If we are there with Pitt, WVU, OK State, TCU, Baylor, NC State, Miami, UCF, GT, Syracuse, etc. we will be fine with it. That conference will easily be the #3 at that point, which is what we are now.

If you're not fortunate enough to get into the B1G or the SEC, then you must go where there is the most $. Because of geographics and old rivalries, I've always wished WVU would've been in the ACC. But let's face it: UNC, UVA, Wake, Duke, etc were never going to invite WVU into the ACC. And so Oliver Luck secured us a spot in the Big 12. And when Texas and Oklahoma announced they were leaving, we were once again wondering where we would land. I actually like what the Big 12 is doing now. I will never feel the rivalries of the Big East. They are gone forever. I mean you can go to the occasional OOC matchup and feel some of the energy, but when you're not battling for a conference title, it doesn't mean as much. If the Big 12 was offering more money to VT, I think that VT would take a serious look.

would need to trim back to be anywhere near competitive with the P2 by that time. I also think that if the P2 take FSU, Clemson, Oregon and Washington, meaning they wouldn't be available to be in the BigXII, that the BigXII won't be able to compete with the P2 anyway. Of the leftover teams right now outside the P2, I think if you'd take the Top 16 programs, you could have a solid P3 conference. But if you take those 4 schools out, and put them in the SEC and B1G, then the inequity is too great. No way. The consolidation of power in the P2 right now is a very disturbing trend. It is becoming a cartel. And some schools that are Top 40 programs could get left behind (like Kansas State, Arizona State, and Virginia Tech). I have no idea how big the P2 will go. But the fact that it's out of our hands, and in the hands of other conference's commissioners and presidents, as well as TV executives is an alarming prospective.

I don't know where FSU and Clemson end up, but my guess is the SEC.

to the Big Ten now, when will they be? Seems crazy to me to let those schools adrift from all this time.

Whit is an advisor, the SEC or BIG 10 will be outreaching to Tim Sands and whit just a department head.

He's the doer for Sands and the BOV. He would not do anything unilateral until he gets sensing and direction from the President and BOV. At VT athletics is NOT a separate entity from the university, The president is the CEO and the athletic dept is one of many departments he leads as well as the BOV.

Or about him doing *anything* for that matter.

UL Pitt and Cincy in a pod - my preference and I think the best fit is SEC with annual games w TENN UK Uva UNC and NCSU. I am beginning to accept that ACC will not survive in current configuration. What I fear is being left in a watered down ACC. FSU and Clemson seem to be chewing their arm off to leave

So the question is premature. Don’t sleep on their intent to go international with media partners and possible affiliations. Also note their consideration of non-FBS schools to increase what is already decent MBB appeal. Instead of wringing hands and dealing with lesser tier status, I applaud the innovative thinking. The landscape is constantly shifting, and blue bloods come and go.

The SEC would be in there pretty fast taking the B12's money.

He’s going to get another gig and fast. I’d be shocked if he were their commissioner past 2025, maybe 2024. You don’t do the kind of PR job he’s doing and then wait around for everybody to figure out they honestly don’t want to watch Kansas State play Texas Tech. And since he’s quite honestly the only non P2 commissioner to ever do a good job marketing his league, let’s see if the Big XII can strike gold again when he moves on.

And football is the driver here. I think of how fans would consider watching a team if they were on TV. BYU- great add. Cincy- meh. Houston- meh. UCF- meh. Colorado- great add. If they land UO or UW, then I think they can start to build something. But I heard lots of BigXII fans taking **** on UO and UW because they think those schools are just looking to join the B1G. But I got news for them. Not a single school in the current BigXII would turn down a B1G invite. If they get UO and UW, and build something cool and competitive over the next 5 years, who knows. Maybe they will be in position to get the top football schools from the ACC. This is all a massive longshot though. But I applaud Yormark for trying. I am about sick of Phillips. He's saying they would look to improve their position only after the Colorado announcement. Why wasn't this happening before? And now he might be tied to the Northwestern scandal. What an empty suit.

Sure, people will be interested in the Prime factor, but who knows how long until that lustre wears off. BYU? Are they really any better than the "mehs"?

should consider swapping the mehs of UCF and/or Houston for the great add of Colorado. Aside from the hype of Coach Prime and his likely short stint in Boulder I think Houston and/or UCF have far more upside than the Buffs.

sure they are a meh addition.

At the rate they are going they will be first in enrollment before too long.

I expect them to make noise sooner rather than later.

They are less than two miles apart and the combo of both is gigantic, the largest in Georgia.

GT alumni won’t let it happen.

for energy, creative thinking, effective PR. He is making chicken salad out of what would be considered chicken s#!+.

We don't need to join an equal or lower paying conference where our travel expenses will triple. We currently are in one of three conferences that has it's own cable sports channel. That alone puts us in 3rd place. The more teams the B12 adds, the more mouths they have to feed. They're losing their top two programs to the SEC. Colorado does not replace Oklahoma or Texas, and neither will Arizona. What happens to their per-school payout when the Big-12 has 24 teams? 30 teams? 50 teams?

And it appears that is what is being worked on.

Stuff like that doesn’t get out by accident. FSU, Clemson, UNC and Miami are obvious targets for major leagues if they decide to expand. UVA, VT and NC State being attached to that group is by design. Conference boundaries matter, large and growing state populations matter, fanbases that support and watch the product matter. State supported institutions matter to the state governments. We saw this in CA. UCLA is going to pay Cal up to $10M a year that it’s in the B1G. Maybe forever. State supported schools who are looking at making a move to a P2 league that could adversely affect their in state counterparts to such a large degree aren’t going to sneak by like USC and UCLA. That cat’s out of the bag. The public’s response to realignment is to take something a blowhard like Paul Finebaum says and run with it. His job is to generate interest. But school and conference administrators on the whole aren’t so capricious. (FSU might be the exception here) Hence knowing absolutely nothing about USC and UCLA to the B1G until the day it happened. And Texas/OU to the SEC the year before. And Maryland to the B1G. That’s not happening anymore because it’s become an everyday talking point because it’s so impactful. Looking back, VT and Miami to the ACC was so public, conference commissioners looking to expand started going dark due to all the contentious legal battles that occurred during the open courtship period of the ACC in 2003. But just because these announcements are so sudden doesn’t mean due diligence isn’t taking precedence. I imagine the latest SEC and B1G moves were at least a year in the making. Which all leads me to my initial point. The four NC and VA state schools would have to see the value in linking themselves together. Who wants to be USC and UCLA in the Big Ten? Or Miami in the Big Ten? Or West Virginia in the Big XII? It’s all going to crumble down at some point and leadership would be to align yourselves now with who you want to stay connected to for the future. At least it makes sense to me that way.

but also research partnerships, etc. However, TV partnerships with the networks have pushed those conference ties to expanded markets searching for additional revenue. I wish we just stayed with the larger colleges/universities that have higher enrollment and better fans in the seats. They should have never invited BC (thanks Donna Shalala/Miami), etc into the ACC fold. When we were invited. Going forward, I would love to be able to shed some of the smaller schools (Wake, BC, etc). Or at least put stipulations on inclusion to portions of the conference athletic partnerships based upon minimum stadium seating/fannies in the seats, etc. To ensure the conference remains strong and does not fall behind. I just hope the ACC leadership would be willing to move in that direction. Or I think ultimately the ACC will fracture apart long-term. Not sure when, but at some point. The money is too big of a difference between the top two leagues and their 2nd tier.

A little unfair of me to say what I said in my original reply - SEC has plenty of good universities, just havin a little fun

I thought I read one of the reasons UVA and others supported us with inclusion into the ACC, was research grants/partnerships between the universities and business. Not only because of politics and the athletic side. And without support with moving VT into the ACC, this could have disrupted these long term plans at the non-athletic levels. I could be wrong though...

Simply don't work that way.

They're not academic conferences, they're athletic conferences. How many academic national championships does the B1G have?

Missouri to SEC Maryland to B1G Edit: USC and UCLA to B1G can probably fit here. I don't know that those are "inferior" in the eyes of someone who thinks this matters, but they're not steps up. Colorado to Big XII and Arkansas to SEC, I guess people would say were moves to inferior It's still meaningless. No conference move was made for "research partnerships" or with the thought that playing sports with different schools would improve academics. ** Edited by Pylons at 7/30/2023, 9:13:58 AM