WBGV

in serious jeopardy. Story by Jason Burgos “It is unclear at this time if all the schools currently in the conference have signed off on adding UConn to the Big 12. Losing UConn would be a major blow to the Big East and would push it further to being a fringe conference in college sports instead of its former position as a major brand.” Brett Yormark could be involved in the demise of another conference.

Conference realignment rumors are back. Why UConn remains interested in Big 12, other power leagues. by Mike Anthony “So at one point, whether it’s the Big 12 or some conglomeration of ACC programs in a couple years or something altogether different, UConn’s base of operations is unlikely to forever be the Big East. Leadership on the Storrs campus has been, remains so, and will be aggressively proactive in seeking a more lucrative landing spot for its athletic program, no matter the men’s basketball success since a return to the Big East in 2020.” . . . . . . . . “UConn’s Big East contract initially called for a $30 million exit fee. That has been renegotiated to $15 million, beginning the year after next. The Huskies also are beholden to a 27-month notice period if they are to depart the conference.” 2 years and 3 months exit notice required. Interesting timing for this to resurface 4 months before conference basketball play begins. Could UConn be having talks about membership with multiple conferences? 2027 could be a big year for conference realignment.

Ross Dellenger Post UConn officials visited in-person with Big 12 ADs in Dallas last week as the school & conference remain in serious expansion negotiations, sources tell @YahooSports. UConn would join in all sports, but FB would have a runway before full membership in 2031

He tries to create correlations where they don’t exist. His track record on conference realignment is dismal. He once created a chart that showed that Syracuse had the largest fan base in the ACC which most reasonable people would question. He had Syracuse’s fan base as the 14th largest in the country and his methodology involved google search counts and Nate Silver’s data ( prognosticator who predicted Hillary Clinton’s victory by a significant margin ).

The SEC media rights agreement with ESPN/ABC that begins this years was announced back in 2020. The B1G media rights agreement with Fox, CBS, and NBC that begins this year was announced in 2022. The Big 12 media rights agreement with ESPN and Fox that begins next year was also announced in 2022. The PAC-12 media rights agreement with ESPN was never announced although rumored. There was supposedly an undervalued offer from Apple under consideration when the PAC-12 still had more than 2 members. Also, I think there is some new PAC-2 media rights agreement with some network - not sure of the details. Dodd believes that 30 days after this college football season which begins on Saturday that conference realignment will heat up again. If this is the case, it is hard to believe that there isn’t a lot of high level behind the scenes realignment discussions occurring as we speak. He must be hearing things to make this “bold” prediction.

because the ACC and it’s TV partners haven’t definitively said when the media rights contract will end. If it’s 2036 then officially saying nothing makes zero sense. And if it’s 2027, then saying nothing makes all the sense in the world because this news would cause major concern within the conference’s fan bases. Ever since FSU revealed in their legal complaint last December that the ACC’s media rights contract could end in 2027 instead of 2036, speculation has been running wild. Whether it’s an opt-in or opt-out situation isn’t clear, but if ESPN is ending their partnership with the ACC as Dodd is now suggesting then it is hard to see how the conference survives as is past 2027.

for any of VT’s rivals on this board. At one time, you were able to support your positions and didn’t resort to labeling people or accusing them of flaming or claiming that you have superior knowledge that others lack yet never proving it. I presented what you posted and what I posted multiple times in a way that even a child could comprehend only to continue to get the same ridiculous replies, meaningless comparisons, and pointless statements about the past. Maybe the threads that you start would have more value if you migrated back to using logic and factual observations instead of baseless accusations, mischaracterizations, and personal attacks.

comment applied to the Hoo86 post that you reposted. Here it is: “Heard one I had not heard before, that when the exit fees get settled in the ACC, that the SEC will take Clemson, UNC, NCSU and probably Duke. On the other hand the B1G is going to take FSU, Miami, Virginia and Virginia Tech. I know two out of the four are not AAU, but I have heard the two that aren’t, are very close to getting AAU status.” My comments about AAU was that it is difficult if not impossible to know if VT or FSU or any school is close to receiving the necessary votes (54) to become a member because of the secret nature of the AAU membership process. There was no shot taken whatsoever and I applied no percentage to any school’s chances of receiving AAU membership. It would be impossible IMO to even do so. It is difficult to get a poster on a message board to understand something when his entire erroneous argument depends upon him not understanding it.

the content of my post. I don’t think I have ever taken a shot at VT on this board because I’m a fan of the program so this is just another false accusation. I can’t say the same for the ACC, but I’m certainly not alone on this board in that regard and may even be in the majority. I’ve also never attacked you intentionally or tried to label you as this or that. I’ve never tried to control what people are posting or claim that they are trolling or flaming even if I didn’t agree with what was being said. This board is a conference realignment board for the most part - nothing more and nothing less. It seems like “doing better” involves saying things that you want to hear. You simply misread or misinterpreted my post which caused a flurry of accusations, mischaracterization, and personal attacks. This isn’t your lawn so stop telling people to get off of it.

He chooses his words very carefully. If adding Texas and Oklahoma was a sound business move for the SEC and ESPN, then it seems to me that adding FSU and Clemson would also be a sound business move - bigger match-ups and more eyeballs per event. There are many similarities, but the public likely won’t know about it until the day it happens. Apparently ESPN must opt-in (not opt-out) for the ESPN media rights agreement with the ACC to be extended. I find it just a little disconcerting that with less than 6 months to go there hasn’t been some kind of announcement of ESPN’s intent. Jim Phillips skirted around the subject at ACC Media Days this year much like George Kliavkoff did before the PAC-12 overnight implosion in 2023. I guess time will tell.

calling them out for things that they never said, and then demanding that they prove the false statements that you concocted and attributed to them. It makes for a better dialog if people just agree or disagree with each other’s statements as posted. I fail to see how you can comment that the Hoo86 post is a “long shot” in your opinion and then denigrate my opinion where I put the odds of it happening as less than 1%. Maybe your “long shot” is 5% or even 10%, it doesn’t really matter because we both are insinuating the same thing that it’s very very unlikely to happen. Posters should be able to offer their opinions, defend their positions, and make predictions about the likelihood of future events without having someone following them around making accusation in a weak attempt to control what is being said whether it is with words or pictures.

That is my opinion on his post where he indicated that the SEC would take Clemson, UNC, NCSU and probably Duke. Three schools from the same state! And then he claimed the B1G was going to take FSU, Miami, Virginia and Virginia Tech. I think the thread you started is more a form of flaming than anything that I posted. Why post a message that isn’t your own and then declare that you don’t agree with it and ask others to comment. Why accuse people of flaming when there are no “flames”? I would be interested in knowing what odds you would give to the above likelihood of happening? Do you feel my odds are too high?

evidence to support this ridiculous assertion, but instead you resorted to claiming in a subtle but still disparaging way that you know of others with the proof. Saying that you know of others having the proof that VT is close to receiving an invitation from the AAU or the B1G isn’t much difference than saying a friend of a friend of a friend told me so or it was on the internet. In other words, no proof is forthcoming. No one can say that VT or FSU or any other school for that matter is close to receiving an invitation from the AAU or joining the B1G. You won’t know until a vote is taken and in the case of the AAU the invitation has been extended.

of a secret society especially when it comes to membership. I believe there are 71 current members so 54 votes would be needed to receive an invitation to join. The voting is secretive which makes it difficult if not impossible to know if a school is getting close to membership. It also makes it difficult if not impossible to know which members are supporting which candidates.

AAU membership, but the reality is the decision to invite schools is in the hands of the current membership located throughout the country. It is impossible for outsiders to know if there is 75% support for a particular school, 50% support for a particular school, 25% support for a particular school, or 0% support. The voting is secretive. The evaluation process is secretive. Even the criteria for consideration is secretive. It’s a secret society much like the Rosicrucian, The Bohemian Club, and Freemasonry. ‹

is going to receive an AAU invite from this secret society in the near future or ever. AAU membership is by invitation only, which requires an affirmative vote of three-fourths of current members. There is only one member in the state of Virginia and it’s not clear if this member would even support adding another state school to this secret society. There are schools with great research resources that have never received an invitation and there are schools with not so great research resources that are members. Go figure.

from the same state unless they were from Cal, Tx, or FL. Without support from the networks, it is a nonstarter.

will happen in our lifetime?

Being a member of the secret society of the AAU isn’t even necessary for B1G membership. Since no one outside of the “club” has any idea of what the criteria for AAU membership is or even if a criteria exist at all, how would anyone know if a school is close to becoming a member or not? I have heard absolutely nothing about VT going to the B1G. I have heard absolutely nothing about an invitation from the AAU being issued to VT.

to leave the ACC. Apparently his understanding of the so called “look-in” clause wasn’t correct back in 2016 and he now feels that FSU’s interest are being hurt by the long-term deal with ESPN. I was hoping that we would see the clause that Jim Phillips referred to as a “look-in” to review the contract and what FSU’s lawyers referred to as ESPN’s unilateral option in their complaint, but it was redacted in the released documents. Since 2021 was supposedly a “look-in” period and nothing was done to adjust the media rights contract base rate to market value, I’m still skeptical that this clause exist or at least does what people thought it would do. It seems that FSU’s former President now has that same opinion.

“look in” clauses; however, they could be in the portion of documents supposedly containing trade secrets that have not been made available to the public. If these “look in” clauses exist, what would they be looking at contractually and how would that affect whether the contract ends in 2027 or 2036?

the deadline for ESPN to make a unilateral decision on the ACC contract extension could have a number of legal ramification. Did Phillips have the legal authority to do so and were ACC members involved in that decision at any point? When did ACC members become aware of that decision? Even a bigger question is why did Phillips decide to move that decision date from 2021 to 2025? The only answer I could come up with is that he had no choice. ESPN was not going to extend the contract beyond 2027. Phillip very smartly convinced ESPN to hold off on making that decision until February 2025 and since ESPN was contractually obligated through 2027 anyway, they agreed. That provision only benefitted ESPN. Fast forward to the summer of 2024 and ACC members have no idea if their media rights contract ends in 2027 or 2036. ACC members are suing their own Conference for control of their media rights, the PAC-12 imploded and is essential gone, there has been a major reshuffling of power conference schools with more to come, and streaming content is on the verge of replacing the cable subscriber model. Does ESPN need ACC content more now than they did in 2021? I have my doubts that they will extend the ACC media rights contract beyond 2027, however it can’t be ruled out. Time will tell and that time in now less than 6 months.

It’s a fluid situation with a lot of moving parts. I don’t even think the people in charge at FSU & Clemson know the date that they might change conferences. Speculation is part of the conference realignment “game”. The ACC Commissioner along with ESPN could even come up with a plan to keep the conference together as is for the foreseeable future.

Are you trying to say that because FSU and Clemson haven’t left the ACC on the date that some people predicted they would that they aren’t going to leave in the future? Are you trying to say that the people making these predictions don’t really know the exact dates when FSU and Clemson are leaving the conference (this one is somewhat obvious)? I don’t want to misinterpret the meaning of your post again so please clarify. ** Edited by WBGV at 8/6/2024, 9:23:40 AM

Hopefully you didn’t do so thinking it was completely bogus. I told you in my first reply that I thought his posting had some validity. And would it really matter to you if I thought the OP was trustworthy on this issue? Isn’t trustworthiness subjective especially on a message board? You provided a bunch of dates with none of them even being referenced in the original post and ask me if I saw a pattern and to please reply. I saw no meaningful pattern other than they were in chronological order. I then simply stated that FSU and Clemson have not indicated any date that they might exit and that included the dates that you referenced and/or the dates speculated by others.

Clemson has said nothing and FSU’s President Richard McCullough said that "FSU will have to at some point very seriously consider leaving the ACC." Add to that FSU Trustee Drew Weatherford statement: “It's not a matter of if we leave (the ACC), but how & when we leave". I think ever since these comments were made and even before that fans everywhere have been speculating on the dates that these schools and others might leave the conference. In this particular case, saying that something hasn’t happened by a certain date in no way diminishes the fact that it could happen if that is your point. And of course there is always the possibility the it could never happen. It will happen when it happens and not a second beforehand.

The redactions make the released information somewhat of a puzzle, but combining these documents with FSU’s complaint to the courts was insightful (kudos to him for doing so). It provides additional clues about the legal arguments playing out in multiple courtrooms in multiple states and the eventual fate of the ACC. Certain fans want to keep the status quo because they believe that benefits their school the most. Other fans want disruption and change because they believe that benefits their school the most. I have no idea if this messenger is so called credible or not and it doesn’t really matter, but his posting certainly seems to have some validity on 2027 being the end date of the current media rights contract with ESPN. There was also mention of a unilateral option to extend the duration of the contract until 2036 in FSU’s December court filing that contractually was change sometime in 2021. There are important legal questions now about how the contract with ESPN was changed and who was involved in making those changes.

was able to sign off on a contract amendment regarding the extension option on his own. My posting never addressed the ACC collapsing, but I do believe that Jim Phillips actions might work in FSU & Clemson’s favor and hurt the conference if this turns out to be true. I don’t believe that inviting Calford & SMU was good for the ACC, but I understand why Phillips promoted it because it will generate a little more money for current members. ND definitely had a say in Calford joining, but these schools were willing to give up most of their conference payout and that is why they were invited. To my knowledge, Big 12 schools just signed a new GOR that aligns with their new media rights contract that begins in 2025 so I doubt that any Big 12 schools would consider an ACC invitation at this point or in the near future. ** Edited by WBGV at 8/4/2024, 10:07:14 PM

to sign off on a contract amendment regarding the extension option on his own. He had only been the commissioner for about 6 months at that time. That extension greatly affects FSU, Clemson, and all of the ACC members including Calford & SMU. I have no idea what the legal ramifications are for Phillips’ actions, but they could be catastrophic for the conference and him personally if what is being alluded too is true. As more and more details about the media rights agreement are released to the public, the uglier this whole situation becomes. ** Edited by WBGV at 8/2/2024, 12:55:49 PM

he is on “something” when doing them, but there are some explosive allegations in this video. Phillips’ letter to ESPN extending that decision deadline sounds like it could be the smoking gun that could nuke the GOR according to Pittinger. Allowing ESPN several more years to decide on the terms of an agreement worth billions of dollars seems like it would require approval from member schools, but that apparently didn’t happen. Also, it’s hard to believe that a commissioner who was only on the job for about 6 months could make a decision this impactful on his own without the conference’s executive committee being involved as alleged in FSU’s complaint. Pittinger indicated that Florida’s AG after suing the ACC will receive Phillips’ letter to ESPN dated August 10, 2021 this week and she plans on releasing it to the public.

submitted to the courts as material facts back in December so they aren’t speculations. It’s my understanding that FSU and Clemson‘s attorneys had access to the “official written and signed” ACC media rights agreement but had to travel to the ACC offices to view the documents while under surveillance. It was through FSU original complaint that most people including the media became aware that the ACC media rights agreement could end in 2027 instead of 2036 based on a unilateral decision by ESPN. I seriously doubt that FSU attorneys would submit incorrect material facts such as dates to the courts that could be easily verified. The ACC media rights agreement hasn’t been released to the public because it arguably contains trade secrets. That may be about to change : “The documents at the center of the Florida State University’s ACC legal battle may soon be available to the public, according to Florida attorney general Ashley Moody. She said her office and the attorneys for the ACC have reached in agreement to provide the ACC’s media agreements with ESPN spanning more than a decade. Last week, a Leon County judge ordered the ACC to share those documents with FSU’s attorneys, but did not require them to be publicaly released. Moody’s office expects to have the documents by August 1.”

have been of little value. It would be one thing if you were offering a different opinion or viewpoint, but most of the time your postings are just word salads accompanied with doltish insults and the occasional name calling. Rather than contributing to a dialog or exchange of ideas and information, you detract from most conversations and do so in a childish manner. This thread is a case in point. This isn’t your lawn so stop telling people to get off of it.

is trying to make the case that the SEC cares about so called academics. It’s mainly about the money in every athletic conference including the B1G. Taking Oregon over Stanford was telling.

“With Clemson athletic director Graham Neff and ACC deputy commissioner Amy Yakola in attendance, judge Perry H. Gravely granted the university's case for specific jurisdiction in Pickens County, South Carolina. This means the school's case over its grant of rights will continue because the conference, in his opinion, has had more than minimal contact in South Carolina.”

that (1) the ACC does not, in fact, control its members broadcasting rights if any member leaves the conference, and (2) the ACC cannot enforce a $140 million exit fee if/when any member leaves the conference. Another possibility is that ESPN decides not to extend the ACC contract which would enable VT or any other school to leave in 2027 for only the exit fee. Those exit fees have historically been negotiated down to about 60% to avoid litigation and the chance that the fees would be deemed by the courts as unenforceable. So that number would be about $85 million. And then there is the dissolution option if the media rights contract isn’t extended and 10 ACC schools find new homes in other conferences and then vote to dissolve the ACC. Exiting the conference under that scenario would cost VT nothing. Even though most people at this point believe that FSU & Clemson are leaving the ACC, few believe that they will pay hundreds of millions of dollars to do so. Phillips had the perfect opportunity to announce that ESPN had chosen to extend the ACC media rights contract until 2036 this week. He once again failed to do so. The deadline for ESPN to make that decision is next February and is fast approaching. ** Edited by WBGV at 7/26/2024, 9:29:50 AM

Clemson and FSU would make the media rights more valuable for the SEC. North Carolina and Virginia would make the media rights more valuable for the SEC. Conference realignment is all about making a conference’s media rights more valuable. How quickly we forget that the commissioner of the B1G was part of an Alliance with the ACC and PAC12 with the stated goal of working together which included not poaching conference members. Also, the commissioner of the SEC was working closely with the Big 12 commissioner on a new playoff model while at the same time he was secretly plotting to bring Texas & OU into his conference. What conference commissioners say publicly matters little. IMO, FSU and Clemson have never been interested in joining the B1G or the Big 12, but are seeking SEC membership and have been for the last two year. You can ignore the FSU lawsuit, the Clemson lawsuit, and the two ACC lawsuits against members. You can ignore the ACC commissioner comments about fighting for his conference (survival), but the way Phillips once again danced around the ACC’s media rights extension continues to raise questions about his conference’s future. It reminds me of the way George Kliavkoff danced around questions about his conference’s media rights during the PAC-12 media day last year. George Kliavkoff (2023): “The longer we wait for the media deal, the better our options get. He also pointed out that the conference is on track to ink a new deal at about the time the conference was initially supposed to do, had the Pac-12 not begun seeking a new media deal early. He said, “In the end, we are on track to announce our deals at about the same time everyone would have predicted before conference realignment. … [the Pac-12] will be rewarded in the near future. We are not announcing our media deal today on purpose because we want the focus to be on football. ” Jim Phillips (2024): “Our partnership with ESPN is not going away. It’s not going away. We have talked to them about additional resources and how do we monetize it. We’re 50/50 partners on that. They’re as motivated as we are to generate more revenue for the overall television deal. I’m very optimistic about where we’re going with them. They understand the importance. I’ll just leave it at that.” If ESPN had informed Jim Phillips that they have finalized the decision to extend the ACC media rights contract until the year 2036 then why not just say it. Why not make that revelation your opening statement? Why not make the announcement with ESPN officials at the podium with you? The future of the the ACC is riding on whether the media rights agreement ends on 2027 or 2036. The only reason I can think of why Phillips hasn’t emphatically stating when the media rights contract will end is because he doesn’t know and that should be concerning to all members.

contract. It doesn’t seem that the Mag7 schools or any other block of ACC schools are working together at this point. It seems like it has become every man for himself and there is little to no trust between ACC members. No school wants to end up in OSU & WSU predicament.

into the B1G was rejected. Their pursuit of membership into the Big 12 was rejected. The pursuit of membership into the ACC required them to take 1/3 of the conference payout as other members, fly their student athletes from the West Coast to the East Coast and back for almost all away conference games, and sign a GOR that could end only a few years after joining or even worse lock them into a horrible conference deal until 2036. These were clearly desperate schools forced to make horrible choices. They are also two of the top academic University in the entire world. IMO, athletic conference affiliation was always about the money and everything else carried little to no weight. This round of conference realignment exposed what had likely always been true.

with ESPN contract release. By Andrew Bucholtz “The release indicates that the ACC will produce the 2010 ACC Multi-Media Agreement, the 2012 Amendment and Extension Agreement, the 2014 Second Amendment to Multi-Media Agreement, the 2016 Amended and Restated ACC-ESPN Multi-Media Agreement, the 2016 ACC-ESPN Network Agreement, and the 2021 Letter Amendment to Amended and Restated Multi-Media Agreement by August 1, and will make those documents available as per the Florida Public Records Act. But, as Chris Vannini notes at The Athletic, there still likely will be redactions here. Perhaps even more interesting, though, was a Florida AG spokesperson’s response to his question on if they’ll follow this up by seeking other conferences’ TV deals: It’s unclear how much sensitive information will be redacted from a public release of the ACC contracts. It’s also theoretically possible this could open the door for the TV contracts of other conferences that include public Florida universities, like the SEC and Big 12, to be made public. When asked whether it would take the same step with other conferences, the attorney general’s office told The Athletic, “Our case pertains to the ACC.”

Ranking the most-watched college football programs in 2023 Ohio State — 5.55M Alabama — 5.08M Michigan — 4.78M Colorado — 4.50M Georgia — 3.95M Texas — 3.61M Florida State — 3.58M Notre Dame — 3.46M Penn State — 3.31M LSU — 2.85M

in America than the University of Texas? I seriously doubt it. Greg Sankey couldn’t move fast enough to get Texas and their tagalong OU into the SEC. In doing so, Sankey stabbed Texas A&M in the back. He stabbed his friend Bob Bowlsby in the back. An alliance as you stated was formed between other conferences to try and counter his actions, and he was accused by many of destroying college sports. TV money is now the life blood of athletic conferences. Viewership is what TV executives desire the most. Conferences that can provide bigger viewership are rewarded with bigger media rights contracts. FSU can provide additional viewership to the SEC and B1G so networks, commissioners, and college presidents will want them in their conference even if they are a disruptive conference partner which by the way is great for viewership.

with their interpretation of the media rights contract and the GOR agreement and make a declaratory judgment. The deck seems stacked because of the venue. If successful, both FSU & Clemson will enter into “direct” talks with other conferences and eventually give their official notices to redraw. I doubt they wait around for the appeal process to play out which could take years and they of course knew this before even taking legal actions. More importantly is what will ESPN do with their unilateral option to extent the media rights contract if these schools are no longer members of the ACC. Josh Pate believes that there will be far more than just these two ACC schools involved in conference realignment. The deadline for ESPN to make a decision is now roughly 6 months away and fast approaching. There are many fans who believe that schools can’t leave the ACC without paying an astronomical exit fee which would almost certainly prevent them from leaving. They believe that the conference will stay as is and that ESPN will extend the media rights contract until 2036. And to suggest otherwise is ludicrous, but it is the actions of FSU and Clemson along with the inactions of ESPN that support an outcome far different than what many fans are suggesting.

Story by Matt Baker, Tampa Bay Times “Until Thursday’s filing in Pickens County, South Carolina (where Clemson has sued the ACC). Clemson and the ACC agreed to remove some redactions from the school’s complaint. It turns out that an entire round of conference realignment could turn on the contracts’ definition of “game.” . . . . . . . . “Which brings us to Clemson’s now-public argument: If the Tigers leave the ACC, they’re no longer a “Conference Institution.” They won’t be an ACC home team, and they won’t play in games where the league controls distribution rights (like a conference tournament).”

by Rey Llerena “PICKENS COUNTY, S.C. — A lawsuit filed by Clemson University against the Atlantic Coast Conference is scheduled to be heard by a judge in Pickens County. Clemson University filed the suit against the conference on March 19. The two parties are expected to be in a courtroom on Friday. The case centers around three items: the university's media rights, the ACC's withdrawal penalty and whether Clemson has to act in the conference's best interest.” Video Length: 3 minutes

The demise of the Pac-12 Networks Sunday night serves as another stark reminder of the wreckage of college football realignment. - Brent Schrotenboer USA TODAY “The Pac-12 Networks launched in 2012 as a Pac-12 Conference media company that promised lots of programming – seven television channels that eventually produced about 850 live events per year with the help of about 150 full-time employees. But now it’s all over. The Pac-12 Networks finally will go dark Sunday night at age 12 due to complications from a vexing national outbreak – college football realignment.”

Very little on the site at this moment. I found this to be interesting: “Launch is conditional on receiving regulatory approval and is expected for Fall 2024. This site is owned and operated by a subsidiary of FOX Corporation.” ** Edited by WBGV at 6/27/2024, 12:42:35 PM