Conference expansion or contraction or realignment or whatever they are calling it these days took another turn today with the Big East basketball schools splitting from their football counterparts. So for the ACC what should they do? Well I have a something new to the realignment game.
The ACC should not expand, they should stand pat. Sorry to Connecticut, South Florida, Cincinnati and the other Big East football schools. These are fine institutions, but the ACC shouldn’t reach out to them at this time. Now I don’t really expect the conference to expand further, but if John Swofford had any ideas, just let it go John.
Frankly the ACC should look away from the carnage and focus on themselves. There is a possibility that Louisville and Notre Dame could join the ACC as early next year, though others say that is not as likely. That creates all kinds of scheduling issues. There’s is the current television contract negotiation with ESPN on going with Notre Dame’s addition. I conservatively estimated a 1-1.5 Million increase, but there are now unconfirmed rumblings of a $2 Million dollar increase. In addition there is the on going discussion of an ACC Network. This is from the Duke athletic director Kevin White…
On the possibility of the ACC creating its own network:
“We are pursuing it and taking a good hard look at it. I don’t know how it will play out, but we are in the early stages of that. It’s an interest area of mine, it’s an interest area of (Duke associate athletic director) Jon (Jackson’s), so we are working on that at Duke as well just to be a good partner with the ACC. I’d love to see us do a really deep dive and explore the possibility of whether that makes sense for the ACC.”
This from David Teel, a reporter from the DailyPress in Virginia
ACC commish John Swofford told me last month league is exploring possible channel with ESPN.
https://twitter.com/DavidTeelatDP/status/273791343069896705
Clearly there is evidence to suggest that the “something” is in the works regarding an ACC Network. One thing the ACC can do is learn from the Big East’s opposing agendas of the football and basketball schools, and that’s keep everyone on the same page. No decisions without everyone’s knowledge and a majority agreement. Keep working on the television contract and the ACC Network. There’s enough on the ACC’s plate without worrying about adding more teams. Not mention with about $78 Million a year guaranteed future playoff and Orange Bowl money or $5.6 Million for 14 teams, adding 2 more teams reduces this amount by close to $800 K per current ACC team.
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