Do you think any Big 12 member wants to dilute their voting power, get less money than they are now, and also have to play conference games against SMU, Duke, Boston College, and Wake Forest? If you're a Big 12 school, 80% of the ACC looks like a lot of very heavy dead weight to you.

Why should we sit around and watch P2 teams every winter? Let every non-P2 conference into something like 24 teams with 8 byes. A merger might make sense if it just a TV contract merger, with stratified $ payouts. I'd include the PAC, too.

championships in all collegiate sports.

No way the ACC presidents approve the merger with a conference that has WVU, UCF, KSU, TTU, etc. There are some desirable schools in the B12 that the ACC may target selectively in 2030.

The Pac-12 and/or the ACC could have killed off the Big 12 back in 2021. Instead, Phillips and GK went for the "Alliance."

CAL Stanford Colorado Utah Arizona Arizona State Kansas Oklahoma State SMU WVU PITT VT UVA UNC NCSU GT Clemson FSU I don’t care - pick your favorite 18 or 20. Next, find a true corporate sponsor. Does anybody care if it’s called the Netflix conference? Not me. You can play around with swapping Duke, BYU, K-State, a Texas school, or another PAC school - whoever - but why not take membership up to 20? Make the conference too big to ignore. Some private capital entrepreneur will make it work. Some streamer will pay. The ACC, B12 and PAC must fail eventually. It will happen. Tear the bandaid off quickly, paper over the broken agreements and hurt feelings, and start surviving now. Toss in Notre Dame as a partial member, and you’ve got a real conference. ** Edited by lawhokie at 1/5/2025, 11:26:44 AM

That's a solid 22 teams that can be divided into East and West divisions.

There will be a meeting in Atlanta on January 20, to address the many ways forward using private equity. (see graphic below) I have been anxious for these last few years about the many schools who must get their respective houses in-order prior to the construction of the 2026 playoff model. Realignment will occur. And it must occur soon. The complexity has only multiplied with the arrival of PE. Unanimity within conferences will prove extremely hard to achieve. But PE players don't want to make piecemeal agreements; the bigger, the better. Multi-conference deals would be golden, but there are way too many individual schools getting in the way of consensus. This very issue could be what froze the litigation between FSU/Clemson and The ACC. Many, many schools, who are not P2 level, are seeking a promotion. The ACC includes a bunch of them. Their legal adventures are impediments. That is also true for the fragile PAC for whom this could be fatal. Here are some notes from Flugaur's latest videos. It was he who provided the graphic about the Atlanta meeting. Most enthusiastic proponents of PE on a large scale: Yormark, Gloria Nevarez, FSU, Clemson, WVa, Syracuse. Flug. anticipates "somebody" (school or conference) will announce news about adding a "strategic partner") around Feb. 4 - 5. Another meeting will occur in early Spring, but perhaps after March, 31.

make any sense. I just do not see how a Texas Tech (example) could give an ROI to a PE firm. With revenue sharing for the athletes on the table, NIL, and the transfer portal, PE just becomes another mouth to feed, no matter how much money is injected. A conference, or league, however, could most definitely bring an ROI. (example 1) It would take 10 teams to vote to scuttle the ACC. Assume for a moment that the SEC expands into NC and Virginia, and takes 4 teams to get to 18. Where do the other teams end up, because they would all have to have a landing spot. Say the B12 with PE money can attract the next best 5 ACC schools, and ND is the 10'th vote wherever they end up (not the B12). That would create a pretty diversified strong 3rd conference, and could possibly land a good enough media deal to give a PE firm an ROI, and allow the conference to compete. (example 2) The top 9 ACC schools break away, and use PE money to attract the top 5 B12 schools. ND would be the 10th vote, and they would keep their semi independence. That too would be a compelling conference, and could attract a media deal that could give an ROI, and allow teams to compete. The Big 10 will not expand IMHO, as they are at 18 currently, and could make a play for ND and one other. That is the only scenario where I see the Big 10 expanding, but there are plenty of opinions that would disagree. The Big10, and the SEC do not need PE money for a darn thing, as any school in the USA except ND would sell their soul to be in either conference, and they already have the lions share of money.

"(example 1) PE... at a conference level..." You make it sound easy. The membership must be unanimous and that means they must be willing to sign a long-term commitment to the conference and the PE partner. After the best ACC schools defect to the P2, there won't be enough value left to attract substantial PE. The surprise announcement in early Feb, could be Notre Dame revealing a solo PE deal. It preserves their independence. There aren't many other schools capable of getting an exclusive deal; perhaps Stanford, but for much less money. "(example 2)... )" The B1G will continue to grow as long as the media companies continue to make it profitable. They are building a transcontinental empire. They and their media partners want to gain a footprint in Florida, they will bid against The SEC for N. Carolina and Virginia, continue to grow the Western appendage, and, ideally, acquire a franchise in Texas, or not. They don't have a specific number in mind. At this point, it's irrelevant. The February announcement could be The MWC revealing news of a PE deal. It would give them enough cash to conclude expansion. The silence from The PAC might indicate another PE surprise, although that group has a rather precarious position in the "poaching lawsuit." Yormark is crazed for a PE deal, but he may have difficulty getting Utah to play along. The Utes have FSU Fever. They want out.

there will surely be schools that will not want to go the PE if a conference is considering it. Let Utah be Utah. If they have another place to land, then good for them. Currently, their choices are limited, as with any other school that does not get an invite to the P2. While the Big 10 could grow wherever the media companies want them too, and the NC, Florida, VA, GA, and Texas markets are very compelling, I just do not see many schools that bring the value to up their current contract, or raise it. Just my opinion. If the top schools in the ACC go to the P2, there certainly is some value of the top 4 or 5 remaining. Just how many schools do you think bring the value for such an invite?

He said that ND neither needs nor wants PE monies.

are affiliated with is a different story. The basketball and Olympics will end up in a conference. Currently, the ACC fits the bill, but that can change.

Just can't see a way that it's mutually beneficial.

** Edited by tarheelblue at 1/5/2025, 8:23:45 PM

nothing is wrong with that and appears they are doing quite well.

Would it be Phillips and Yormark? Or would it be the school presidents? Where are the lines of control between those two power groups?

Last chance to do something like that was when Oregon and Washington were still twisting in the wind. And even then, it would have been a stretch. UO and UW probably weren't interested and even if they were, it probably would have involved kicking a chunk of ACC, BigXII and Pac-12 teams to the curb.

Neither conference has a program that provides any national interest, please explain how merging the two solves that? If anything, it takes what little the two have (regional rivalries) and waters them down more. The only real answer is to either move to a P2 conference or wait until the P2 breaks off and become a semi pro league and the rest collapses and returns to something closer to the old days but with a fraction of the money and resources.

No reason to keep schools like Boston College or Baylor. Focus on larger state institutions.

to the playoffs (I know that can change). I thought the PAC made a mistake when Oregon and Washington took a 1/2 share, and the conference imploded. They gave up an auto by doing that in my opinion, but that is history. I do see a pathway for the ACC and B12 to find different ways to generate revenue, and more importantly, matchups the networks would pay for in the future. The blue bloods have mostly been consolidated, and they will get their network appearances, viewership, prime slots, and yes - a lot of money. Not much we can do about that for now. The bowl tie ins is a perfect place where we can make improvements. It looks like 3-4 SEC and Big 10 teams will get into the playoffs, so what is left for the bowls is slim pickings. If the ACC and B12 are regulated to 1 or 2 teams in the playoffs, that leaves some pretty darn good 2 loss teams for the bowl season. How do we get a BYU playing a Colorado in a bowl? The Miami ISU matchup was a decent one, but it went down hill from there. The Alabama Michigan bowl game tells us everything we need to know - we are going to have to do a much better job scheduling in the regular and post season. How about a rivalry between Texas Tech and VT as an example? Where is the Arizona UNC game? How about a lot more KU Duke matchups? Play on the basketball and other types of similarities that could generate eyeballs. WVU is easy, but the ACC needs to break from regionality. That ship sailed. How about BYU, Boston College, Baylor, TCU, and to a lesser extent, Wake, Duke, and SMU as a religious rotation. Play on the histories and affiliations in the regular and post season. Who knows, there could be some pretty decent rivalries developed. How about OOC games over seas? How about a mid season football challenge? How about neutral sights where they sell the rights to the highest bidder? We will see what happens with your blue bloods, and your contract - but rather than hope for the best, lets plan for the worst, and give the fans and networks something worth watching. ** Edited by Big12 guy at 1/4/2025, 3:13:50 PM

LOL!

Easy solution to all the playoff hurdles. Top two conference champions get an auto bid and a bye. Everyone else gets an "at large" bid. Either that, or guarantee 3 auto bids per power conference, expand to 14, leave a G5 spot a ND spot and 3 at large.

...champs, and no byes. This would require moving to 16 teams in the tournament. Teams (including conference champs) will be seeded 1-16, with 1-8 getting a game at their home stadium in the first round against the 16-9 seeds. The P2 would still reign supreme because they would still suck up the majority of "at large" selections.