Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[Dizzy21]

Debateable. With the increased travel expenses being in the ACC and the dilution the three new members bring to the league, I would guess for SMU it is a wash at best. Maybe they get higher ticket sales, but SMU had only 21k for their football game yesterday after getting an ACC invite. For example, the three new members won't add to NCAA basketball tournament credits, it's unclear if adding 3 members enhances the ACC CFP payout, and with the Charter standoff with ESPN, it's questionable if SMU, Cal, and Stanford will get full price for the ACCN in their markets.

My point is that everyone is saying they came for free, which they didn't. They aren't taking some huge pay cut that needs to be funded by boosters. Also, they played Louisiana Tech in the opener and their home slate this year Prairie View, Tulsa, Charlotte, North Texas, and Navy. Having Clemson, Miami, FSU, North Carolina, etc to replace most of those is going to sell tickets in a city that loves football, regardless of if they are SMU fans or not. And I suspect that basketball tickets sales go through the roof through as it is a bunch of well known brands, rather than someone like Florida Atlantic.

 

[superjohn]

What is your definition of getting a seat? On their field it will say ACC. Whether they get money for 9 years or not, they are part of that conference. So yes, they got a seat.

They got a seat in a conference that won't exist when they are finally supposed to be getting paid.

 

[superjohn]

My point is that everyone is saying they came for free, which they didn't. They aren't taking some huge pay cut that needs to be funded by boosters. Also, they played Louisiana Tech in the opener and their home slate this year Prairie View, Tulsa, Charlotte, North Texas, and Navy. Having Clemson, Miami, FSU, North Carolina, etc to replace most of those is going to sell tickets in a city that loves football, regardless of if they are SMU fans or not. And I suspect that basketball tickets sales go through the roof through as it is a bunch of well known brands, rather than someone like Florida Atlantic.

Florida Atlantic was better than everyone in the ACC last year.

 

[Dizzy21]

Florida Atlantic was better than everyone in the ACC last year.

This may be the most delusional statement ever posted on the Boneyard and that says a lot. The 5 win Florida Atlantic team who played a bunch of crappy teams and lost was better than everyone in the ACC?

Aside from the absurdity of your statement, it's not about who is better, it is about who puts people in the seats. Pretty sure a bad FSU team, who were 10-3 and ranked 11th in the country last year, in is going to sell more tix in Dallas than Florida Atlantic, even if they were good like you insanely claim.

 

[uconnbaseball]

This may be the most delusional statement ever posted on the Boneyard and that says a lot. The 5 win Florida Atlantic team who played a bunch of crappy teams and lost was better than everyone in the ACC?

Aside from the absurdity of your statement, it's not about who is better, it is about who puts people in the seats. Pretty sure a bad FSU team, who were 10-3 and ranked 11th in the country last year, in is going to sell more tix in Dallas than Florida Atlantic, even if they were good like you insanely claim.

Think they meant basketball…

 

[Dizzy21]

Think they meant basketball…

Could be and good point. Miami was probably better and ranked higher, but it wasn't even about who was good or not, it was who will sell more tix. In basketball especially, a crappy Duke/UNC/Miami etc is going to sell a lot more tickets than FAU any year.

 

[upstater]

I'm no expert on the SUNY system but Stony Brook shares the designation of flagship and is AAU. Much better bang for the buck than South Canada SU. I guess my original point about SUNY is that the northeast schools were designed to be regional. If the 4 main SUNY schools were 1, it would have a $1 billion plus endowment with 95k students. Just Buffalo and Stony Brook combined would be greater than $1 billion and 60k students. That's B1G.

A Joint Statement from The University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University On Being Designated as New York State’s Flagship Public Universities - SBU News

January 5, 2022--Today Governor Kathy Hochul announced the formal designation of The University at Buffalo (UB) and Stony Brook University (SBU) as New York State’s flagship universities. The official recognition of these premier centers of higher education as joint flagships of the State...

news.stonybrook.edu

All the University of California's are AAU except for Merced and San Fran. Riverside was just admitted this year.

"Eight of UC's ten campuses (Berkeley, UC Davis, UCI, UCLA, UC Riverside, UCSD, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz) are members of the Association of American Universities (AAU)"

LOL, I didn't even know this and I'm supposed to. Think Stony Brook got bent out of shape when Buffalo got designated the flagship. Anyway, Binghamton has much better departments and programs. We use all 3 schools as benchmarks and there's no comparison between SB and the other 2. The flagship status for UB came with an additional $300m in funding which SB didn't get. I didn't even know it was announced as a flagship. Unfortunately, I have to get involved in assessments every couple of years, which is a horrendous exercise for anyone involved in Higher Ed. This is where I draw my information.

 

[superjohn]

This may be the most delusional statement ever posted on the Boneyard and that says a lot. The 5 win Florida Atlantic team who played a bunch of crappy teams and lost was better than everyone in the ACC?

Aside from the absurdity of your statement, it's not about who is better, it is about who puts people in the seats. Pretty sure a bad FSU team, who were 10-3 and ranked 11th in the country last year, in is going to sell more tix in Dallas than Florida Atlantic, even if they were good like you insanely claim.

The Florida Atlantic team that went 35-4, went to the final 4, and will be preseason top 10 this coming season. They were better than every team in the ACC.

 

[superjohn]

Think they meant basketball…

"And I suspect that basketball ticket sales will go through the roof through as it is a bunch of well known brands, rather than someone like Florida Atlantic." -Dizzy21

 

[Travelman6]

The Florida Atlantic team that went 35-4, went to the final 4, and will be preseason top 10 this coming season. They were better than every team in the ACC.

Other than maybe Miami and perhaps Virginia.

 

[noeynox]

This may be the most delusional statement ever posted on the Boneyard and that says a lot. The 5 win Florida Atlantic team who played a bunch of crappy teams and lost was better than everyone in the ACC?

Aside from the absurdity of your statement, it's not about who is better, it is about who puts people in the seats. Pretty sure a bad FSU team, who were 10-3 and ranked 11th in the country last year, in is going to sell more tix in Dallas than Florida Atlantic, even if they were good like you insanely claim.

Gonna go out on a limb and say he was talking about their fina four BB Team.

 

[uconnyankee]

SMU did not come in for free. Between other conference payouts, they will be making at least, if not more than the AAC total payout. Add in increased attendance and exposure from playing more high profile teams and they will be making even more than that. Moving to the ACC is a net financial gain for SMU.

They are not sharing in media dollars from my understanding.
Yes, they will get money from making bowl and share in bb credits. And yes, they will be playing an ACC schedule.

But there is other side. They have zero rivalries. They are a geographic island, and they are competing against schools with $30-40M more in media revenue.

If just being in ACC was a boom, how do we explain Syracuse and BC who are actually getting the tv money and have become irrelevant.

This may have been the right call. But suggesting the school isn’t going to further subsidize the program to compete at this level is wrong. Not many schools could do this, but SMU has deep pockets and boosters willing to pay.

UConn could not do this deal.

 

[uconnyankee]

My point is that everyone is saying they came for free, which they didn't. They aren't taking some huge pay cut that needs to be funded by boosters. Also, they played Louisiana Tech in the opener and their home slate this year Prairie View, Tulsa, Charlotte, North Texas, and Navy. Having Clemson, Miami, FSU, North Carolina, etc to replace most of those is going to sell tickets in a city that loves football, regardless of if they are SMU fans or not. And I suspect that basketball tickets sales go through the roof through as it is a bunch of well known brands, rather than someone like Florida Atlantic.

So when someone says we aren’t sharing media dollars with you, that’s not free?
Ok.

 

[upstater]

So when someone says we aren’t sharing media dollars with you, that’s not free?
Ok.

The CFP & NCAA money will dwarf whatever they made in the AAC, so they come out even money wise (when you take into account travel). In fact, I think the travel will probably be similar to what they do in the AAC. Dallas to Philly, Charlotte, Miami, Tampa, Memphis is similar to Dallas to Miami, Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Boston.

 

[Dizzy21]

So when someone says we aren’t sharing media dollars with you, that’s not free?
Ok.

I am confused by your post above this one. You correctly state they will be getting conference money. They gave their Tier 1 rights for free, but will be getting media money too according the reporting I have seen. That will equal at least the AAC money. There is no subsidy needed more than they would have already subsidized in the AAC.

And the quality of opponents is better for drawing tickets. Syracuse averages 40k a football game and BC 35k. Do you think those numbers are anywhere near as close if you sub in Rice and Charlotte for FSU and Clemson or anyone in the ACC? And we all know the recruiting benefits of being associated and playing more P4 teams, so that should improve too in an area that is serious about football.

 

[Sea Goat]

ESPN pulled all of the strings to make this happen IMO.

The move was orchestrated by ESPN to finish off the PAC and devalue them to G5 status, it also puts a band aid on ESPN's ACC problem by funneling more money to the top ACC teams. No doubt in my mind that the B12 would have offered Cal/ Stanford if ESPN financed it for them but clearly ESPN did not because they wanted the money to go to the ACC.

Sure because of the Syracuse hacks working at ESPN. BTW, Connecticut will do fine without the s in Bristol. Tell them to hit the road and take their Syracuse bias with them...

 

[uconnyankee]

I am confused by your post above this one. You correctly state they will be getting conference money. They gave their Tier 1 rights for free, but will be getting media money too according the reporting I have seen. That will equal at least the AAC money. There is no subsidy needed more than they would have already subsidized in the AAC.

And the quality of opponents is better for drawing tickets. Syracuse averages 40k a football game and BC 35k. Do you think those numbers are anywhere near as close if you sub in Rice and Charlotte for FSU and Clemson or anyone in the ACC? And we all know the recruiting benefits of being associated and playing more P4 teams, so that should improve too in an area that is serious about football.

I’m reading SMU will forgo ALL media revenue for 9 years.
That is different than SMU getting share of CFP money and other funding the ACC shares like the BB tourney credits.

SMU was getting about $8M per year. They will also be paying AAC a $20M exit fee.

SMU is not making this up, plus the increased investment needed to compete at this level by having a better home slate. Plus every away conference game is a flight to east or west coast for every sport.

Again, I’m not suggesting this is a bad move for SMU. Just saying not many schools could do this.

Last point, if all it took was moving into P4 league and not getting any revenue for a decade yet somehow a school could come out ahead? So why hasn’t Uconn done this? Because they can’t. The numbers won’t work to support the move.

 

[CoastAtlantic]

 

[UConnJim]

My point is that everyone is saying they came for free, which they didn't. They aren't taking some huge pay cut that needs to be funded by boosters. Also, they played Louisiana Tech in the opener and their home slate this year Prairie View, Tulsa, Charlotte, North Texas, and Navy. Having Clemson, Miami, FSU, North Carolina, etc to replace most of those is going to sell tickets in a city that loves football, regardless of if they are SMU fans or not. And I suspect that basketball tickets sales go through the roof through as it is a bunch of well known brands, rather than someone like Florida Atlantic.

There are only 7k undergrads at SMU. SMU's basketball arena holds 7k and the football stadium holds 32k. I just don't see how they are going to crush ticket sales to drive revenues moving to the ACC. And last year, they played TCU, Cincinnati, Houston, Navy, Memphis, and Lamar in football and they struggled to get 25k per game. Heck, right after being announced they were goin to the ACC, they drew 21.4k for a game against Louisiana Tech.

And, how many times do you think Clemson has played at Pitt since joining the ACC? Once.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Should be a reverse merger.

 

[JeepCSC]

They got rid of divisions in the ACC, which will allow teams to play each other more often.

 

[JohnFSilver]

There are only 7k undergrads at SMU. SMU's basketball arena holds 7k and the football stadium holds 32k. I just don't see how they are going to crush ticket sales to drive revenues moving to the ACC. And last year, they played TCU, Cincinnati, Houston, Navy, Memphis, and Lamar in football and they struggled to get 25k per game. Heck, right after being announced they were goin to the ACC, they drew 21.4k for a game against Louisiana Tech.

And, how many times do you think Clemson has played at Pitt since joining the ACC? Once.

It’s a horrible expansion by the ACC. I been to smu, love the place, oretty, but it is very small and it has absolutely no juice in the Dallas area. Very very small school.

 

[noeynox]

Should be a reverse merger.

100 percent. Keep the name.

 

[Kolumbo]

Should be a reverse merger.

These media folks with creating their own terminology. They can just call it a "merger" of two conferences. They can figure out how to legally keep the PAC 12 credits regardless of whatever they want to call the conference. da heck is a reverse merger?

 

[JohnFSilver]

These media folks with creating their own terminology. They can just call it a "merger" of two conferences. They can figure out how to legally keep the PAC 12 credits regardless of whatever they want to call the conference. da heck is a reverse merger?

Lol. The MWC is going to disband, and those groups are going to be added to the PAC-12. They will get out of the media deal and be able to renegotiate.