Sort of.
UConn was slated to go to the ACC twice. The first time as the partner to Syracuse and the second time as the replacement for Maryland. BCU blocked UConn from joining with Syracuse the ACC invited Pittsburgh instead.
When Maryland left FSU decided to flex its muscles a little bit as it felt that Syracuse in Pittsburgh additions were “basketball“ additions and they wanted a football school to be replace Maryland. The tobacco Road schools favored the addition of UConn to the ACC, so to a certain extent their pushing for Louisville was a statement about those schools dominance of the conference as it was a dislike of the addition of Connecticut.
Yeah it really didn’t work out all that well for the ACC, since Pittsburgh’s done nothing since it’s edition in Louisville has had one scandal after another and is an outlier academically.
I give BCU props in that they were successful in keeping Connecticut out of the P5, however, it’s been a pyrrhic victory for them.
One thing to remember is that since ESPN was funding the ACC raids on the Big East, one word from them would have made us a member of the ACC. (Without ESPN funding the raids on the Big East conference, they don’t happen.) It bothers me that a Connecticut company, who started their business model broadcasting University of Connecticut sports and who have requested tax breaks from the state have cost the state over a $100,000,000 in lost media rights revenue. Everyone of us, and especially the governor in the legislature should keep that in mind the next time they come looking for a tax break.
