Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

[MugNight]

Clemson fits perfectly as they are right now in the SEC. Not sure if their recruiting/performance would hold up playing SEC teams for a whole season but they feel like a SEC school. Get it’s double dipping into South Carolina but still think it would make sense.

The idea in the story of the ACC schools somehow breaking off and forming a new conference is a weird one but damn that would be fascinating drama.

UGA fans have been clamoring for years about a home and home with Clemson. They’re only about 80 miles from each other.

Plus, their applicants and enrollment have soared since they started winning football games. They’ve been great for a decade now, and those alums are living all over the south.

 

[Scruff]

It's fun to be looking at the ACC instead of the PAC for once. When actual news hits its fun to read message boards of the impacted schools.

Louisville fans: Seem to accept that the ACC is going to die. Academically are out of the B1G, with very few holding for hope of the SEC but most consider that a lost cause. The majority think the Big12 with Cinci, WVU, and any other old Big East friends would be a great landing spot that pays just as much as they already get. Oh and basketball will be killer.

Pitt fans: Feel similarly to Louisville on the Big12 as both likely and fun place to be if it means they keep old rivals, similar money, and great basketball.

Syracuse fans: Not much talk of the Big12. Their hope is the remaining ACC schools stay together or they become football hobos like UCONN and join the Big East for BBall.

Duke fans: More mixed than the others. Some say academically Duke would never join the Big12. Even seen a few suggest they should try to join the IVY League. Keeping some watered-down ACC together or the Indy football/BigEast thing. Others like the idea of making the Big12 the undisputed King of Basketball.

Virginia Tech fans: Seems the want out of the ACC, but know its SEC or bust. Bust is the Big 12 to them, they don't seem to hate the idea just a disappointment to not be in the SEC.

NC State fans: Similar to VT. Most believe since they were mentioned in the Magnificant 7, that their school wouldn't be proactive in getting out just to join the Big 12. They don't hate the idea of the Big 12, but believe its the SEC for them.

Georgia Tech fans: Stay in ACC and sue anyone that leaves. Big 12 is nothing without OU and Texas.

Stopped reading after I saw the 8) trade in this tweet/reddit post. I spit my coffee out.

 

[Scruff]

The biggest question in all of this. Do the Big10 and SEC stop at 20 to maximize per-team revenue or go to 24? If they stop at 20 there are a few good brands getting left behind. Oregon and Washington very likely could be two of them. Miami, NC State, and Virginia Tech likely aren't all safe. Virginia could be sweating too. Only Florida State, Clemson, UNC, and ND feel like they are safely in the dumb Power 2 structure at this point.

 

[cykadelic2]

The idea in the story of the ACC schools somehow breaking off and forming a new conference is a weird one but damn that would be fascinating drama.

Wish the B12 R8 could all join them instead of expanding with the 4 G5 schools.

 

[KennyPratt42]

Every week I wish more and more the Big 12 wouldn't have taken UCF . But adding the four teams was a necessary part of solidifying the Big 12 at the time. A best case for the Big 12 would be adding some combination of Arizona, Arizona St., Colorado, Utah, Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, or NC State to get to 16, 18, or 20.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

The biggest question in all of this. Do the Big10 and SEC stop at 20 to maximize per-team revenue or go to 24? If they stop at 20 there are a few good brands getting left behind. Oregon and Washington very likely could be two of them. Miami, NC State, and Virginia Tech likely aren't all safe. Virginia could be sweating too. Only Florida State, Clemson, UNC, and ND feel like they are safely in the dumb Power 2 structure at this point.

Think they stop at 20, there aren’t more then 8 other programs that move the needle to go past.
UNC, Virginia, Clemson, Miami, ND, Oregon, Washington, then a drop off and you get the tier of Arizona, Stanford, and Duke. Then a larger drop off for the others. In my opinion obv.

 

[CascadeClone]

Think they stop at 20, there aren’t more then 8 other programs that move the needle to go past.
UNC, Virginia, Clemson, Miami, ND, Oregon, Washington, then a drop off and you get the tier of Arizona, Stanford, and Duke. Then a larger drop off for the others. In my opinion obv.

Forgot FSU, but your point is still valid. The top 20-25 brands will all be in 2 conferences.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Forgot FSU, but your point is still valid. The top 20-25 brands will all be in 2 conferences.

Ahh crap you’re right. Knew that didn’t feel like all of them, good call.

 

[LLCoolCY]

Every week I wish more and more the Big 12 wouldn't have taken UCF . But adding the four teams was a necessary part of solidifying the Big 12 at the time. A best case for the Big 12 would be adding some combination of Arizona, Arizona St., Colorado, Utah, Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, or NC State to get to 16, 18, or 20.

I get the thought but taking UCF does get the Big 12 another team into Florida for recruiting and eastern time zone for TV. Taking them and Houston solidified the conference and in turn gave the Big 12 solidarity which lead to Yormark and then the Media Deal. Without proactively adding I really doubt the B12 survives once UCLA/USC announced they were B1G bound as the PAC12 would be picking off the most desirable Big 12 teams.

UCF feels like an odd fit but taking them when we did potentially saved ISU from being reduced to a mid major conference. Much like TCU it may take some time but UCF has some major potential once they get P5 status to compete at the highest levels.

 

[isucy86]

The biggest question in all of this. Do the Big10 and SEC stop at 20 to maximize per-team revenue or go to 24? If they stop at 20 there are a few good brands getting left behind. Oregon and Washington very likely could be two of them. Miami, NC State, and Virginia Tech likely aren't all safe. Virginia could be sweating too. Only Florida State, Clemson, UNC, and ND feel like they are safely in the dumb Power 2 structure at this point.

In the end, I could see the Big10 end up at 24 teams with at least 3 more Pac12 teams, ND and 4 ACC teams. For the SEC to get to 24 teams they would need to show an interest in Pac12/Big12 teams.

The biggest hurdle for any Conference to grow to 24 is streaming. There are just so many time slots on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1. I have a tough time believing in the next few years that ESPN and FOX are going to pay $65M per school to show 50% of a conferences games on BTN or SECN.

Seems like subscription based sport viewership needs to grow to be on par with an ESPN game. At that point streaming services like ESPN+, Peacock, Amazon and Apple might want mega conferences to pull a high volume of fans to their platforms. For live sports and other programing they offer.

We might see the Big10 or SEC grow to 18 teams over the next couple years, but I don't see mega-conferences existing until 2030ish when the next media rights deals are negotiated.

 

[CascadeClone]

I get the thought but taking UCF does get the Big 12 another team into Florida for recruiting and eastern time zone for TV. Taking them and Houston solidified the conference and in turn gave the Big 12 solidarity which lead to Yormark and then the Media Deal. Without proactively adding I really doubt the B12 survives once UCLA/USC announced they were B1G bound as the PAC12 would be picking off the most desirable Big 12 teams.

UCF feels like an odd fit but taking them when we did potentially saved ISU from being reduced to a mid major conference. Much like TCU it may take some time but UCF has some major potential once they get P5 status to compete at the highest levels.

UCF was "best available" at the time. But I also think they knew they'd eventually go east too, for ACC leftovers. Eventually the Big12 will span from Morgantown and Orlando to... San Diego.

 

[cykadelic2]

Every week I wish more and more the Big 12 wouldn't have taken UCF . But adding the four teams was a necessary part of solidifying the Big 12 at the time. A best case for the Big 12 would be adding some combination of Arizona, Arizona St., Colorado, Utah, Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, or NC State to get to 16, 18, or 20.

I don't think it was necessary to add 4 when 2 (BYU and UC) were likely enough to get the parameters of a new deal set and then gauge the availability of PAC schools (since their deal expired first). UH and UCF added two unnecessary G5 mouths to feed, potentially at the expense of Oregon St and Washington St being wrongly relegated.

 

[CascadeClone]

In the end, I could see the Big10 end up at 24 teams with at least 3 more Pac12 teams, ND and 4 ACC teams. For the SEC to get to 24 teams they would need to show an interest in Pac12/Big12 teams.

Agree. B1G at 20 is prob UW, UO, ND and UNC. But they could make 4 more (e.g. Stanford, UVa, Pitt, GT, BC, even Cal) work as well.

SEC on the other hand, is prob just 4 of the ACC and that's about it. Don't see them taking 2nd tier ACC or any current Big12. So I think 20 is their max.

If B1G stops at 20, then Big12 might end up at 24 (taking 4 corners and 8 ACC teams). Big league, coast to coast, fantastic basketball. Some kind of partnership with the BigEast maybe...

 

[Pope]

Forgot FSU, but your point is still valid. The top 20-25 brands will all be in 2 conferences.

Since every winner requires a loser, some of those top 25 brands won't remain in the top 25 long term.

 

[isucy86]

I don't think it was necessary to add 4 when 2 (BYU and UC) were likely enough to get the parameters of a new deal set and then gauge the availability of PAC schools (since their deal expired first). UH and UCF added two unnecessary G5 mouths to feed, potentially at the expense of Oregon St and Washington St being wrongly relegated.

The Big 12 added the 4 new teams in Sep 2021. USC & UCLA didn't leave Pac12 until Jun 30, 2022. Bowlsby was on the steering committee that proposed the 12 team playoff in Spring 2021. I think he rightly knew the Big12 would always be at a disadvantage with 10 teams when the SEC had 16.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Clown show.

Background:



Update:

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Agree. B1G at 20 is prob UW, UO, ND and UNC. But they could make 4 more (e.g. Stanford, UVa, Pitt, GT, BC, even Cal) work as well.

SEC on the other hand, is prob just 4 of the ACC and that's about it. Don't see them taking 2nd tier ACC or any current Big12. So I think 20 is their max.

If B1G stops at 20, then Big12 might end up at 24 (taking 4 corners and 8 ACC teams). Big league, coast to coast, fantastic basketball. Some kind of partnership with the BigEast maybe...

Personally disagree with BC, Pitt, and Cal. GT used to get talked about a lot but are beyond irrelevant right now. However I could see them taking Virginia instead of ND since ND would have to be forced to join.

 

[KennyPratt42]

I don't think it was necessary to add 4 when 2 (BYU and UC) were likely enough to get the parameters of a new deal set and then gauge the availability of PAC schools (since their deal expired first). UH and UCF added two unnecessary G5 mouths to feed, potentially at the expense of Oregon St and Washington St being wrongly relegated.

I can see the Houston add a little more from a basketball and keeping four Texas schools perspective. I just can't come up with enough justification for UCF. I think if we knew what we know now with UCLA and USC leaving the Pac-12 we might have been a little more selective about expansion at that time.

 

[HouClone]

It's fun to be looking at the ACC instead of the PAC for once. When actual news hits its fun to read message boards of the impacted schools.

Louisville fans: Seem to accept that the ACC is going to die. Academically are out of the B1G, with very few holding for hope of the SEC but most consider that a lost cause. The majority think the Big12 with Cinci, WVU, and any other old Big East friends would be a great landing spot that pays just as much as they already get. Oh and basketball will be killer.

Pitt fans: Feel similarly to Louisville on the Big12 as both likely and fun place to be if it means they keep old rivals, similar money, and great basketball.

Syracuse fans: Not much talk of the Big12. Their hope is the remaining ACC schools stay together or they become football hobos like UCONN and join the Big East for BBall.

Duke fans: More mixed than the others. Some say academically Duke would never join the Big12. Even seen a few suggest they should try to join the IVY League. Keeping some watered-down ACC together or the Indy football/BigEast thing. Others like the idea of making the Big12 the undisputed King of Basketball.

Virginia Tech fans: Seems the want out of the ACC, but know its SEC or bust. Bust is the Big 12 to them, they don't seem to hate the idea just a disappointment to not be in the SEC.

NC State fans: Similar to VT. Most believe since they were mentioned in the Magnificant 7, that their school wouldn't be proactive in getting out just to join the Big 12. They don't hate the idea of the Big 12, but believe its the SEC for them.

Georgia Tech fans: Stay in ACC and sue anyone that leaves. Big 12 is nothing without OU and Texas.

Great summary. A lot of Utahish comments from VA Tech about the Big 12 being beneath them. All of them have a couple posters saying that but VA Tech seems to have the most coming from a good school but not a great one.

 

[KnappShack]

It's fun to be looking at the ACC instead of the PAC for once. When actual news hits its fun to read message boards of the impacted schools.

Louisville fans: Seem to accept that the ACC is going to die. Academically are out of the B1G, with very few holding for hope of the SEC but most consider that a lost cause. The majority think the Big12 with Cinci, WVU, and any other old Big East friends would be a great landing spot that pays just as much as they already get. Oh and basketball will be killer.

Pitt fans: Feel similarly to Louisville on the Big12 as both likely and fun place to be if it means they keep old rivals, similar money, and great basketball.

Syracuse fans: Not much talk of the Big12. Their hope is the remaining ACC schools stay together or they become football hobos like UCONN and join the Big East for BBall.

Duke fans: More mixed than the others. Some say academically Duke would never join the Big12. Even seen a few suggest they should try to join the IVY League. Keeping some watered-down ACC together or the Indy football/BigEast thing. Others like the idea of making the Big12 the undisputed King of Basketball.

Virginia Tech fans: Seems the want out of the ACC, but know its SEC or bust. Bust is the Big 12 to them, they don't seem to hate the idea just a disappointment to not be in the SEC.

NC State fans: Similar to VT. Most believe since they were mentioned in the Magnificant 7, that their school wouldn't be proactive in getting out just to join the Big 12. They don't hate the idea of the Big 12, but believe its the SEC for them.

Georgia Tech fans: Stay in ACC and sue anyone that leaves. Big 12 is nothing without OU and Texas.

Stopped reading after I saw the 8) trade in this tweet/reddit post. I spit my coffee out.

Ivy League Duke makes a lot of sense