If the ACC brings in Cincy, UConn and Louisville and abandon the academic standards they previously embraced, it would definitely improve FB and create THE dominant BB conference. That might be enough to hold onto NC and the others. It would also be a great boon to ESPN having locked up a superior product long term.
Edit: Can they renegotiate contract based on # of team added or is it pro-rated at current levels?
First of all, I have to get something off my chest and
it's not directly aimed at you; the idea that taking a school like Cincy or Louisville is "abandoning" academics is a preposterous one, really. U.S. News rankings are skewed and subjective. It's actually one of the reasons that dental schools have moved away from its ranking system entirely.
The difference between a Florida State (97), NCState (106), Cincy (139), and Louisville (160) is pretty nominal, even though one wouldn't think it. I can guarantee that there are subjects that are stronger at the former two than they are at the latter two (and obviously vice-versa). You may wish to go to one for a history degree, another for marine biology, and a third for engineering. In other words, they are all very good institutions that provide a quality education to its students. If we want to say that the ACC would like to keep "
members with USNews rankings above 106", then that's fine. I'm better with that terminology.
Now, if anyone here believes that "keeping member institutions above 106 in the USNews rankings" is the determining factor in college realignment, I have some land to sell them in the Everglades....real cheap...
As for the tv renegotiation, I'm just not sure. Hopefully one of our tv savvy guys will chime in...
