FSU trustees express concern about ACC's status

[businesslawyer]

The Big East is essentially dead with the American being it's smoldering remains and a pretender who bought the name falsely trying to lay claim to its past glories, the majority of which were earned by UConn.

The ACC is deeply flawed but alive and a junior member of the P5. If I got a mulligan I'd take Swofford as our pre-break up conference commission any day of the week.

Swofford is neither the idiot nor the superhero that he is alternatively described as here. He inherited a conference that had a flawed position in that in football it was behind the Big 4, and in market power for football it was behind the Big 4. He raided the Big East four times, until he finally killed it, doing a whole host of things: (i) cementing the ACC is the #1 basketball conference; (ii) expanding the ACC's geographic scope in three directions (and the 4th isn't possible without going to Bermuda); (iii) killing a competitor; and (iv) positioning the ACC to grow in market power in the Big EAst. That was not a small accomplishment, especially given that he had to put all morals aside about schools being non-profits and not sharks.

None of that changed the fact that there were four conferences left with both better football products and better football market power than the ACC. Which leaves it as one of two vulnerable conferences if the P5 goes to 4. Maybe he was caught with his pants down as to Maryland (maybe not -- the money difference is such that who knows if that could have been stopped), but nothing in his power is going to turn the ACC into the Big Ten, Pac Ten or SEC unless and until the money from post-season basketball flows to the conferences and not the NCAA.

 

[CL82]

Swofford is neither the idiot nor the superhero that he is alternatively described as here. He inherited a conference that had a flawed position in that in football it was behind the Big 4, and in market power for football it was behind the Big 4. He raided the Big East four times, until he finally killed it, doing a whole host of things: (i) cementing the ACC is the #1 basketball conference; (ii) expanding the ACC's geographic scope in three directions (and the 4th isn't possible without going to Bermuda); (iii) killing a competitor; and (iv) positioning the ACC to grow in market power in the Big EAst. That was not a small accomplishment, especially given that he had to put all morals aside about schools being non-profits and not sharks.

None of that changed the fact that there were four conferences left with both better football products and better football market power than the ACC. Which leaves it as one of two vulnerable conferences if the P5 goes to 4. Maybe he was caught with his pants down as to Maryland (maybe not -- the money difference is such that who knows if that could have been stopped), but nothing in his power is going to turn the ACC into the Big Ten, Pac Ten or SEC unless and until the money from post-season basketball flows to the conferences and not the NCAA.

I don't think anyone is saying anything different, BL. It was close for a while as to which conference would fall by the wayside, the Big East, The Big 12 or the ACC. We all know who the eventual loser was. I agree that the ACC and Big 12 remain vulnerable. Personally, I believe the P5 must become the P4. The Big 12 and the ACC are once again fighting it out. One will be the loser but as of now at least both are in the fight. As you note, that's not a a small accomplishment.

 

[NickyNewark]

For better or worse the ACC has perception wise at least morphed itself into the BE2 esp in MidAtlantic and NE states and probably never supplant the SEC/B1G/P12 in the conference status foodchain.

 

[UConnJim]

Swofford is neither the idiot nor the superhero that he is alternatively described as here. He inherited a conference that had a flawed position in that in football it was behind the Big 4, and in market power for football it was behind the Big 4. He raided the Big East four times, until he finally killed it, doing a whole host of things: (i) cementing the ACC is the #1 basketball conference; (ii) expanding the ACC's geographic scope in three directions (and the 4th isn't possible without going to Bermuda); (iii) killing a competitor; and (iv) positioning the ACC to grow in market power in the Big EAst. That was not a small accomplishment, especially given that he had to put all morals aside about schools being non-profits and not sharks.

None of that changed the fact that there were four conferences left with both better football products and better football market power than the ACC. Which leaves it as one of two vulnerable conferences if the P5 goes to 4. Maybe he was caught with his pants down as to Maryland (maybe not -- the money difference is such that who knows if that could have been stopped), but nothing in his power is going to turn the ACC into the Big Ten, Pac Ten or SEC unless and until the money from post-season basketball flows to the conferences and not the NCAA.

You bring up a point that needs to be emphasized. The NCAA basketball tournament brings in more than the 7 football games associated with the CFP. One reason that football drives the bus in conference realignment is that the college football playoff money flows directly to the conferences, primarily the P5. In contrast, a big chunk of the money from the NCAA basketball tournament goes to the NCAA to fund themselves, provide funding for other NCAA championships, and funding for Div. 2 and Div. 3 and the money distributed to Div. 1 schools is spread more broadly.

Look at the TV viewers of the 7 games of the CFP vs the Elite 8 and Final 4 of the NCAA basketball tournament:

CFP:

Championship Game: 34.2 million viewers
Semifinals: 28.3 million
Semifinals: 28.2 million
Orange Bowl: 8.9 million
Fiesta Bowl: 7.4 million
Peach Bowl: 5.0 million
Cotton Bowl: 9.1 million

Total: 121.1 million

NCAA Tournament:

Championship: 28.3 million
Semifinals: 22.6 million
Semifinals: 15.3 million
Elite 8: 10.6 million
Elite 8: 14.8 million
Elite 8: 14.8 million
Elite 8: 8.8 million

Total: 115.2 million Plus, the NCAA Tournament includes an additional 60 games!

Yes, regular season college football games do better than college basketball games, but with the shear number of college basketball games as well as conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament kid of levels things off.

If Swofford was smart, with his conference now the premier college basketball conference, he should figure out a way for football to help fund the NCAA so there is more basketball revenues.

 

[businesslawyer]

You bring up a point that needs to be emphasized. The NCAA basketball tournament brings in more than the 7 football games associated with the CFP. One reason that football drives the bus in conference realignment is that the college football playoff money flows directly to the conferences, primarily the P5. In contrast, a big chunk of the money from the NCAA basketball tournament goes to the NCAA to fund themselves, provide funding for other NCAA championships, and funding for Div. 2 and Div. 3 and the money distributed to Div. 1 schools is spread more broadly.

Look at the TV viewers of the 7 games of the CFP vs the Elite 8 and Final 4 of the NCAA basketball tournament:

CFP:

Championship Game: 34.2 million viewers
Semifinals: 28.3 million
Semifinals: 28.2 million
Orange Bowl: 8.9 million
Fiesta Bowl: 7.4 million
Peach Bowl: 5.0 million
Cotton Bowl: 9.1 million

Total: 121.1 million

NCAA Tournament:

Championship: 28.3 million
Semifinals: 22.6 million
Semifinals: 15.3 million
Elite 8: 10.6 million
Elite 8: 14.8 million
Elite 8: 14.8 million
Elite 8: 8.8 million

Total: 115.2 million Plus, the NCAA Tournament includes an additional 60 games!

Yes, regular season college football games do better than college basketball games, but with the shear number of college basketball games as well as conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament kid of levels things off.

If Swofford was smart, with his conference now the premier college basketball conference, he should figure out a way for football to help fund the NCAA so there is more basketball revenues.

I have said since the "football is entirely driving the bus" cacophany started that the only reason basketball barely counts in realignment is because the conferences don't get the lions share of the basketball money, so it doesn't matter to them. The moment there is a split of the P5 from the NCAA, UConn becomes much more important because UConn staying with the "rump" NCAA helps leave us with two competitive tournaments, rather than one people care about with the P5 and one that becomes a glorified NCAA.

This dichotomy is the core of us being so screwed to date.