Because we don't. No one at VT does. So anything we could say about it would just be speculation or cheerleading, and there's already plenty of that all over the interwebs. It's really simple to me: The P2 is currently at 34 schools, correct (18 for the B1G, 16 for the SEC)? -- If the P2 goes to 40, I don't think VT makes it. -- If the P2 goes to 44, I like VT's chances. -- If the P2 goes to 48, VT is in. That last one is my favorite model: eight divisions of six teams across the two conferences. I mean, I can sit here and draw up prospective conference rosters and divisions and all that, but it's just me moving names around on a spreadsheet. It doesn't have any value or insight. That all sounds snippy, which I don't intend. I realized the day that USC and UCLA joined the Big Ten that I have no idea what's going to happen, and I never will again. It all went WAAAAY above my pay grade that day. BTW, I agree with everything you said about VT's value. Great football environment, fun to watch on TV, unlike the library in Charlottesville or the wine and cheese crowd in Chapel Hill.

and schools they want, but the devil is in the details. As schools become available, this will cause the P2 partners to make moves and countermoves which makes the strategic plans very fluid. So no one will know the final moves until after they are made, making what is discussed now all conjecture on everyone's part.

think the football realignment is all but done (except for a few pieces). We know what the playoff revenue and distributions are - and it doesn't matter who is in the playoffs, or who wins the championship - the numbers are set. We know what the media contracts are moving forward for every conference except the ACC. The next moves in realignment will be the "guaranteed" money if March Madness is renegotiated, and the P2 once again, flexes their muscle. That will be when "markets", "brands", and "blue blood status comes into play again. We will see whether or not football and basketball are separated when negotiating the media rights moving forward. We will also know the amount of the settlement that is currently playing out in the courts (NCAA, not ACC). Where the next tier of teams land, whether it's the ACC, B12, or another conference, is much less important in the bigger picture.

I really hope that VT ends up in the P2, but regardless I will continue to buy my season football tickets and hope we go 12-0!

enough teams to pull the TV audiences they need. 48 has been my educated guess for a while, I think we end up with two football first conferences and two basketball first conferences to round out the P4. Like John Skipper the former ESPN President that was the mastermind behind all of this and Bob Thompson the Former CEO of Fox Sports, have both said with very few getting the weight of these two saying it, "College Basketball is way underrated!" Both of them said it and it was close by to when the other one said it. Consequently, I don't thing the P2 break off. I do think we expand the tournament to about 96 and the Sweet 16 is going to paid out like the Football Playoff 16 (it's going IMHO from 14-16). Then the earlier rounds will fund Olympic Sports. They don't want to break that off and live on an island. So I think the B12 and the leftover ACC will be basketball first. I keep saying if the Mag 7 leave the ACC. the ACC will survive as a tier 1 basketball (they will grab UConn and San Diego State amongst others and have a good basketball contract), then someone like CBS will pick up their football. I loved Big East football on CBS. So if the worse case happens for VT, and I don't think it will, we will be okay in the ACC which will be better than the old Big East football, and maybe basketball because it will cover the US and have outstanding Academic Institutions. Maybe that should not matter to me, but it does, being in the Big East and ACC helped our Academic profile IMHO. Sorry for the rant!!! ** Edited by Stech at 5/14/2024, 5:45:15 PM

There is a better chance that we hopefully have a new football uniform leak this week than hearing about any conference wrangling. There will be a reporter that will tweet a breaking rumor, and then things will go upside down very quickly.

OK

There HAS to be some powerful forces behind the curtain manipulating college football. The Trilateral Commission ?? Yep. The Opus Dei??? No Doubt. The Elders of Zion (or is it Zions of Elder?) you bet This is all way too important for nobody to be pulling the strings and cheating the real fans

The TV networks. The school presidents, chancellors, etc. The athletic directors. The lawyers. The fans. The NCAA. But I view this like combat. Everyone has a plan for what they want to do and achieve, but once opposing forces engage, battle plans quickly go out the window, and everyone is just trying to survive. What wounds up happening is rarely what anyone planned at the beginning.

However you can say it on your Basement Podcast, as long it’s not a walk out basement, for security reasons. 🤣🤣 ** Edited by Stech at 5/15/2024, 8:31:42 AM

Knows nothing

uncertainty about this, and maybe I'm cherry-picking you. For so long and for so many issues, the VT people seem to be behind the curve. It is great that women's basketball, softball and men's baseball are doing well, but as far as long-term survivability and relevance, they don't really matter. We seem to be winning at the "game" that doesn't matter and neglecting the huge one that does. Perhaps this has happened, but you'd think that behind the scenes, someone has gotten some hypothetical price quotes and has gamed out three or four strategies and how to proceed.

way oversell how others are doing, and pretty much ignore that the real movers and shakers are the media and no one below a national brand has any path to be proactive in the manner it seems you are saying VT should have been. Does anyone who has really considered things think the ACC had a pathway to keep up with the P2 when the P2 is what the media wanted and wants? Does anyone think VT has a pathway upward until the big media gives us one?

the VT elites screwed VT back when we had an actual invite to the SEC and poppycock'd it as if we were better than - even though anyone with even moderate interest in VT sports understood we should have taken that offer. Don't worry though, no one will be held to account for that massive fail...pensions are still fully intact.

Mistakes have been made in the past. Maybe we should have jumped at the SEC when we had the chance, maybe we shouldn't have. We should have pushed back harder when Miami was removed as a protected rival. But I feel leadership has learned from these mistakes. The fact that we have been a part of the Mag 7 tells me we aren't sitting on our laurels. I would really like to know if we were a Yes or No vote on whether or not to file suit against F$U.

allegations but, can you support them with (1) when the actual offer was in hand and (2)what reasons the board of visitors gave for rejecting the offer?

well as anyone going back to inclusion in the Big East. Of all the teams that were independent in 1992, VT has benefited the most IMO.

A bunch of guys speculating, guessing, throwing stuff around to see what sticks. They know nothing...uhhh

payout, but with a big subsidy to UNC to stay? Maybe this won't happen, but it is being floated. Talk about putting out your own eye with the boomerang you threw! FSU and Clemson leave, 15 remain. Two of the seven leave and UNC flips to get the loot. That leaves 4 obvious votes to block. Where will the other two come from? 10/15 (2/3) can vote to amend? Advantage: small schools?

This isn’t a surprise moment . It’s on Sands and his Administration. Let’s refresh our memory I heard in Sands early tenure he lauded about football at VT will not be the same football program in the future . Raised alot of eyes with the big givers. We haven’t heard anything from Sands about where he sees VT and P2 .

having to depend on political maneuvering in order to avoid some significant damage. It is because the internal administration doesn't give us a lot of confidence. I don't dispute that they have to put on a public face and know a lot more than they say, but here are some things I've noticed. 1. The current ACC contract looks like it has some serious flaws. 2. VT's president was a former B10 president and should have some solid back channels as well as insights into their thought process. If he can't get us in the B10, then his hire wasn't very useful. 3. UNC who is somewhat bullet-proof in this realignment, is having a mini civil war. 4. No one seems to know how valid the current contract is or what it actually contains based on Clemson having to sue to LOOK AT IT. 5. It seems that the participants can't make a coherent conjecture about which venue it will be litigated in - NC, SC or FL. 6. It seems that the participants can't make a coherent conjecture about what, if any, damages there are for defection. 7. Three teams get added, to HELP the "Magnificent Seven," but instead there might be a coalition, where the small teams subsidize UNC into staying, basically locking those four remaining schools into a conference with an even lower payout. 8. It appears to me that the teams that voted to add the three schools (including VT) might have really screwed themselves. 9. So basically, the administrators, that wanted VT to be able to drink tea with UVA and UNC have put VT in the position to get strung in the back by the UNC scorpion once again. 10. ESPN seems to be getting away with some very questionable conduct. These facts are seen through the fog of war, but they don't look good. If people could have just been happy being a peer school in the SEC, this would have been avoided. I hope I end up being completely wrong on this and we end in the B10 or SEC with greater riches. It looks like all these tactics that VT uses ends up backfiring. ** Edited by TDVick at 5/15/2024, 9:25:07 AM

mind. UNC just doesn't act this way. They are very UVA-ish. Up until then I figured that some people behind the scenes had their hand on the rudder. UNC will definitely find a landing spot - and yet, THEY are acting this way. It doesn't create a lot of confidence that some horse-trading with a package deal for UNC, NCSU, UVA and VT has been put into effect. UNC is almost acting like they going to be at a deficit to the Texas and Ohio State-type schools that they can't overcome. ** Edited by TDVick at 5/14/2024, 5:37:32 PM

monetarily speaking. That’s just reality.

that was posted recently. ** Edited by Stech at 5/14/2024, 4:56:13 PM

blah.

Lane will rock the Hokie Stone for every home SEC game!!!

However, I don't think Will and Chris are privy to any more information than anyone else.