim’s postgame comments were more egregious, IMO.

Why the NCAA wanted to keep this door closed

It doesn’t matter how it was implemented - it was going to come to this quickly.

Game of Interest Today: OSU @ PSU 6:00pm BTN

Ohio State is competing with VT for top seeding . Will be interesting to see how they compare to last year’s team that lost VT in NCAAT. Penn State is on the bubble after losing 5 straight. Can see our old friend as well.

Reading TexAgs I see many don’t realize

the type of person he truly is. Happened with our fanbase, too. So, yes, it is fun to root against him :).

But our home/road conference game splits are

about as bad as it can be. only play at Louisville, Notre Dame, FSU, and Syracuse.

Nerd

** Edited by Colonel Jessup at 1/28/2024, 12:33:29 AM

In Swofford’s defense

People say the deal he led is bad $-wise now people are worried it will open up and get less. People say the deal is too long (prompted 2036 GOR) but the top schools would already be gone if not very soon if it were shorter.

Adds another spin to Cal/Stan/SMU additions

ESPN is being forced to pay them full shares right now. But now are they going to want to in 2027….

No Penn State - Maryland. I get it is not a “rivalry”

But it makes more sense for them to play as opposed to some random team far away. I am guessing PSU doesn’t want to lose any opportunity to play OSU or Mich with them not be able to snag a rivalry with one of them. Same deal with WVU-Cincy in Big 12.

Fake argument amongst teammates and coach

Have 3-4 players congregate near bench (with ball) and concot a huge argument making the defense off-guard thinking a timeout is coming or that the play is dead. Have 1-2 players outside of the argument in a relaxed pose sneakily looking for an open spot. Player with ball’s first option is one of those players. Second option is a fast huddle break. If that doesn’t work you run a standard set.

Here’s my ranking (because no one asked)

UVA UNC NCSU Clemson Miami FSU GT Pitt Wake Louisville Syracuse Duke BC SMU Stanford Cal

For recent history consideration: OU/UT to SEC

P2 race was officially on after that. If OU/UT stayed there couldn’t be a P2 and B1G would feel less threatened to do something like that.

The “survival” of the ACC in a sub-division

Is immaterial. It simply won’t matter to VT as the ACC won’t be the ACC it joined. It will find the best grouping of schools it can. These three new schools do nothing for me in terms of ACC stability. It actually does the opposite of that longterm if P2 continues on. B12 would swallow up any ACC properties worth having.

Accumulating small fanbases in remote areas

creating no logical footprint is a poor strategy for survival, IMO. You will have to pay these schools full shares before you know it and go to the negotiating table with these anchors. Looking at B12 post their agreement would be a better strategy. WVU, Cincy, and going west some into Texas perhaps. But definitely not poor draws in Cali. Does it matter the ACC survives due to sheer numbers in the future? This isn’t the “ACC” at all. Who is fighting for that other than schools who feel lucky to be in it?

I was hopeful for ACC post the current agreement with 2-4 defections

but that is out of the window now. Too many terrible fanbases now stretched to freakin Cali. B12 is positioned much better esp. with any ACC loses. Yes, I know the landscape will likely change prior to then.

Certainly eliminates hypotheticals

That involve the remote possibilities where you get the needed votes to benefit the top schools while leaving the bottom ones hung out to dry. Not sure what we will discuss here now. Always something, right? I suppose scheduling will be a big one. How the financials will shake out. GOR challenging will probably resurface next year.

Full court press on USC then Oregon/Wash

Let them a) bring only who they want, b) get preferential scheduling treatment, c) re-work revenue distribution to reward performance, and d) keep going until you get a ‘yes.’ Sound bad? ACC could arguably be in a P3 versus adding these 3 doormats with ticking time bomb strapped to its chest. Just some ideas that likely wouldn’t have worked. I didn’t bag on Philips/presidents until this latest maneuver. Think ACC tried this with Texas a while ago. Re-play conference realignment if the ACC had hooked Texas.

So we squeeze money from three faraway programs

Which isn’t much when you divide it so many ways. Think of the obstacles these programs will have budget-wise and recruiting while trying to be a “P5” program. We are adding more doormats to a conference that is not in short supply. Penny wise, pound foolish.

I doubt the 13 years part. That variety is taking the place

of some desireable games on our schedule some years. Look no further than the differing ticket prices. Those three schools will be in low demand. The ACC minus (Clemson, FSU, 1 or 2 others) could potentially add some desirable B12 parts and be a #3. Now with two small fan bases in CA I see that less of a possibility. Way too many tiny fanbase mouths to feed. It won’t remain like this for 13 years.

This seems to be Pitt/Syracuse all over again

Get a marginal $ increase, acquire schools with low tv ratings, and gain conference “security.” On the last part it does from the respect of acquiring votes from the schools who have no other options and will preserve the ACC at all costs. What is good for the ACC is no longer good for many of the member schools. Getting bigger to survive is simpleton thinking. Even with B12’s moves a smaller Pac could have survived if they weren’t shooting for $50M per school. This is “fan talk” but the VT admin’s approach/vote here looks poor. Our pool of schools in the “Fan 4-Pack” (cheap tickets for games against undesireable opponents) will certainly expand with this move.

I read somewhere they having been talking Pac for 1-2 years

So there was at least some thought there. No execution, though. Would have been difficult with PAC’s $ demands and then B1G on the table.

Yes! I really hope VT’s admin has a plan here

And not just voting ‘’yes’ for short-term gain or some case that helps the ACC. Only case I can see is that we are confident in a B1G/SEC invite or if that doesn’t work a B12 move. ACC with it most valuable properties replaced with these three schools is really bad viewership-wise.

Not advocating but to me it is along the lines

of adding Stanford and Cal. You have officially given up on “the ACC” with that and shown it is truly just about money and survival. Shedding anchors most certainly can improve your viability short and longterm.

Not to mention any ACCN money is temporary

Just amazing adding poor west coast football schools has gotten this far. We have reached rock bottom this summer. If getting a few more million dollars is that important you can make many more millions by aligning the top 12 schools (75% vote) going forward. Starts with getting valuations for a contract sans BC, Wake, and Syracuse/Louisville. ND would have to vote with others to keep a home for their other sports. Keep 2036 GOR and potentially target the best 5 from Big12 when their GOR is up (2031, I think). Raiding Big12 may not be possible or needed but you could create the best basketball conference with good football as well. Clear #3. Pitt Louisville VT WVU or Cincy UVA UNC Duke NCSU Clemson GT Miami FSU Kansas OK State 2 TBD ** Edited by Colonel Jessup at 8/17/2023, 8:31:38 AM

I thought he would go into that approach more but

it seemed to focus on the value of away games being there for the B1G. But digging into neutral more I suppose a schedule could be: - Most/all B1G “home” games somewhere in the proximity of Tallahassee. - Couple “buy” true home games for the fans. Seems that would be challenged in court. You’d lose home game revenue but cheaper than GOR buyout.

Here is the FSU podcast explaining it

The “flaw” is that GOR does not apply to away games or neutral site games. Something about how much their away games are worth. Pretty ridiculous to even address every bit of it but he seems to be treating FSU away games as some new windfall for the conference ignoring the fact that if FSU wasn’t playing someone else would be.

Wild thought: Accept a large FSU buyout and replace with SMU

FSU will eventually leave so cash in now and let them twist in the wind. Replace with SMU who has the resources to forgo some conference payouts and be successful long term while increasing ACCN subscribers. Let SMU build up and expand footprint out that way eventually. Not as far fetched as west coast. The FSU buyout and what SMU forgoes is all conjecture but I’d estimate each of the 13 full-time members would get $30M+ in new money (not annually, to be clear) not including additional ACCN subs. This all assumes ESPN payout remains same and this does not create a jailbreak which may be impossible to predict/stop.

Little OT but the ACC GOR/tv deal is only an albatross to 2 schools

If a shorter-term deal was signed the ACC would be dead or near extinction as we know it today. I think FSU and Clemson are too big of draws to not be scooped up. B1G would gladly take them if SEC turned up their nose. UNC and some others may would have found homes if it played out differently but they actually like the ACC. The money is bad? As has been reported many places, if ACC went to market it wouldn't get a much better deal. The issue comes many years down the line but the length of the contract is what is holding it together. Many things will change between now the last quarter of the current deal. Just got to hold the line and don't make kneejerk decisions.