necessarily disagree with the premise. What I am undecided about is whether Houston is more a pro town (aka a carbon copy of the Northeast US), a college town, or a balance between the them. The other issue the ACC may need to resolve is just how important academics should play in an athletic conference? I get that was the ACC's core value and it worked in the past because of how the media landscape was before and after the SCOTUS ruling in 1984. Does it still work today given that the landscape has drastically changed though? These questions may matter when it comes to determining Rice's "value." Historically Rice has never had a great football program. Any success the program experienced seemed to be short lived for various reasons. Rice may even be a school that cares more about its baseball program (example purposes only) than its football program. If the ACC is truly serious about drastically improving its street cred as a football conference, then it would probably be better served to include members who are committed to doing what is necessary (or at least showing it is making a serious effort) to greatly improve the football product within the conference. If the fans care about the football program, then it should intensify that school's primary football rivalry and maybe open the doors to establishing tense secondary rivalries. Now if the ACC truly doesn't care about its football product, then Rice is essentially a slam dunk as a future ACC member. At this junction, I don't really care if the ACC would prefer to be an academic conference that happens to play football or a conference that places more emphasis on athletics (especially football). The ACC may just need to pick a lane (or path) and stick with it regardless of the consequences (i.e. the football schools leave the conference and the ACC becomes a middle of the pack G8 football conference) instead of straddling between 2 worlds. The Big East tried to straddle 2 worlds (basketball vs. football) and it eventually tore the conference apart. It seems to me that the ACC may be on a very similar path or even the same path as the Big East and I don't think the ACC's ending will be any different than the Big East's ending.