ACC teams are expected to leave.

[headhunter15]

I personally would take the North Carolina schools and the Virginia schools over Clemson and FSU...It just makes more sense and they would be natural rivalries...Tennessee and UNC have a history going back to the early years, It would be fun to renew that rivalry.

This! Would love for UT to play Va. Tech each year. Easy away game for Tennessee fans.

 

[GroverCleveland]

The SEC would be nuts to not re-admit GT assuming GT wanted to come back in. Do not want B1G teams regularly playing games in Atlanta. Think it is hard recruiting against Alabama, Georgia, and OSU now? Wait until Michigan and OSU are regularly playing down in Atlanta. Why do you think Saban was always about those kick-off games in Atlanta? It was marketing the Bama brand the way he wanted it in front of that talent base. Would not be surprised to see a fight amongst OSU, Michigan and some others to get GT as a permanent opponent. Tennessee would do well to get GT back in the SEC and re-kindle that rivalry.

 

[SalVolinus]

It could happen, but news isn't going to be breaking out of Morgantown WV.

 

[ptcarter]

I wouldn’t hesitate to take Duke if I were the SEC.

But they’ll go with Carolina or Carolina goes wherever they end up. The rivalry is to rich and the fans would riot in the streets.

SEC doesn't need any more teams. At least until some leave. Do you realize the more teams in the league, the harder it is to get to a championship?

 

[Dudleys87]

SEC doesn't need any more teams. At least until some leave. Do you realize the more teams in the league, the harder it is to get to a championship?

If your worried about adding Carolina and Duke in football clearly you worry about Vandy too

 

[volfanhill]

The SEC would be nuts to not re-admit GT assuming GT wanted to come back in. Do not want B1G teams regularly playing games in Atlanta. Think it is hard recruiting against Alabama, Georgia, and OSU now? Wait until Michigan and OSU are regularly playing down in Atlanta. Why do you think Saban was always about those kick-off games in Atlanta? It was marketing the Bama brand the way he wanted it in front of that talent base. Would not be surprised to see a fight amongst OSU, Michigan and some others to get GT as a permanent opponent. Tennessee would do well to get GT back in the SEC and re-kindle that rivalry.

Each team added would have to be worth more than $50 million dollars to a media company per year. Otherwise adding them dilutes the amount of money the universities are currently taking in. Tech isn't worth $50 million when UGA already owns the whole state from a media market perspective

 

[ptcarter]

If your worried about adding Carolina and Duke in football clearly you worry about Vandy too

I do. Weaklings can sometimes have some good years and screw you up. (Hello South Carolina). It's a numbers game, and with our luck, we get LSU, Georgia, Bama, Auburn. Georgia and Bama get Duke UNC and Vandy and yet again we fall short of Atlanta.. It's been a while ya know.

 

[Namorto1]

I wouldn’t hesitate to take Duke if I were the SEC.

But they’ll go with Carolina or Carolina goes wherever they end up. The rivalry is to rich and the fans would riot in the streets.

Agree. I think it would be important to try and wrap up North Carolina if I were SEC commissioner. If that means you take both UNC and Duke together, do it. NC State and Wake Forest are going to be left in the cold and their fans know it.

Despite history and fit I don’t think either FSU or Clemson are slam dunks. FSU > Clemson if you had to pick one over the other. Virginia Tech is also in play. UVA doesn’t fit but if UNC and Duke left for SEC, becomes possible.

 

[Dudleys87]

Agree. I think it would be important to try and wrap up North Carolina if I were SEC commissioner. If that means you take both UNC and Duke together, do it. NC State and Wake Forest are going to be left in the cold and their fans know it.

Despite history and fit I don’t think either FSU or Clemson are slam dunks. FSU > Clemson if you had to pick one over the other. Virginia Tech is also in play. UVA doesn’t fit but if UNC and Duke left for SEC, becomes possible.

For you basketball fans just think of the amount of money that a Carolina/Duke vs Tennessee game generates. It’s not just about football this would help in a lot of ways.

 

[Dadof2Vols]

Good info.

I am not convinced the ACC's buyouts are at a level that can be paid by these schools. The buyout cost to leave the ACC is $52 million. That is also very close to a one year payout in the SEC TV revenue. ACC teams are getting @$35 million per year. That sounds good for a team joining the SEC.

Now the clincher for a school leaving the ACC is the Grant of Rights. FSU and Clemson have given the rights to control their television right to the ACC until 2036. The ACC teams have no ownership of their specific TV rights for 13 more years. The bull in the China shop is not really the B1G, but ESPN who owns the SEC and ACC Networks. If they are really the force behind conference expansion, the ACC will be forced to allow a deal to be made.

Is ESPN going to ruin its own ACC Network? The only way teams could leave the ACC with their tv rights is if ESPN makes the ACC cut a deal.

If the average SEC payout is $55m, $20m more per year than current ACC teams get, why would they not pay the chump change $52m buyout. In 2.5 short years they are at break even and making $20m or year a more than if they would have stayed in ACC.

All business decision. Anyone with a calculator would pay a 52m buyout to make 20m more a year.

 

[SpookyAction]

If the average SEC payout is $55m, $20m more per year than current ACC teams get, why would they not pay the chump change $52m buyout. In 2.5 short years they are at break even and making $20m or year a more than if they would have stayed in ACC.

All business decision. Anyone with a calculator would pay a 52m buyout to make 20m more a year.

The $50+million simply pays a buyout to leave the ACC.
The schools signed over the TV rights (Grant of Rights) to all of their sports to the ACC.
The buyout does nothing to secure their TV rights.
The TV rights belong Whole-hog to the ACC until 2036, and the ACC has zero incentive to let them have it without a huge payment. The value of those TV rights dwarfs the buyout payment.

The Grant of Rights situation puts the possibility of the mentioned schools leaving the ACC a bit dubious.

I mentioned in my previous post the only way ACC teams could manage to get their TV Rights back from the ACC would be if ESPN steps in and brokers a deal with the ACC for the TV Rights of any school leaving the conference. For example, ESPN could promise not to renegotiate the ACC's TV deal(since the market value of the ACC will plunge if the mentioned school bolt for the B1G and SEC), including the ACC Network (ESPN), if mentioned schools want to leave.
Otherwise, no school could ever afford to leave the ACC til 2036. The conference has current members locked up tight.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Agree. I think it would be important to try and wrap up North Carolina if I were SEC commissioner. If that means you take both UNC and Duke together, do it. NC State and Wake Forest are going to be left in the cold and their fans know it.

Despite history and fit I don’t think either FSU or Clemson are slam dunks. FSU > Clemson if you had to pick one over the other. Virginia Tech is also in play. UVA doesn’t fit but if UNC and Duke left for SEC, becomes possible.

Outside of Notre Dame, Carolina is the biggest piece left on the expansion board. I think they would be a better fit in the Big 10 than the SEC, but obviously Sankey would love to have them. I think the biggest question would be who comes w/ them wherever they go. State, Duke and UVA are the obvious choices. A lot depends on NC law and how that would allow UNC to be separated from NC State. Sucks that Swofford was so short sighted to get these guys locked into such a terrible TV deal and basically destroy the League. These ACC schools are going to fall so far behind they’re going to have to all quit together . That’s the only way out of the GOR deal.

 

[SpookyAction]

Outside of Notre Dame, Carolina is the biggest piece left on the expansion board. I think they would be a better fit in the Big 10 than the SEC, but obviously Sankey would love to have them. I think the biggest question would be who comes w/ then wherever they go. State, Duke and UVA are the obvious choices. A lot depends on NC law and how that would allow UNC to be separated from NC State. Sucks that Swofford was so short sighted to get these guys locked into such a terrible TV deal and basically destroy the League. These ACC schools are going to fall so far behind they’re going to have to all quit together . That’s the only way out of the GOR deal.

Swofford effectively tied the ACC together tightly.

This is a possible end around for teams with an oppotunity to leave:
Fansided: Clemson lead teams to leave ACC
"Eight schools has been floated as the threshold under which the conference could possibly dissolve. This is based on the ACC being a non-profit in the state of North Carolina, where only a majority of voting parties is required to dissolve a non-profit. This scenario would include Notre Dame, even though they aren’t a full member."

 

[TrueOrange]

Seems things are about to get even more insane...ACC Teams Expected to Leave Conference (msn.com)

Who or what exactly is “VoiceofMoTown”?

 

[TrueOrange]

That doesn't leave much of the ACC. Who does Duke play after all that?

Whoever’s currently in the American Athletic Conference, unfortunately, I would guess?

 

[TrueOrange]

It could happen, but news isn't going to be breaking out of Morgantown WV.

Very true.

 

[VOLnMiami]

Who or what exactly is “VoiceofMoTown”?

Berry Gordy, Jr

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Whoever’s currently in the American Athletic Conference, unfortunately, I would guess?

Join the Big East for basketball and go Independent for football ? You can pretty much Schedule the same way you do now or recently have scheduled . Schedule service academies (like they used to do), keep current rivalries w/ UNC, State and Wake, similar schools like Vandy, Northwestern, Baylor, Stanford. That’s not going to happen, but it’s an option. The Big 10 or Big 12 are the best options culturally for Duke IMO. I could see Duke and Miami being a good fit for the Big 12. Same for NC State honestly. I could also see State in the SEC as well. They would not have any success, at least not anytime soon, but they would be very passionate and they also bring a very good baseball program.

 

[Jax_Vol]

Kicking Florida and USCjr out of SEC would reduce our number of double wide trailers by 90%. Picking up Florida State and Clemson would greatly improve our academic scores while improving athletics.

Seems like a win / win.

 

[ukvols]

Kicking Florida and USCjr out of SEC would reduce our number of double wide trailers by 90%. Picking up Florida State and Clemson would greatly improve our academic scores while improving athletics.

Seems like a win / win.

Replacing UF with FSU wouldn't be a net gain, academically.

 

[ukvols]

How do Florida State and Clemson go to SEC? I thought Florida and SCjr were supposed to automatically veto those two. I don’t care really, although I do wish that we could eventually pick up an NC school.

Ask A&M about that veto to keep out an instate rival.

I think it takes a 75% vote to add a school, which allowed KY, UGA, UF, and SCar to band together to block the addition of another school in any of their states. Even with 14 schools, they maintained collective veto power. TAMU could not block Texas by itself and apparently could not convince those other schools that maintaining their collective veto was worth blocking Texas. If I'm right about the 75% rule, 12 votes is the threshold in a 16-team conference, which would mean KY, UGA, UF, and SCar can no longer block schools like UofL, GT, FSU, Miami, and Clemson without help.

 

[bamawriter]

I think it takes a 75% vote to add a school, which allowed KY, UGA, UF, and SCar to band together to block the addition of another school in any of their states. Even with 14 schools, they maintained collective veto power. TAMU could not block Texas by itself and apparently could not convince those other schools that maintaining their collective veto was worth blocking Texas. If I'm right about the 75% rule, 12 votes is the threshold in a 16-team conference, which would mean KY, UGA, UF, and SCar can no longer block schools like UofL, GT, FSU, Miami, and Clemson without help.

There is a difference in having 2 teams in TX as opposed to 2 teams in GA, SC, or even FL. I don't see a scenario in which 12 schools support adding any of the named programs.

 

[ukvols]

There is a difference in having 2 teams in TX as opposed to 2 teams in GA, SC, or even FL. I don't see a scenario in which 12 schools support adding any of the named programs.

That may be the case. I don’t think the group of four can still block their in-state rivals, but yes - there could be other opposition.

 

[TrueOrange]

Kicking Florida and USCjr out of SEC would reduce our number of double wide trailers by 90%. Picking up Florida State and Clemson would greatly improve our academic scores while improving athletics.

Seems like a win / win.

Noooooooo. It would not...at all.

 

[UTwild82]

If the ACC busts up and North Carolina and UVA have the choice, they're going to the Big Ten. Two academically prestigious, basketball first schools who can also make more money each year while getting Maryland back on the schedule and have a better basketball schedule (most years)? That's an easy choice for them.

Don't overlook the academic side, that Big Ten academic collective (I think it used to be called the CIC) is as valuable if not more so than the athletic revenue.

I also think we're past the point of "If you want school A, you have to take school B". There's too much money involved now. North Carolina doesn't have the pull to demand Duke come along to either of these conferences. The conferences may also want Duke, but as much money as the SEC and B1G are making, basketball isn't enough of a driver to increase the ridiculous payouts these conferences already have. Notre Dame is the only team on the table that brings enough money to the table to pick who comes with.

Final point, the reason the SEC would take Clemson and FSU is because content and ratings matter. Twelve years or so ago it was all about new markets. While that still has some effect, as we go more and more towards streaming, content and ratings matter more. Those 2 teams draw better than anyone else in the ACC. Another big part of that is preserving big games. If the SEC or B1G go to 20 teams, that's probably a 10 game conference schedule. That forces you to have one permanent opponent and rotate the other 18. With a 10 game conference schedule, it's hard to keep those out of conference rivalry games intact. In that world, I think Florida and South Carolina would rather have their rivals in conference.