5 or 10 years ago this would have been about as non sensible a "partnership " as anyone could have imagined. It is still heavily steeped in short term survival necessity for both parties. From an ACC perspective I see it as low to no downside (excepting the reek of desperation of having to add 3 schools with absolutely no continuity across the country) and with modest potential upside if all goes well. From the SMU perspective it is an opportunity to be a surviver and maybe in a comparable situation to Baylor and TCU. It makes all the sense in the world I do get the urban vibe that can take off. I think it is hard to sustain. That is what the ACC didn't understand about Miami. The baseline regarding big state universities is always gonna remain reasonably high regardless of what happens on the field. Whereas the smaller private schools not named ND are always going to be cyclical and prone to very low interest when not winning.