ACC approves Grant of Rights

[kbdiggity]

The ACC absolutely stated that the vote approving the increase in departure fees was unanimous.

Nope.

They voted unanimously to add Notre Dame to the conference. In the same press release, they mentioned "the Council of Presidents voted to increase the conference exit fees to three times the annual operating budget. Currently this would equate to an exit fee of over $50 million."


http://www.theacc.com/genrel/091212aaa.html


They never said the vote for the new exit fee was unanimous, because it was not. FSU and Maryland voted against it. My guess is that you misread the original press release, or perhaps you read a secondary article whose author misread the press release.

 

[kbdiggity]

The ACC has been awful for 10+ years. It seems like its different problems for different teams. But the obviously fixable one is FSU. They haven't gotten back yet, but look at their records since Bowden retired, they are better than one would think. I don't think Jimbo Fisher is a Nick Saban but he will probably have them back in the BCS/playoffs whatever is going on now sooner than later. They have recruited right there with the SEC all along, so it really is a foregone conclusion that if you add a competent staff they will be very good. Clemson is a poor mans FSU in this regard. Dabo is stupid and probably not the right guy.

Louisville under Strong may join the above programs.

Miami and Virginia Tech are probably not going to return to that level, but Miami is in more or less the most fertile recruiting area on earth and Va Tech has a huge and loyal following.

UVA/UNC could be more than they are at some point.

The rest are never going to be regular BCS contenders but there are some programs with solid histories.

The B12 has Texas, Oklahoma, OK State (maybe unless the oil money goes away) and TCU (could be a paper tiger w/ real competition). K state will probably fall back when Billy Snyder goes again, WVU isn't the same thing they were with Rich Rod even now. The rest are singularly unimpressive.

In short if FSU can get back to Texas level and Clemson or Louisville or another can step it up, the gap between the top programs in the two conferences dissipates and the ACC top to bottom is a much better product over the long run (also it has a lot more TV eyes for what that is worth).

...and that appears to be worth a lot to ESPN. The ACC footprint up and down the entire east coast is certainly filled with a great deal more televisions than the Big 12's small footprint in the middle of the country (plus WV.)

Also, the Big 12 is still being run entirely by Texas and to a lesser extent OU. When the Big 12 lost 4 schools a couple years ago, the entire conference was waiting on baited breath to see what Texas and OU would do. The other conferences had a problem with the Longhorn network, so Texas decided to stay put. Thus the conference was saved for the time being. But while all the other major conference appear to be creating their own television networks for a financial reward, the Big 12 can not because all of Texas' tier 3 rights are tied up in the Longhorn network. So over the next few years you may see the Big 12 fall behind as a result of the Big 10 network, the Pac-12 network, and the upcoming SEC-ESPN and ACC-ESPN networks. When that Big 12 GoR gets close to expiring, the conference will once again stand or fall based entirely on the decisions of Texas and OU.

 

[upstater]

Most people don't want to subject their student-athletes to repeatedly traveling halfway across the country for conference games. Especially those student-athletes who don't get the travel amenities provided to football or men's basketball.

Fans want to be able to brag about the strength of the football in their conference, even if they do it while their team is being stomped all season long. But University presidents have to make conference affiliation decisions based on more than fan bravado. If WVU had the option to join a major conference closer to home, they would have done it in a heartbeat. The didn't join the Big 12 because it was a superior football product to the ACC. They joined the Big 12 because it was the only major conference to throw them a lifeline while the Big East was collapsing. It took less than a year of membership before articles starter surfacing in which WVU officials began complaining about the travel.

I was only discussing which conference has better football.