The wheels came off the other thread due to a bad actor but I was hoping to have some discussion around what was said and not said in the commentary out there. To summarize the rumors floating around...
It sounds like the ACC, as it exists today, isn't financially viable vs the Big10 and SEC which is a non-starter for Clemson and FSU (who has been by far the most active at trying to get out of the ACC grant of rights). However, those two schools are crucial for the rest of the ACC to remain relevant in college football and to keep their current, meager TV money from cratering even worse. So the rumor is FSU & Clemson are window shopping the big xii after rumors the Big10 and SEC said "no thanks." After taking in freaking Rutgers and Maryland (not football powers at all) and expending to WA state and Los Angeles, I have no idea why the B1G wouldn't be interested in FSU and Clemson (two of the three best remaining TV draws and the only two non-SEC schools to have won or played for a recent national title). The Big10 wants to be a national conference and having a team in Florida just seems logical.
Absent from the names that came out were UNC and UVA and anyone telling them "no thanks" which makes me wonder if they are the targets for both the SEC and Big 10 (no junior membership to get in SEC). If FSU and Clemson were in discussions with the SEC to be told "no thanks", the SEC has certainly been in contact with other ACC schools (i.e. UNC and UVA). Sources around the SEC have been consistent for a few years now that the SEC wants UNC and UVA (academically prestigious flagship universities bordering existing SEC states). From a football product standpoint, Clemson and FSU are very SEC-like programs so I also can't imagine the SEC would tell Clemson and FSU "no" unless they'd been told "yes" by better targets like UVA and UNC.
The first time FSU tried to blow up the ACC grant of rights a few years ago UNC leaders were in ACC leadership roles (like Brady Deaton was prior to our departure), seemed to be caught off guard that realignment was hitting the ACC and their comments and actions were oriented towards holding their conference and history together. I can't see UNC agreeing to be hatchet men and dropping members from the ACC to increase distributions and appease FSU & Clemson, especially after they just took in Stanford, Cal and SMU, so at some point UNC admin and alum are going to start demanding UNC take care of UNC (like A&M fans did) because the ACC seems doomed.
If we think back to 2021, Texas and ou announced their move to the SEC in July and the big xii countered by adding adding BYU, Cincy and others in September. If UNC and UVA have accepted they need to begrudgingly agree to join the B1G or SEC to survive, having the ACC add new teams like Stanford, Cal and SMU to keep the conference somewhat viable would make sense, although that move seems to have been the breaking point for FSU.
I am still of the no-sources-to-confirm opinion that the B1G and SEC's master plan is to create two super conferences that break away from the NCAA and become NFL Jr. The moves, breaking rivalries, TV contracts, expanding the playoff, etc. just don't make sense for them to continue sharing the stage they've built and the money they generate with an irrelevant and ineffective NCAA organization and the random assortment of schools/conferences not in the Power 2. With the Pac12 done, the last seal in the water is the ACC and once it's raided it just seems illogical for the SEC and B1G to have done everything they've done to remain peers with the big xii.
The last wildcard not mentioned yet... Notre Dame. People act like they're going to be able to remain partially independent in the NFL Jr setup we are moving towards and I'm calling BS. ND will either join the B1G or SEC or they will get left behind to play the charred, abandoned remains of the big xii and ACC. If the Big10 and SEC create their own organization like the NFL and operate like the AFC and NFC, Notre Dame has zero legal ground to demand inclusion in their playoff. They will either be a NCAA member or they'll be a member of this new college football conference. If UVA and UNC are going SEC, does ND go B1G and get an invite for one other ACC team? Or does ND shock the world and go SEC with UNC which gives UVA to the B1G plus one other school?
However this shakes out, have to wonder if the remnants of the ACC post-SEC and B1G raid don't merge with the big xii to create a super conference of the leftover schools.
It sounds like the ACC, as it exists today, isn't financially viable vs the Big10 and SEC which is a non-starter for Clemson and FSU (who has been by far the most active at trying to get out of the ACC grant of rights). However, those two schools are crucial for the rest of the ACC to remain relevant in college football and to keep their current, meager TV money from cratering even worse. So the rumor is FSU & Clemson are window shopping the big xii after rumors the Big10 and SEC said "no thanks." After taking in freaking Rutgers and Maryland (not football powers at all) and expending to WA state and Los Angeles, I have no idea why the B1G wouldn't be interested in FSU and Clemson (two of the three best remaining TV draws and the only two non-SEC schools to have won or played for a recent national title). The Big10 wants to be a national conference and having a team in Florida just seems logical.
Absent from the names that came out were UNC and UVA and anyone telling them "no thanks" which makes me wonder if they are the targets for both the SEC and Big 10 (no junior membership to get in SEC). If FSU and Clemson were in discussions with the SEC to be told "no thanks", the SEC has certainly been in contact with other ACC schools (i.e. UNC and UVA). Sources around the SEC have been consistent for a few years now that the SEC wants UNC and UVA (academically prestigious flagship universities bordering existing SEC states). From a football product standpoint, Clemson and FSU are very SEC-like programs so I also can't imagine the SEC would tell Clemson and FSU "no" unless they'd been told "yes" by better targets like UVA and UNC.
The first time FSU tried to blow up the ACC grant of rights a few years ago UNC leaders were in ACC leadership roles (like Brady Deaton was prior to our departure), seemed to be caught off guard that realignment was hitting the ACC and their comments and actions were oriented towards holding their conference and history together. I can't see UNC agreeing to be hatchet men and dropping members from the ACC to increase distributions and appease FSU & Clemson, especially after they just took in Stanford, Cal and SMU, so at some point UNC admin and alum are going to start demanding UNC take care of UNC (like A&M fans did) because the ACC seems doomed.
If we think back to 2021, Texas and ou announced their move to the SEC in July and the big xii countered by adding adding BYU, Cincy and others in September. If UNC and UVA have accepted they need to begrudgingly agree to join the B1G or SEC to survive, having the ACC add new teams like Stanford, Cal and SMU to keep the conference somewhat viable would make sense, although that move seems to have been the breaking point for FSU.
I am still of the no-sources-to-confirm opinion that the B1G and SEC's master plan is to create two super conferences that break away from the NCAA and become NFL Jr. The moves, breaking rivalries, TV contracts, expanding the playoff, etc. just don't make sense for them to continue sharing the stage they've built and the money they generate with an irrelevant and ineffective NCAA organization and the random assortment of schools/conferences not in the Power 2. With the Pac12 done, the last seal in the water is the ACC and once it's raided it just seems illogical for the SEC and B1G to have done everything they've done to remain peers with the big xii.
The last wildcard not mentioned yet... Notre Dame. People act like they're going to be able to remain partially independent in the NFL Jr setup we are moving towards and I'm calling BS. ND will either join the B1G or SEC or they will get left behind to play the charred, abandoned remains of the big xii and ACC. If the Big10 and SEC create their own organization like the NFL and operate like the AFC and NFC, Notre Dame has zero legal ground to demand inclusion in their playoff. They will either be a NCAA member or they'll be a member of this new college football conference. If UVA and UNC are going SEC, does ND go B1G and get an invite for one other ACC team? Or does ND shock the world and go SEC with UNC which gives UVA to the B1G plus one other school?
However this shakes out, have to wonder if the remnants of the ACC post-SEC and B1G raid don't merge with the big xii to create a super conference of the leftover schools.
