September 27th, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^
ummmmmmm... wow
September 27th, 2023 at 3:14 PM ^
Please let it be the SEC.
September 27th, 2023 at 3:45 PM ^
If I had to guess, it’s the addition of Stanford, Cal, and SMU that may facilitate Clemson’s departure.
September 27th, 2023 at 4:08 PM ^
because this facilitates ND playing in Cali every year, and TX every other year.
September 27th, 2023 at 6:31 PM ^
ND wants to end their season every year in California on Thanksgiving Saturday for recruiting. That’s why they almost always play SC or Stanford - on that Saturday.
September 27th, 2023 at 11:12 PM ^
Maybe, but I doubt it. If there was a clause in the GOR that killed it by adding more members, Clemson would have already known about it and wouldn't have voted against adding Cal, Stanford, and SMU.
This is all strikes me as more posturing to get the ACC to agree to uneven revenue distributions. FSU and Clemson already hinted they'd found a way out in early August, and nothing happened. Generally, realignment happens quietly. The only reason to be loud about it is if you're bluffing to gain leverage.
September 27th, 2023 at 1:53 PM ^
large if accurate
September 27th, 2023 at 2:14 PM ^
Jumbo if credible
September 27th, 2023 at 2:35 PM ^
Stupendous if viable
September 27th, 2023 at 5:02 PM ^
immense if unerring
September 28th, 2023 at 9:08 AM ^
titanic if truthful
September 28th, 2023 at 1:43 PM ^
Enormous if realistic
September 27th, 2023 at 2:42 PM ^
Gargantuan if verisimiltudinous.
September 27th, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^
Magnum si verum
September 27th, 2023 at 3:44 PM ^
Small if false
September 27th, 2023 at 4:02 PM ^
Meh if mid?
September 27th, 2023 at 4:28 PM ^
Did I do this right?
September 27th, 2023 at 5:12 PM ^
Frivolous if fallacious
September 27th, 2023 at 5:39 PM ^
I love how we take one comment and use it to totally derail the topic without it (most times) being annoying.
September 27th, 2023 at 1:58 PM ^
This will be quite interesting, if true. Inquiring minds want to know - what was the loophole?
Could it be - a "perceived perennial ACC and CFP contender loses two of their first four games will relieve them of their GoR obligation."
September 27th, 2023 at 2:41 PM ^
They told the ACC they wanted a ménage à trois with another conference.
September 27th, 2023 at 2:45 PM ^
ACC & Big 12 & Big 10 gettin' cosy?
September 27th, 2023 at 3:18 PM ^
September 27th, 2023 at 9:01 PM ^
Do you ever just get down on your knees and thank God that you know me and have access to my dementia?
September 27th, 2023 at 2:01 PM ^
I don't know if it's an echo-chamber situation, but this guy has the same info. He's been right on a bunch of realignment things in the past:
https://x.com/Genetics56/status/1707072005835477420?s=20
[META: Media embed didn't work]
September 27th, 2023 at 2:12 PM ^
How'd you get that to work? My media embed just does the spinning wheel of death using Chrome.
So jelly...
September 27th, 2023 at 2:22 PM ^
dunno, using Chrome too, my friend. Always works for me, though sometimes it does take a hot second
September 27th, 2023 at 2:41 PM ^
Fucking Lou Holtz. It's his fault.
September 27th, 2023 at 3:11 PM ^
I had that problem before. The problem turned out to be that I had the mgoblog extension installed. I disabled it and then I could embed. Not sure if you have this extension.
September 27th, 2023 at 5:58 PM ^
I've been following that account ever since stumbling across it over a year ago when the B1G added UCLA & USC.
While I believe his basic claim of having inside connections, I don't think he's nearly as plugged in as he leads his followers to believe. He's wrong often enough that I think he often gets 2nd, 3rd, 4th hand info and then embellishes it.
September 27th, 2023 at 2:06 PM ^
I'm not a fan of the new conferences... They are absurdly stacked with great teams.
September 27th, 2023 at 2:28 PM ^
Which is why I was hoping the B1G would have also added Stanford and Cal. After adding the first four PAC teams, could have used a couple of gimme teams. The B1G kinda owed it to them to bring them along.
September 27th, 2023 at 2:43 PM ^
I'm with you. Stanford & Cal makes sense for the B1G as they do seem to give a shit about academics. Currently the only school that is not an AAU member is Nebraska and they are trying to change that. I assume Stanford & Cal are a package deal. ACC makes no sense and I do not think that is a done deal yet. Have a feeling there's something going on behind the scenes to bring them in. If you take the Bay Area as a whole it is a top 5 media market. There is talent there too.
6 west coast schools makes sense. More than 1 or 2 trips east or the same west doesn't make sense. Clemson doesn't fit the B1G mold. They need to add Stan & Cal and go after FSU & either UVA or UNC.
September 27th, 2023 at 3:03 PM ^
If this chaos has a positive it's that it is so chaotic and nonsensical it must inevitably lead to a more ordered and logical structure which is better constructed and regulated than this flaming trash heap tv networks insist on imposing upon the public.
Maybe in 20 years. Maybe two more full tv contract cycles must pass. But someday, these universities will have to decide they are the gatekeepers of college football, not the networks, and they will decide they must figure out how to order and regulate the sport and college athletics as a whole.
September 27th, 2023 at 4:06 PM ^
That'll happen right after congress realizes they are responsible for passing the nation's laws and gets their act together in order to do the right thing...
/no politics; just an analogy, don't panic
September 27th, 2023 at 5:26 PM ^
Media Markets don't matter. Just total eyeballs. Cable/linear TV is dead
September 27th, 2023 at 6:34 PM ^
Great point - but, there’s a lot of cable out there. The key to the next round of negotiations will be.. which conference(s) and their media partners can figure out the most profitable blend of streaming and cable / legacy distribution channels.
September 27th, 2023 at 3:13 PM ^
Just my opinion, but the B1G didn't owe Cal or Stanford anything because neither Cal nor Stanford can offer anything that the B1G wants.
The Pac-12 didn't fall apart because the B1G just unilaterally decided to raid their ranks. The Pac-12 fell apart because the conference didn't take care of providing its flagship members with a TV contract that befit their worth. The Pac-12 didn't handle its issues in-house when it had a chance to, so USC and UCLA decided to go somewhere that would. From there, it was a domino effect, and it was too late for the Pac-12 to try handling its business. That ship had already sailed.
I'm not saying it doesn't suck, but this is the current landscape of college football that we live in. Eat or be eaten. You grow or you die, and Cal / Stanford don't do anything to move the needle, based on what the puppet masters (conference commissioners and TV Execs) are looking for. If they were just looking for great academic schools and elite Olympic sports, then Cal and Stanford would've been the first ones the B1G extended an invite to. But football is what drives everything these days, and neither of schools have anything to offer in terms of increased exposure or "expanding the slice of the pie."
This may not be the best example, but its kind of like if the company I work for gets acquired. Some members of my team might get asked to come on board with the new company because they have demonstrated value for what this new company wants. If I don't have anything to offer this new company, then they have no reason to keep me. I can tell them all I want "Well you took my teammates so you got to take me. You owe me."
No, they don't. If I don't offer something of value to what they want, I'm dead weight. Again, I'm not saying it doesn't suck, but that's just how it works.
September 27th, 2023 at 3:44 PM ^
There is a massive flaw in your otherwise pointed argument. That is, sports teams do not exist in financial competition with each other the way businesses do. Business inherently want to destroy their direct competitors and create a monopoly.
However, sports teams need each other to survive because they must have attractive opposition to sell their product.
Right now, the tv networks are driving this listless band of conferences who accept the narrative that this is a regular business and they are in a world hell-bent on monopoly.
However, like all major sports organizations here and abroad throughout recent history (industrial era forward) - we are merely in a formative stage where the for-profit college football regulatory structure is in embryo. The idea of conferences is dying as we move towards a greater league. When this process matures, the universities will realize this sport must organize through cooperation and that their competitions are not organized by the networks any more than the NFL is owned and operated by the very same networks. The universities will organize and create their own structure that is ultimately beneficial for all stakeholders - including the networks who will benefit from increased parity, regulation, and stability.
The formation of the NCAA more than 100 years ago, the MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL and so many more leagues provides evidence to this process.
Therefore, the argument that some schools or conferences are not attractive and they must eat or be eaten is flawed not because this is not happening, but because this viewpoint is not ultimately productive or essential to the creation of the final product of a regulated game. It merely echoes network talking points.
However, even that is a philosophical point which may be countered by the suggestion that entities must suffer through chaos in order to induce the necessary motivation to seek cooperation of a regulated ecosystem for the benefit of all.
September 27th, 2023 at 4:07 PM ^
However, like all major sports organizations here and abroad throughout recent history (industrial era forward) - we are merely in a formative stage where the for-profit college football regulatory structure is in embryo. The idea of conferences is dying as we move towards a greater league. When this process matures, the universities will realize this sport must organize through cooperation and that their competitions are not organized by the networks any more than the NFL is owned and operated by the very same networks. The universities will organize and create their own structure that is ultimately beneficial for all stakeholders - including the networks who will benefit from increased parity, regulation, and stability.
I disagree with your statement. What you are seeing is the conferences, specifically the Big Ten and the SEC doing the whole, "...the universities will realize this sport must organize through cooperation" bit at the conference level.
How does a strong or weak ACC affect the Big Ten? The Big Ten nor the SEC is going to sacrifice their conference dollars and give them to the ACC or Big 12. Right now, the Big Ten and SEC (starting next year) are looking to see how many of their conference schools they can cram into the CFP. Those big television deals are driven on the back of a conference schedule. Need more content? Change the out of conference schedule to 10 games and so on.
September 27th, 2023 at 4:45 PM ^
Conferences are swelling. Like an embryo grows. They will become one league in some years. They are merely multiplying teams like cells right now.
The Big Ten and SEC are on track to be the final two conferences. They will merge and become under the structure of one league one day.
Need an example? How about three? NFL/AFL. NBA/ABA. American League/National League. It is more profitable for all. It will get there.
September 27th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^
You can't compare two established, century-plus-old leagues like the Big Ten and SEC with upstarts like the AFL and ABA (or even the AL, at the time the World Series was founded). College football has always been a decentralized affair.
September 28th, 2023 at 1:07 AM ^
The difference while decentralized in the past was previously the conferences were not organized for profit, but for regulation and stability.
Their motivations have changed. So it is a fair comparison. The conferences are behaving very differently from their actions pre-1984 due to the tv media rights money.
They have only relatively recently begun to shift their cultural behaviors from university mission aligned to profit aligned organizations.
That is why the evolution has been slower. They are changing centuries old DNA as you alluded to. But, money IS changing everything slowly and surely. And if anything that process has been accelerated this past decade as evidenced by rapidly increasing conference realignment.
September 27th, 2023 at 2:07 PM ^
HUGE Show if true.
To which I won't be listening, but it'll be on there.
September 27th, 2023 at 6:05 PM ^
HUGE Show even if not true. Just more for him to bloviate about.
September 27th, 2023 at 2:08 PM ^
If true, the ACC is about to be raided of any teams/markets worth having.