ColumbusHokie

I was very confident it the cap was 22 or more. Fairly confident at 20. But 19 means only three for the SEC and one for the big ten. Scary

we should look at conference revenue? ACC wins Maybe per team revenue? ACC wins How about having a network? ACC wins Populous states? ACC wins Where does the B12 win against the ACC? Yes, you could argue that the B12 has better teams left after getting raided than the ACC would have left after getting raided. Is that what we’re talking about? ** Edited by ColumbusHokie at 8/4/2023, 3:17:05 PM

solidify their standing as a minor conference in comparison to the top three. The ACC still has much more potential than the B12 will have in the next ten years. Take a look at the teams left in the B12. I see a bunch of programs (all sports) that would be mid to bottom of the ACC. They have some good basketball programs but that is about it. One thing to remember is the next conference to have a GOR expire is the B12. If there are any schools worth taking they will be poached in five years, well before ACC schools will be available. ESPN controls what happens next, but they stand to have the opportunity to take the best of the B12 into the ACC in a few years.

In order to have a network ESPN needed a long term commitment and lower payouts. It is kind of like paying off the mob for protection, it's only a short term fix. You always end up paying the piper. From ESPN's perspective, it was like putting the 6-7 bigger brands in the ACC on layaway until they knew what they could do with them. Things will get very interesting in 6-7 years when the GOR expiring is not so far away.

for VT. That's just my opinion but I think the state knows that they have two valuable institutions that actually complement each other very well. They are not going to harm either one by letting them slip into irrelevance in athletics. Who knows how it actually works out but I think the state has been pulling the strings all along.

champions so it won't be dominated by any one conference any more than the current format. There are only six at large spots. The top four conference champs get a bye, not the top four teams. Home playoff games??? Can you imagine the intensity and pageantry? Not saying it will happen soon but Lane hosting a freaking playoff game?!?! This will happen for multiple teams a year and will electrify those fan bases. Honestly, I almost would rather Tech host a playoff game than get a first-round bye. Oh and since the top six ranked conference champions auto-qualify then each of the conference championship games are essentially playoff games for the lower ranked teams. That's even MORE meaningful games. Here is how it would look this year: Byes These are awarded to the four highest-ranked conference champions. 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Clemson 4. Utah Rest of field 5. TCU 6. Ohio State 7. Alabama 8. Tennessee 9. Kansas State 10. USC 11. Penn State 12. Tulane College Football Playoff First round Game 1: (9) Kansas State at (8) Tennessee Game 2: (12) Tulane at (5) TCU Game 3: (10) USC at (7) Alabama Game 4: (11) Penn State at (6) Ohio State Quarterfinals Game 5: (1) Georgia vs. Game 1 winner Game 6: (4) Utah vs. Game 2 winner Game 7: (2) Michigan vs. Game 3 winner Game 8: (3) Clemson vs. Game 4 winner If you go back to 2015 and had a 12 team playoff the distribution of teams per conference would look like this: Big Ten: 23 SEC: 22 Big 12: 15 ACC: 13 Pac-12: 12 AAC: 6 Independent: 3* M-West: 1 MAC: 1 Sun Belt: 1 Big Ten: Ohio State (8), Penn State (4), Wisconsin (3), Michigan (3), Michigan State (3), Iowa (1), Indiana (1) SEC: Alabama (7), Georgia (5), Florida (3), LSU (2), Auburn (1), Ole Miss (2), Texas A&M (1), Mississippi State (1) ACC: Clemson (6), Florida State (3), North Carolina (1), Miami (1), Pittsburgh Notre Dame (1)* Big 12: Oklahoma (6), TCU (2), Baylor (3), Kansas State (1), Iowa State (1), Oklahoma State (1) Pac-12: Washington (3), USC (2),Utah (2), Oregon (2), Arizona (1), Stanford (1), Colorado (1), AAC: UCF (2), Cincinnati (2), Memphis (1), Houston (1) Independent: Notre Dame (3) Mountain West: Boise State (1) MAC: Western Michigan (1) Sun Belt: Coastal Carolina (1) BTW, Bowl games are only meaningless if we the fans deem them to be meaningless. I went the Gator bowl this year with my son who goes to USC. It was packed with gamecock fans and everyone was really into the game. It was FAR from meaningless to those fans. The opts outs are frustrating but I imagine there is something happening soon that will change some of that. Citing my source: ** Edited by ColumbusHokie at 1/2/2023, 2:13:32 PM

there only being 2 relevant conferences. Again, this may not be accurate but if so I think the ACC has an opportunity to commit to improving the product and ultimately saving their conference

It is a double edged sword for sure. Some part of the problem was self inflicted, some was bad timing, others are just plain bad luck. One question I will always have is whether or not the ACC knew they had a choice between guaranteed stability but with a lower payout or being left vulnerable to being the hunted. Human nature almost always chooses safety over risk.

the ACC is a strong and compelling product. They absolutely care about this! They chose to secure the ACC years ago knowing that there would be further realignment. This wasn't an accident, this was calculated. I expect more changes in the next year or so in an attempt to secure the ACC as one of the 3-4 surviving conferences.

The dixie chicks deal was 19 years ago! Probably time to move on. Kaepernick kneeling was 6 years ago! Again, probably time to move on.

ESPN is not stupid, they are not going to allow multiple brand/markets walk away from a conference that they completely control. There are several good to great options out there to improve the conference through expansion. If ESPN gives the ACC the green light then I expect the conference to expand. There is even the chance that the ACC becomes a coast to coast conference. I thinks its funny that some people actually believe the schools, conferences, and networks don't know what they are doing. This is a billion dollar industry run by very smart and invested people. No one is asleep at the wheel.

My post is about the bubble that has grown in some way due to “better games” will pop if the gap between the P2 and the rest of us goes on for too much longer. The death of the bowl game excitement is the warning sign that fanbases outside of the playoffs are starting to tune out. We need a college football Czar asap or the whole market is going to shrink.

This is the flaw in the movement to fewer power conferences. It may not happen quickly, though it's possible that it could, but at some point excluding large portions of the population from a true seat at the table will kill the whole thing. College football is great because of the regional differences and passion of fan bases from all over the country. I know I used to love to stay up late on Saturday to watch a west coast game just to see the pageantry of it all. But the playoff being a rotation of the same 6-8 schools has already weakened my interest. Another ten years of huge disparity in resources will narrow the field even further. Surely someone at Fox or ESPN can see that there is a long term issue that needs to be addressed? I understand that in the moment it makes sense to pursue milking the profits you can get from the SEC or Big10 but what do you do when the rest of country stops tuning in? Even if VT ends up in one of the top two leagues it will be bittersweet. I did have one thought today that gave me some hope. Maybe there is a way that schools could break free from networks all together. Maybe in the not so distant future networks will give some money to the conference but the schools will individually be tasked with generating more of their own broadcast revenue. Not sure exactly how that would look but maybe the crisis can be averted by opening up new streams of revenue.

a conference for football it had to be the ACC? I thought that was established as a fact several years ago but maybe that was an unfounded rumor.

At some point the conferences/schools that are in danger of being left behind are going to start fighting harder. I don't know if this is that point or not but ND is no longer the golden child that every conference wants. Are they still valuable, obviously. But, this isn't 2003 and college football has been doing just fine without them in a conference. Personally, I feel like most of the schools have resigned themselves to the coming professional model for college sports and those that will be included are going to rush to secure their spot sooner rather than later. What happens to the contracts is up to the judges that will try the cases. Eventually a Wake Forest or Boston College is going to refuse to cooperate and force a trial. When that happens Notre Dame's clout will be meaningless. Maybe they can just pay everyone off and we can all move on.