As usual Twitter went realignment wild over something. This time it was a report that 7 ACC schools were looking at the GOR.
The conference was about to dissolve. It even got to the point, where realignment Twitter suggested some ACC schools were looking at the Big 12 as an option.
Let’s pump the brakes, and separate fact from fiction.
Fact
Any school in the Pac 12, Big 12, and ACC would jump to the SEC or Big 10 with an invite if they had the chance. It’s hard to argue this one in any way.
Fact
The GOR is real and it won’t be easy to break. In fact it would be unprecedented given the litigation of the 13 years left on the media deal, the exit fee, and let’s not forget all the secondary deals created by ESPN for the ACC Network. As of yet, nobody has found that magical loophole to break it.
Fact
ACC Schools are looking at the GOR. I don’t think there’s any question about this, but we also knew this. I remember Dan Radakovich saying last year he was looking at it at Miami and that several schools were looking at it. If you aren’t looking at then I question your job as a leader of a school. Should that Big 10 or SEC invite come, you should know that GOR inside and out.
Fiction
The Big 12 isn’t a first option. I swear if any ACC school I attended Clemson or Georgia Tech was actually looking at the most unstable conference of the last 15 years, I would lose it. It would take a complete collapse of the conference before this should even be considered. What’s the point of just trading conferences for another 10s of millions gap? Yea nobody is going to be part of breaking up the ACC for the Big 12.
Fiction
The ACC isn’t dissolving this week, or next week or anytime soon. The Big 10 and SEC don’t have multiple invites going out.
Fiction
There was a screaming match between the Wake Forest AD and NC State AD. How in the world did this gain traction?
Fact
Performance-based unequal sharing is coming, but if you follow this blog that actually closely observes the ACC you’d know that.
I suspect the relatively short-term ACC future will be performance-based unequal revenue sharing, but I do feel comfortable in saying ESPN won’t be initiating a behind-the-scenes breakup of the ACC anytime soon. Anything they do with the ACC in that regard would be a reaction to a Big 10/FOX move.
Final Thoughts
As a long-time conference realignment nerd, some thoughts….
Nothing will change with the ACC in the short term (3-4 years).
We knew that some ACC schools were looking at the GOR. What we didn’t know was who it was or how many. (1/3)— Ethan Moore (@_EthanMoore) May 16, 2023
I agree with this statement from Ethan. I’ve said over and over, the ACC will be in-tact in the short term 4-5 years, and then after that, I don’t have a definitive statement. If you take the frustrated comments of FSU AD Mike Alford, then you also have to pay attention as well when he says he’s optimistic about some of the solutions that were presented to keep the ACC competitive.
Let’s see how substantial those solutions are.
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