Red Hokie

There is a reason the most valuable brands are consolidating. No one is paying top dollar for a playoff without the P2.

The best academic school that plays big time sports was passed up last round. UVA isn’t on the same level as Stanford so I do not anticipate a different outcome for them.

B1G presidents wanted Cal/Stanford. TV said no. Let the dust settle after the House settlement finalizes and see where we are in 3 years. I do wish we had a competent AD during this time. Whit hiring Pry and two first time coordinators should have been grounds for dismissal. Don’t get me started on Ballein being the number 2 in our AD when his resume reads “Beamer Henchman” and having no dedicated fundraiser. But hey, at least Whit gets to golf at BCC and the locals enjoy having coaches that look and talk like them.

Risk/reward. No one wants to be Wash St/Oregon St so they are making concessions to keep at the big kid table another decade.

Wk 2 Noon - Arkansas at Ok St 330 - SCar at Kentucky 730 - NC St vs Tenn Wk3 Noon - LSU at SCar 330 - A&M at Fla 730 - Georgia at Kentucky Scar and Kentucky, bottom quartile SEC teams, both play on ABC twice in the first 3 weeks. ESPN prime time the first 3 weeks is Bama or Texas vs small teams. Hopefully that slot could be high profile ACC games but it looks like ESPN mid day is likely our best hope for good exposure.

The proximity to NFL teams was not the primary reason they were targeted.

More than both combined if you go back 30 years.

Force a playoff format that is more inclusive? State politics could have an impact but 1 of 2 in state schools is > 0 (see Oklahoma). Market forces (ESPN/FOX) are driving the bus and will determine the size of these conferences. I don’t think congress could, or should, legislate the makeup of college athletics.

I think they continue to add western teams. It will give them prime time content all year. Big10 teams mostly don’t play night games in Nov.

From the ACC. They are paying half rate for the 14 teams now. When this all unfolds we will see if their bigger concern is 2-4 brands or protecting the Southeast. If ESPN wants to keep the B1G out of the south they go to 24 and take the best 8, but it would have to include GT, NCSU, UNC, UVA and VT to keep those states. Those 3 + Clemson, FSU and Miami makes the most sense to me. The question is if adding those 8 to keep the entire Southeast is worth the money? For our sake I hope the answer is yes. The GOR and network puts them in the drivers seat.