I can understand Maryland, in terms of sports/interest I can't see The State University of New Jersey when Louisville is available. Now, should Maryland leave the ACC, that would open the door for UCONN. The Big East, since the football conference refuses to die, would look for geographically suitable replacements. I'm guessing some combination of Hawaii, Alaska Anchorage and Florida International would be the first choices.
Not sure why if you're going from 12 to 14.. wouldn't you then want to get to 16? Big 10, Pac 10, SEC, and either leave it up to the Big East or Big 12 to fight it out for the 4th Superconference? Then ditch the NCAA for football purposes and you have your semi-final playoff round. You even have a final eight with the 4 conference championships, and no more sharing with the Boise States of the world.
Not saying it's my preference, just that we're headed there, aren't we?
I don't like this one bit. The Terps can barely handle an ACC sked in football. They will get KILLED in a Big 10 (Big 14?) sked. In basketball, it is a pretty smart move.
Looking at the Leaders div, maybe they would go 2-4 with wins, maybe, vs Ill and Ind.
Looking at Legends div, 2-4 with maybe wins against MN and Iowa.
-- 2006 Time magazine Person of the Year -- -- July 2009 Ordained Reverend --
I like what the ACC did in the past round of expansion by deciding screw football, we're a basketball conference. They simultaneoulsy improved themselves and hurt the Big East while also putting themselves in Pennsylvania and New York markets. Now that the Big Ten is thriving at basketball they were smart to try and improve their basketball conference by stealing somebody from the ACC. Those are the basketball conferences now because the Big East has screwed up their conference by trying (and failing) to compete in football.
I'm surprised nobody (especailly the SEC) has gone after Virginia Tech. Isn't that a similar market to Maryland, except a much better football program? Their basketball team would probably fare well in the SEC too.
I'm surprised nobody (especailly the SEC) has gone after Virginia Tech. Isn't that a similar market to Maryland, except a much better football program?
Not by a long shot. Blacksburg is in the SW corner of VA in the Roanoke market. VT is about 160 miles from Duke in Durham, NC; 200 from Richmond, VA; 200 from Marshall in Huntington, WV; 250 from WVU in Morgantown, WV; and about 275 from the heart of Washington, DC.
There are only two FBS schools in the DC market. MD and the Naval Academy
-- 2006 Time magazine Person of the Year -- -- July 2009 Ordained Reverend --
This is fantastic. The gain for football is nominal, but the B1G get access to two major markets and Maryland will be a help in roundball. Plus, my best friend lives in Maryland and we've had to share "prospective" trash talk since Michigan and Maryland almost never meet in the major sports. I'm stoked.
The appeal of Rutgers is easy, an increased footprint in the NYC media market = higher ratings for the Big 10 network = more $$$
It's been this way for a while, but it's still so weird that TV network footprints are leading realignment. It feels like the cart is leading the horse on this one, especially since it doesn't feel like that many people are actually watching these networks.
This becomes a TV issue and not a sports one, but this feels like a bubble that's going to burst, and burst before people are ready for it.
Originally posted by wmatisticI can't understand why Maryland would think it work the $50 million price tag to leave the ACC. Unless they feel they can get out of paying that much.
Here's the thing with the "$50 million". It is true, but not entirely accurate. The ACC's exit fee is actually 3 years worth of per-school conference payouts. This year, that is roughly $50 million, but as conference payouts go up, the exit fee would go up accordingly. The benefit of that fee is a quick exit. They can go to the B1G in 2014. To compare, Rutgers, assuming they give notice now, and do not negotiate an early exit, can't leave the Big East until 2015.
What will probably happen is that there will be a deal cut where Maryland gets a reduction in the exit fee, and in exchange they stay long enough for another school, most likely UConn, to get out of THEIR conference, to replace Maryland. All this should finally, allow the Big East to be dragged out back and put out of it's misery, at least as far as football goes. If Maryland goes to court to get the exit fee dropped, and they win, then the ACC starts to teeter like a house of cards, because FSU is probably on the first plane to the Big 12 or the SEC.
Now, I wonder if the ACC puts the full-court press on Notre Dame to join for football (they are joining in all other sports, except hockey in 2014), and then maybe poach someone else (Louisville? Cincy?) to get to the magic 16.
Originally posted by thecubsfanit's still so weird that TV network footprints are leading realignment. It feels like the cart is leading the horse on this one, especially since it doesn't feel like that many people are actually watching these networks.
This becomes a TV issue and not a sports one, but this feels like a bubble that's going to burst, and burst before people are ready for it.
Right. It's somewhat irrelevant how many people are actually watching, it's about how many fanatics in how many cable regions you can get to potentially call in and threaten to cancel if they can't get their Indiana vs Rutgers game, or the Iowa/Maryland tilt for the Giant Paddlewheel Trophy.
ABC/ESPN get at least the first two biggest B1G games of the weekend, the actual Big Ten Network shows games like Purdue vs Minnesota. Basketball is nice, but not as large an audience, and then other sports are shown because it would look really bad if they were ignored entirely - but it's 50/50 that a Dean Martin Celebrity Roast infomercial would get better ratings than men's soccer.
Building these superconferences works at least in the short term of making the next multi-year deal, and if anything is going to survive people giving up cable, it will be live big-time sporting events. (If we ever get to the cable tv model collapsing, a-la-carte online television will (ironically?) fall back to the where the national, over-the-air broadcasters have the lion's share of the audience to produce new scripted programming.)
My guess it that this is nothing like when the ACC did it to get VT, Miami(fl), and BC. The ACC was Florida ST. only in football. They were happy. As soon as FSU started losing, they panicked.
Now the B1G has seen a decrease, be it a small one, in football over the last 2 years. So they panic and try to add in more teams? RU is having a decent year in a small conference. Maryland is a once every 10 years team. n So this has to be TV related.
Now I'm a WVU fan til death. And I wasn't happy when we joined the Big 12. I see and accept why the move happened. But I didn't like it. I say, higher better coaches, recruit better players, and have better road records is the way to elevate a conference. Not poach TV markets/Football powerhouses.
EDIT: I just though of something. Does this lead to FSU, and CLEM to SEC? That rumor was this year. Do Duke and UNC try to save the ACC for basketball? I know they get PITT and Cuse in all sports and ND in everything but Football next year. Maryland is a decent team in that regard. UCONN joining does seem like the right fit. To keep the rivalries going. If WVU just waited one year, this would be a good fit as well. That is a 1/1,000,000 shot now.
Originally posted by texasranger9RU is having a decent year in a small conference. Maryland is a once every 10 years team. n So this has to be TV related.
Last MD BCS Bowl appearance: 2002 Orange Bowl Indiana: N/A (1968 Rose, pre BCS) Michigan State: N/A (1988 Rose, pre BCS) Minnesota: N/A (1962 Rose, pre BCS) Northwestern: N/A (1995 Rose, pre BCS) Penn State: 1997 Fiesta (not vacated), 2009 Rose (Vacated)
MD NCAA Men's Basketball championship: 2002 Last Big Ten NCAA Men's Basketball championship: 2000 (Michigan State)
MD NCAA Women's Basketball championship: 2006 Only Big Ten NCAA Women's Basketball championship: 1999 (Purdue)
We bring as much as much to the table as other schools already in the conference.
-- 2006 Time magazine Person of the Year -- -- July 2009 Ordained Reverend --
Boise State, San Diego State and BYU back to the MWC? Since the mid-major champion in the "Group of Five" (Mountain West, Big East, Conference USA, Mid-American and Sun Belt) are on equal footing as the power conferences, they might all head back.
I suspect that these two issues are related. Places that aren't football mad result in less quality athletes playing the sport in favour of other more regionally popular sports (basketball? hockey?)
Just did a quick peek at the Big East. Looking at it's founding, the only D 1-A/FBS charter member* not currently announcing a move is UConn. Every single school that joined at the 1991 football expansion has left or been expelled. Temple was invited back though.
An expected UConn move to the ACC would mean 100% turnover for the 1-A/FBS side of the conference. Yikes. The 2005 expansion schools would be the longest tenured FBS schools in the conference. Seems like the only constant for them is change.
*Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, and St. John's are the 1-AA/FCS charter members still in the conference
-- 2006 Time magazine Person of the Year -- -- July 2009 Ordained Reverend --
Originally posted by Zeruel *Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, and St. John's are the 1-AA/FCS charter members still in the conference
Georgetown plays at FCS, but the other 3 schools don't have a football team at all, which makes them neither FBS nor FCS. Those subdivisions only exist for football. Schools like that were unofficially called I-AAA at one point, and their annoyance with that label was part of the reason why the subdivisions became FBS and FCS.
Originally posted by Llakor I suspect that these two issues are related. Places that aren't football mad result in less quality athletes playing the sport in favour of other more regionally popular sports (basketball? hockey?)
As someone who works with high school kids in the Northeast, I would guess that the sports that get more kids here than other parts of the country are mostly soccer and lacrosse.