To AD Dave: The New Big East Is Not the Old Big East

[Adios]

Just any kind of sign.

NCAA football: How will college sports change after pandemic? (yahoo.com)

"Perhaps more relevant to the prospect of a significant shakeup is the ACC’s untenable television deal that new commissioner Jim Phillips inherits. The ACC is locked up through 2035-36, and the fixed income of that contract essentially puts the league in cement financial shoes as its peers are poised to distance themselves from the ACC financially.

Can a creative and dynamic solution arise — like the addition of new big-brand partners — to prompt a new deal? It’s tricky, as ESPN didn’t become a worldwide conglomerate by ripping up deals that are tilted significantly in its favor.

Also relevant is that the AAC has already engaged with Boise State and San Diego State about potentially joining. It’d be naïve to not brace for another round of realignment at both the Power Five and Group of Five level."

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...and on this message board, we have a couple "naive" posters who think conferences are going to contract.

Hard to believe what has become of D1 athletics. Drama level is unreal. Plus, we got criminal organizations at UNC, Duke, UK, Bama, UGA, Kansas, Texas, Oregon, etc.

 

[Kolumbo]

...and on this message board, we have a couple "naive" posters who think conferences are going to contract.

Hard to believe what has become of D1 athletics. Drama level is unreal. Plus, we got criminal organizations at UNC, Duke, UK, Bama, UGA, Kansas, Texas, Oregon, etc.

The ACC should expand to 18, two divisions. Then to really mix things up renegotiate its tv deals or split the conference into two separate, ACC BE and ACC. Just spit-balling. Maybe conferences that get to 18 or 20 get 2 automatic qualifiers.

 

[billybud]

You really aren't a "conference" at 18 spread members....

The association between individual programs becomes very loose...the AAC'ing of football....

The SEC has it right...a geographic area, a common primary sport, a cultural similarity...

Pods might make it more palatable...but

 

[billybud]

The Big East has that "commonality"...common primary sport, regionality, cultural similarity..

 

[Adios]

How big did the Southern Conference get in the early 1900s? The ACC and SEC share similar roots.

 

[billybud]

How big did the Southern Conference get in the early 1900s? The ACC and SEC share similar roots.

On Feb. 25, 1921, representatives from 14 of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s (SIAA) 30 members met at Atlanta’s Piedmont Hotel to establish the Southern Intercollegiate Conference. On hand at the inaugural meeting were officials from Alabama, Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn), Clemson, Georgia, Georgia School of Technology (Georgia Tech), Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi A&M (Mississippi State), North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) and Washington & Lee.

Play began in the fall of 1921, and a year later, six more schools joined the fledgling league, including Tulane (which had attended the inaugural meeting but had elected not to join), Florida, Louisiana (LSU), Mississippi, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. VMI joined in 1923 and Duke was added in 1929.

And it got unwieldly.....

By the 1930s, membership in the Southern Conference had reached 23 schools. C.P. “Sally” Miles of Virginia Tech, president of the Southern Conference, called the annual league meeting to order on Dec. 9, 1932, at the Farragut Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee. There, it announced that 13 institutions west and south of the Appalachian Mountains were reorganizing as the Southeastern Conference. Members of the new league included Alabama, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Florida, Georgia, Georgia School of Technology, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Mississippi A&M, University of the South, Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt.

The Southern Conference continued with membership of 10 institutions, including Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Virginia, VMI, Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee.

The second major shift occurred some 20 years later. By 1952, the Southern Conference included 17 colleges and universities. Another split occurred when seven schools – Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest – departed to form the Atlantic Coast Conference, which began play in 1953. The revamped Southern Conference included members The Citadel, Davidson, Furman, George Washington, Richmond, VMI, Virginia Tech, Washington & Lee, West Virginia and William & Mary.

Things stretch until they don't work and then resizing begins...

 

[billybud]

Those big conferences had weird scheduling.

.....South Carolina and Tulane were in the Southern Conference and SEC for 20 years together and played one game.

.....In 20 years in the same conference (1921-40), South Carolina played Alabama once.

Might as well not call each orther conference mates.

 

[don356]

They need to tell ESPN that they will increase their taxes to 50 million if they don't get UConn to a P5.

I don't think they care one way or the other.

The 10 tiers of college football in 2021: Favorites, disappointments and potential surprise teams

We broke down all 130 FBS teams by tier -- from the group of playoff favorites to those awaiting their next participation trophy.

www.espn.com

 

[Bobol]

Time to give up the ghost ..... UConn is not getting into the ACC.

If the ACC were to expand then UConn is likely behind (in no particular order) UCF, Houston, and Memphis.

 

[CL82]

Time to give up the ghost ..... UConn is not getting into the ACC.

If the ACC were to expand then UConn is likely behind (in no particular order) UCF, Houston, and Memphis.

Lol.

 

[billybud]

The ACC....

If only they could boot Syracuse and BC...

and:

Add Cincinnatii, West Virginia.
.....The River City Rivalry and the Backyard Brawl reinstated. Gives Pitt, WVU, and Cincinnati a nice rivalry grouping (add in reinstated VT rivalry with WVU)
.....tightens the upper frontier of the ACC to a more natural boundry without the two northeastern teams. Both WVU and Cincinnati bring decent football and basketball.

Add UCF...instant in state rivalries with Miami and FSU (and, maybe, FSU could drop the Gators). Move towards making Florida an ACC state as Alabama is an SEC state.

Memphis? I don't see it. But ESPN might, since Memphis is an ESPN Top Ten Market.

 

[Adios]

Time to give up the ghost ..... UConn is not getting into the ACC.

If the ACC were to expand then UConn is likely behind (in no particular order) UCF, Houston, and Memphis.

Thank you, emo UConn fan #264,954.

 

[buddy]

Time to give up the ghost ..... UConn is not getting into the ACC.

If the ACC were to expand then UConn is likely behind (in no particular order) UCF, Houston, and Memphis.

I don't know whom they would take, but I do believe that UConn gave up the ghost when they rejoined the Big East.

 

[Adios]

Those big conferences had weird scheduling.

.....South Carolina and Tulane were in the Southern Conference and SEC for 20 years together and played one game.

.....In 20 years in the same conference (1921-40), South Carolina played Alabama once.

Might as well not call each orther conference mates.

I would have to assume the future is about divisional or pod rivalries, because not 1 P5 conference show signs of stopping expansion. Conference championship games would continue to help detemine playoff participants.

 

[billybud]

I would have to assume the future is about divisional or pod rivalries, because not 1 P5 conference show signs of stopping expansion. Conference championship games would continue to help detemine playoff participants.

Pods might work better...big divisions create problems...

FSU's oldest and closest football rival is Georgia Tech...yet FSU goes to Atllanta once every 12 years while travelling to either BC or Syrcacuse evry year.

Competitive imbalance between divisions usually happens when you divide a league into two large groups....In the Big Ten..it is the West...in the SEC, it is the East...in the ACC, it is the Coastal that is less competitive at the top.

 

[Adios]

Pods might work better...big divisions create problems...

FSU's oldest and closest football rival is Georgia Tech...yet FSU goes to Atllanta once every 12 years while travelling to either BC or Syrcacuse evry year.

Competitive imbalance between divisions usually happens when you divide a league into two large groups....In the Big Ten..it is the West...in the SEC, it is the East...in the ACC, it is the Coastal that is less competitive at the top.

The ACC is clearly making an effort to manufacture history between members who are newer to each other.

 

[billybud]

The ACC is clearly making an effort to manufacture history between members who are newer to each other

FSU played Georgia Tech for the first time in 1903....played GT in the 50's, 60's, 70's

The WVU-Pitt Backyard Brawl began in 1895...the 1921 game was the first college football game broadcast on radio. They have met 100 times making the series one of the most played in the country.

The VT-WVU rivalry is a long one with 52 meetings...the Black Diamond Trophy is retired but could be pulled out of the case to renew the series.

UCF is the new kid on the block in Florida but would make for great rivals...with FSU in the north, Miami in the south, and UCF in the middle of the state...it would build quickly.

Cincinnati played in the Metro Conference with Louisville, VT, and FSU. .... FSU, Louisville, Cincinnati, and VT were football independents playing their other sports in the Metro.

BC and Cuse? Nope...hard to have anything going on with these outliers...Other than the Irish and BC.

 

[Adios]

UConn likely has more history with former Big East members than Cincinnati did with Metro Conference schools. Plus, the ACC is going to want to strengthen it's presence in the Bos-Wash megalopolis. The northeast does have natural advantages. Such as blizzards that wipe out invasive species like fire ants. Snakeheads might not make it up here.

 

[billybud]

As an aside that I have posted before....my first date with my now wife was to an FSU-Louisville football game...41 seasons ago.

I sat in the stands as a student in 1970 at the Louisville game....and as a working guy in the '80, 81, 82, 83 games (They visited all in a row).

And I remember the Pitt series of the early 70's....and also watching Dan Marino in the early 80's in a monsoon game in Tallahassee. That game is part of our lore...The rain was unexpected and seemed to come out of nowhere....the refs had to hold the ball down so that it didn't float off between snaps...my love and I looked like drowned rats...the vendors in the concessions were selling green garbage bags at a huge profit...rip out three holes and we had ponchos. The garbage bag game is still talked about.

These teams are part of my football fan past....

.And you are right...the northheast does not have fire ants and does have blizzards .

And I might like a Fire Ant Conference....only states with Fire Ant potential...that would only leave out Cuse and BC and ND from the current configuration (make an exception, maybe, for the Domers, a plague worse than Fire Ants). Add UCF and Memphis and... voila.

 

[Adios]

Can't start the Fire Ant Conference without South Alabama. That'd be similar to having the Ivy League without Harvard or Yale.

We'd be happy to join the Blizzard Conference with SU and BC. Sad those are the best options around here. Might have to make a push to lure Penn State, if possible at all.

 

[billybud]

No South Alabama,,,but maybe UAB.

Birmingham was the top ESPN market for like the 15th straight year.

 

[CL82]

The ACC....

If only they could boot Syracuse and BC...

and:

Add Cincinnatii, West Virginia.
.....The River City Rivalry and the Backyard Brawl reinstated. Gives Pitt, WVU, and Cincinnati a nice rivalry grouping (add in reinstated VT rivalry with WVU)
.....tightens the upper frontier of the ACC to a more natural boundry without the two northeastern teams. Both WVU and Cincinnati bring decent football and basketball.

Add UCF...instant in state rivalries with Miami and FSU (and, maybe, FSU could drop the Gators). Move towards making Florida an ACC state as Alabama is an SEC state.

Memphis? I don't see it. But ESPN might, since Memphis is an ESPN Top Ten Market.

I thought FSU opposed another Florida team joining.

 

[billybud]

I thought FSU opposed another Florida team joining.

Who knows?

Message board posters may posit that.....we all make stuff up about recruiting competition, etc.

Much like the message board thought that Florida would never let FSU join the SEC.

Regardless, FSU didn't love the idea of being paired with BC and Syracuse...and look how it went.

Games that people will watch and the money ESPN will pay will drive the next expansion...not fan speculation.

 

[CL82]

Games that people will watch and the money ESPN will pay will drive the next expansion...not fan speculation.

So you’re saying there will be a next expansion? Interesting.

 

[Adios]

So you’re saying there will be a next expansion? Interesting.

Are you that far behind?

Billybud, how can you have a Fire Ant Conference without Mobile, when Mobile has an FBS school now? C'mon, that's an insult to fire ant tradition, as if they were to trade tradition for money. Oh wait...