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Plausible, but I can't buy UVa or even the more I think about it, VT as #16 for the BIG. What do they bring? Maryland was already supposed to bring DC. Suburban Virginia adds nothing. I hate to say it, but it's the same problem that UConn has when aspiring to a BIG invite. Sure, you have viewers in NYC, but it's redundant. The BIG already has a foot in NYC with Rutgers.
Isn't this more about network penetration and carriage fees rather than ratings and advertising revenue. Get the BTN on in as many major media markets as possible. The teams that will drive the ratings will always be Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and potentially Notre Dame, not the local team.
Adding BC as #16 gives the BIG every major city in the northeast.
Similar to the NYC market, no one college controls the DC market. A conference needs at least 2 teams to make it theirs and two of the major DC teams are a issue as one does not play D1 football (Georgetown) and the other is not a major basketball team (Navy, apologies to the Admiral). The ACC had 2 of the biggest brands in DC in Maryland and UVA; but, let Maryland sneak away to the B1G in the middle of the night. Should the B1G land UVA or V Tech, the ACC will be MIA in the DC market, which is the 9th largest in the US. Now, should UConn somehow end-up in the B1G the XII, the ACC would also be significantly be weakened in the NYC market, which of course is #1.
Plus, if UVA leaves, UNC will also leave and that will be the end of the ACC.
Oh, by the way, saying BC carries the Boston market is a stretch. Outside of the hockey program, which is not in the ACC, I have seen UConn in the Boston news more than BC over the years at least since Flutie graduated. Between this and BC's status as a 'small' private, non-state flagship, Catholic university, the only chance that BC gets into the B1G is if ND swallows its pride, make amends with U Michigan and others and ND demands that BC join them. A very slim chance. Duke has a higher chance as they are AAU, offer a boat load of research dollars (Duke Med versus no med at BC for example), have a 'decent' basketball pedigree, and I think the B1G wants UNC more than ND. Thus, UNC has more leverage to bring Duke along for the ride than ND would for BC. Plus, ND have proven that it watches out for #1 only. Why do they care about BC?
I'm a numbers guy, so I took a lot at the current conference structure and the top 50 US TV markets. I inverted the value (#1 TV market = 50 Points, #50 TV market = 1 point) and then gave 3 points for a market leader, 2 for a split, and 1 for a secondary market presence. This gave me the following:
- ACC: 924 points
- B1G: 1,232 points
- PAC: 912 points
- SEC: 851 points
- XII: 324 points
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