Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
all the sarcasm...love it. even better that you're not wrong
Conference Realignment
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all the sarcasm...love it. even better that you're not wrong
Gee, I wonder what teams will be in the Pac-12 championship game next season…
IlliniSaluki
- IL metro east burbs of St. Louis
I would think a merger with the Mountain West is probably the goal. Keep the PAC name and keep the MWC's organization in tact (commish etc).
Yeah I'm guessing they just needed to wait for decisions on all this stuff or they would have joined already.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
Lovely. So how will this work. Who gets replaced when the new PE firm comes aboard every seven years - college presidents or head coaches? Where are the asine expense cuts to boost short term profits going to come from? Is every team going to have to submit plans saying they are going to go 10-2 despite what reality says? Private equity rules!!
Having worked for a couple companies that were owned or bought by PE firms, this will turn college athletic departments into meat grinders squeezing every penny out of them, screwing kids over, and destroying many of the departments.
Why? All to squeeze out millions of $ for a select few that already have millions and millions more $ than 99.5% of society. Sounds like a great direction for college sports.
TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
I don't know what the plan is but keeping the Pac-12 alive for now is more Wazzu and Oregon State potential getting revenge on the defectors (especially with exit fees and the remaining TV money) and for the defecting team not to be able to vote to dissolve the conference.
not sure about the revenge part. but definitely keeps them in the driver seat for controlling PAC12 remaining assets. PAC12 Brand still has more equity than the Mountain West and that option will be easier to get in than get out...so stall for a year, maybe they get to keep the 1 PAC12 auto bid to playoffs while basically staying independent & waiting to see if a better spot shakes out in Big 12 or ACC. With FSU noise & general chaos and unpredictability of realignment...choices may be better next year. Seems like a good risk to me.
Sources: FSU ponders ACC future after CFP snub
Florida State is once again discussing its long-term future in the ACC after the Seminoles were left out of the College Football Playoff earlier this month, source told ESPN.
dgcrow
- Kelso, WA
Washington State and Oregon State looking to the West Coast Conference for basketball and possibly other sports:
sports.yahoo.com
Sources: Oregon State, Washington State working on agreement with WCC for non-football sports
Under the agreement, selected Beavers and Cougars athletic teams will compete in the WCC as affiliate members, most notably the basketball teams.
I think FSU is bluffing to try to pry unequal shares out of ACC. Looks to be pretty expensive proposition, between 120 million conference buyout, what looks to be a massive buyout of 10 -12 GOR years and ESPN not wanting to give up FSU that they have at a discount. Then for FSU to join the B1G, rights are owned by more than just Fox, so some politics on who would own FSU games & be willing to pay for them. Same number of Tier 1 spots that are where the bulk of the money is, so if you put FSU in Tier 1 you push a tier 1 game down to Tier 2, Tier 2 game down to BTN so you end up with 1 more BTN game which is only 51% Fox and isn't what is making the big payout. Then you have to get ESPN to give up FSU rights that they own at a discount, while also reducing the value of their ACC contract, all while working through the ACC that has no interest in giving up easily & in the end to send FSU over to the competition.
Sure I understand why FSU wants to leave, but seems like a hard Pill to swallow with GOR cost for anyone to be willing to bail out FSU in what looks like a charity case to me.
In fairness, if the Tier 1 games/fixed time slots was all important, maybe you don't add Oregon/Washington; but some counter value in reduced shares & locking down the late timeslot
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This. I don’t see them ever being able to rebuild a “Pac 12.” WCC schools don’t have football, which leaves trying to cobble together a conference out of primarily Big West and Mountain West schools. It’s all about keeping the money to give themselves options. I don’t know if it is really an option or just wishful thinking on the two schools’ fans part, but the thing I see mentioned most often is buying their way into the Big 12 in 2027 or so. The money from Pac 12 would be needed for that. That timeline would fit with the two-year WCC agreement.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Florida State calls emergency Board of Trustees meeting as officials mull ACC exit options ($): https://theathletic.com/5154574/2023/12/21/florida-state-acc-board-meeting-realignment/
FSU would be a huge get if we can keep them away from the SEC
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
ESPN is facing financial headwinds, plus they already have FSU at a discount (meaning they want them to stay in the ACC). Whereas Fox is flush and wants to build out the premier national conference. The BIG is in the catbird seat here (not saying it's a lock, but it's much more likely than the SEC.
Agreed, super excited about that. I think FSU is a good move and if we can break that nut open I would be excited about who else would be a paired move whether it be UNC or Miami
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
FSU will be a standalone add, most likely, if they leave the ACC soon (next few years). Reason being the cost will be too much for other schools to bear (and Fox isn't gonna help out to nearly the degree they will with FSU).
I think the last I read their goal is 2025. Need to beef up those research dollars a smidge more before they would get AAU but they are on a good trajectory to get there.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
color me jaded, but I think FSU's AAU standing doesn't matter (Fox doesn't give a squat)
for those clinging to the notion that membership counts, it seems like it's a big priority for FSU and just a matter of time (and not much, at that)
for those clinging to the notion that membership counts, it seems like it's a big priority for FSU and just a matter of time (and not much, at that)
Florida State leaving the ACC would have massive ramifications for the future of college athletics
FSU desperately wants out of the ACC and its 20-year contract with ESPN, but every turn of conference realignment brings something unexpected.
My thinking for a while has been an SEC-Big Ten merger just like the AFL-NFL merger. And FSU wanting to join makes perfect sense in this context. I'd say take it to 40 schools, anything else is dilutive, so probably add FSU, Clemson, NC, ND, Miami, +1 west coast school TBD. Mirror the 8 divisions and schedule format of the NFL as best you can, and take the playoff to 24 teams. No reason for bowl games anymore since they don't seem to matter with so many players opting out for NFL or transfer reasons.
If this mega conference happens with that few team spots, they’ll take the opportunity to shuffle out and replace the existing lower value teams with more additive options that would otherwise be left out. I think the Illini would struggle to be more attractive than programs like Colorado, Utah, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Arizona, Texas Tech, WVU, and Baylor. There are more B12/ACC programs that have better ratings than us, and also add Kansas and Duke to that list of schools if this theoretical structure also includes basketball.
I think we’re more likely to come along in a theoretical merger if the target school count is larger, but I think realistically it makes more sense for the 32 most elite programs from across the full cfb landscape to just split off and leave schools like us behind.
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