Likely just a scare tactic for other members, and it'll probably be as futile as the legal actionACC has filed lawsuit against Maryland to ensure Terps pay full $50M exit fee
JMU could but Delaware won't. A school to watch is Liberty. They have the facilities to do it and Turner Gill is their head coach. They did a feasibility study last year and announced their intentions to move up to FBS, but did not get an invite anywhere. Their religious affiliation might scare some conferences away, but if they are in need of schools to fill slots then they are in play.With ECU out of CUSA, schools like ODU, Charlotte, and Marshall will be desperate for another team in that geographical area--could JMU or Delaware get the call?
Wisconsin would be in an eastern division without any teams in states they border. With Penn St being "sanction-devastated" for 5 years or so, Michigan and Michigan St should be in there, with Purdue going west.If the speculation and sources on Big Ten expansion are correct, Ohio State's future division will feature Indiana, Maryland, Purdue, Rutgers and a sanction-devastated Penn State program. That leaves Wisconsin as the only team with the capability to realistically challenge Meyer's Bucks.
Since they actually have a reason to sue based on agreed upon conference terms, no. I'm also unaware of any personal lawsuits against Maryland's AD or president.Anyone else find it funny that the ACC is suing a departing member? I assume high-and-mighty Father Leahy didn't sign off on this action, correct?
I think this is a huge loss for the Big 12, now unless they pillage the ACC they have nobody to addACC to hold a 7 a.m. conference call. Speculation is they're expected to vote in Louisville to replace Maryland.
The biggest loser by far with conference realignment is still UConn. and I can't imagine it's even close witih loser #2.I think this is a huge loss for the Big 12, now unless they pillage the ACC they have nobody to add
Brett McMurphy ‏@McMurphyESPN
BREAKING: ACC votes to add Louisville sources tell@ESPN. Cards will be 6th team to leave Big East for ACC
That absolutely plays into it. Another factor is that the ACC's TV deals are fairly set in stone, so the appeal of UConn's market population was of less value than it would have been to, say, the Big Ten had Rutgers inexplicably passed on membership.ACC invites the 'Ville, spurns UConn again. The reason? UConn has no other viable options so they will be there to invite in the future in case more members flee. It sucks being the ugly girl willing to put out at the dance, and when everyone else is paired up, someone finally gets around to you.
http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-huskies/hc-uconn-acc-1129-20121128,0,7749244.story
Think about that bolded sentence for a moment. Louisville's basketball profits were about equal to UNC's and Duke's combined.‏@SportsBizMiss
Every single men's and women's sport has received a new facility under Jurich at Louisville, with exception of football which got upgrade.
@SportsBizMiss
Louisville basketball is the 16th most-profitable football or basketball program behind 15 football programs: http://bit.ly/v0O22y
@SportsBizMiss
Louisville basketball net profit for '10-11 was $27.5m. Highest football or basketball profit in ACC was FSU football at $17.2m.
@SportsBizMiss
Duke basketball at #26 RT @Clash0501: @SportsBizMiss How far down the list before another basketball team shows up?
https://twitter.com/Harry_MiniumVP/status/273824122818162689Conference USA reacted quickly to loss of ECU and Tulane, adding Middle Tennessee State this morning. Will have a story online shortly.
It would certainly make a lot of sense, but UMass never seems to be on the Big East's radar.EDIT - Also, this has to make UMass the favorite to replace Louisville in the Big East, right?
It's still hard for me to process the appeal of Rutgers, which won conference titles in nothing, over UConn. I have lived in Connecticut most of my life, but I was born in Jersey and had hundreds of relatives there. One of my uncles pitched for Seton Hall and was drafted by the (ugh) Yankees, so there should have been some college interest in my Jersey family. But what did they care about? The New York Giants, the Mets and the Knicks. Maybe things have changed in Jersey, but I think the Big Ten is in for a shock if it thinks it's going to get these fabulous TV ratings in that market. In Connecticut, however, they live and breathe UConn (although the split affinity for the NY-Boston pro sports is obviously huge, too)... seems like it should have been a no-brainer for the Connecticut market to be very appealing. Not to mention attractive to advertisers because of its relative affluence. The whole thing puzzles me.As for UConn....I think they are the safety choice as was discussed above. If there are any more defections, they come on board. But Christ, what a situatin for them. No super conference really wants them. I don;t really get it to be honest at this point. Is it their location? TV market? NCAA issues with hoops? all of that, none of that??
But it isn't about ratings, per se. Sure, they're nice when it's time to renegotiate deals with sponsors. But for the Big Ten adding Rutgers (and Maryland) was all about subscriber fees for its network. For every household their channel is carried in by cable & satellite providers, the Big Ten gets a percentage of the monthly bill payment. And there's no place in the US where those fees add up to a higher sum than the NY-NJ-CT tri-state area.It's still hard for me to process the appeal of Rutgers, which won conference titles in nothing, over UConn. I have lived in Connecticut most of my life, but I was born in Jersey and had hundreds of relatives there. One of my uncles pitched for Seton Hall and was drafted by the (ugh) Yankees, so there should have been some college interest in my Jersey family. But what did they care about? The New York Giants, the Mets and the Knicks. Maybe things have changed in Jersey, but I think the Big Ten is in for a shock if it thinks it's going to get these fabulous TV ratings in that market. In Connecticut, however, they live and breathe UConn (although the split affinity for the NY-Boston pro sports is obviously huge, too)... seems like it should have been a no-brainer for the Connecticut market to be very appealing. Not to mention attractive to advertisers because of its relative affluence. The whole thing puzzles me.
This perhaps unintended consequence could potentially make it an eventual loss for the ACC. If the Big 12 feels pressed now that Louisville is off the board, one of the first schools they may look to could be FSU (along with maybe Clemson). Just my opinion, but I think a football-centric school like FSU jumps in a second for the chance to matchup against Texas, OU, and the grab bag of KSU, OSU, WVU and TCU- one of whom is probably going ot turn in an interesting season.I think this is a huge loss for the Big 12, now unless they pillage the ACC they have nobody to add
So is FAU
That's four schools jumping ship from the Sun Belt to C-USA, with North Texas and Fla Int'l doing so mid-2013.Florida Atlantic will move to conference USA in all sports. FAU will try make the transition in 2014.
If I were UVA (or any of the other ACC schools with mediocre football) I'd very much be worried about being left out. Even Duke, although they at least have a compelling basketball program and a chance at talking to Georgetown, UConn, etc about putting together a basketball-centric conference if the ACC dies. But if you have mediocre football and non-elite basketball then you can't even be assured that you'll get an invitation to that, and UVA still would like to remain in a football conference I imagine.UNC and UVA aren't going to be left out in the cold at the end of the day.
Conflicting reports out there. This one says nay on the WKY move.And the WAC is dead with Western Kentucky, and New Mexico State joining MTSU and FAU in conference USA making them the first super conference (17 hoop schools by 2014) https://twitter.com/...914137246040065
And as far as the WAC being dead, they already were in football, and they're currently on life support in basketball.Brent, Clay & Blaine ‏@3HL1045
Despite previous report. MT @brentdougherty: Source confirms to me that WKU not moving to C-USA at this point. WKU wouldn't comment.
WTVR in Richmond reports...‏@NCAAsports
With Louisville heading to the ACC, ECU is likely to have their status upgraded to all-sports from FB only
CBS 6 Sports has learned that the CAA will invite all non-football ECU sports to re-join the league
Confirming the above, per the esteemed Matt Peloquin:NMSU's AD is denying that rumor, saying they had no contact with CUSA.
‏@NCAAsports
NMSU AD McKinley Boston: “We have not had contact with Conf. USA. I've never seen anything as volatile as (conf realignment) in long time.”
"This is a unique reset moment," said a person with direct knowledge of the move. "Schools that weren't in the mix may come into the mix. Some schools on the sidelines now seem more relevant, especially if we going to start talking about 16."
The loss of Louisville will be crushing to the Big East, as the presence of Louisville and UConn are considered to be holding that league's basketball-only faction together.
Rumors also have him interested in the Arkansas gig. Can't blame him for wanting to jump ship, but I have to give props to the Louisville folks for keeping this under wraps until AFTER they were invited to join the ACC. Taking Louisville over UConn will look... short-sided... when a couple years from now Louisville and UConn have the same record and a big football school or two bolt the ACC anyway.Auburn has interviewed Louisville head coach Charlie Strong in one of its first moves to find a replacement for Gene Chizik.
The interview took place in the last two days, al.com has learned, according to someone familiar with the process.
Strong has a 23-15 record the last three seasons at Louisville, including a 9-2 record this season. He was an assistant coach in the SEC for 20 years, including stints as the defensive coordinator at Florida and South Carolina.
One industry source estimated Big 12 schools will be cashing checks for $30 million-plus in the first year of the playoff beginning in 2014. The total now stands at approximately $20 million per school. Beginning in 2014, the Big 12 will begin taking in $40 million per year from the alignment with the Sugar Bowl (previously Champions Bowl).
There's your opportunity -- as [Big 12 commissioner Bob] Bowlsby put it -- that moves the needle. Expansion in the form of a bowl game split between the Big 12 and SEC.
A conference championship game doesn't make much financial sense. One media consultant says such a game would be worth only $700,000-$1 million a year per school. Not an insignificant amount but worth having to split with two more mouths to feed?
Think of it in Powerball terms. It's easier to make more money if you and nine friends combined to buy tickets for Wednesday's drawing instead of 12.
“I would be laughing,” said a source who has worked closely with the Big 12. “They're in great shape. If the TV deal was lousy, if in two or three years their network deal was coming up [then I could see it]. But right now, the Big 12 has hit the lottery. They've got it perfect. Those guys have it on Easy Street.”
Further reasons the Big 12 is in good shape:
-- Big 12 expansion rests, indirectly, on a perceived gentleman's agreement with the SEC. The league supposedly would not expand to states where there currently are teams. That seemingly takes Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech out of the mix.
If the SEC honors that agreement, then the SEC might go after NC State and/or Virginia Tech if Mike Slive feels like he has to respond to the Big Ten's recent moves. In that occurrence, Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech would be in play for the Big 12.
Even then industry sources argue whether one or some combination of those schools brings pro rata – at least equal value – to the Big 12.
-- The Big Ten and SEC need inventory for their networks. That's part of what the Big Ten's expansion was about. The SEC has yet to play its hand in further expansion but is launching a lucrative network in approximately 15 months. The league might add a ninth conference game to add inventory for the network.
There is no market for a Big 12 network. ESPN/Fox own all the games except for one (nonconference) game owned by each school. Schools choose how to monetize those contests via streaming, pay-per-view, etc.
“You can't start a network with 10 games,” an industry source said.
Especially with The Longhorn Network basically keeping Texas out of the mix.
-- The Big 12 can't lose any schools in the next 13 years (see below) so a raid by another conference seems unlikely. Think of a law of diminishing returns. The ACC's 14 aren't going to be making as much as the Big 12's 10. The pecking order will remain the same: The Big Ten and SEC will be 1-2 in revenue in some order. The Big 12 and Pac-12 will be 3-4 in some order. The ACC will be the fifth major conference, still most vulnerable to being picked apart by one of the other four.
The superconference carousel might come and go with the Big 12 staying at a nice, tidy 10. It already has a 13-year year contract with ESPN and Fox paying the league more than $1 billion. That coincides with a grant-of-rights that basically keeps any of the teams from leaving. If Texas and/or Oklahoma split for, say, the Pac-12 then the Big 12 would keep its TV rights.
Conclusion: Texas/Oklahoma isn't leaving for the Pac-12.
Further conclusion: Any league that includes those two schools remains worth keeping together.
Eric Crawford ‏@ericcrawford
Jurich said he hopes to keep football series w Cincinnati and especially Kentucky. Said "even if we play 10 conf games, I want UK to be No. 11"
Or Pitt..oh but they were let inI'm sure there's a lawsuit you guys could conjure up to bide your time.
Bernie, all due respect, Dave Gavitt would roll over in his grave if his name was associated with a still largely-southern conference. He was a Northeastern basketball guy first and foremost.Back when there was the football BE and the old ACC, I thought that the conferences might merge and have a the East Coast version of the Pac 10. Looks like as of this morning that the merger has finally taken place, absent only Penn State. To make the old guards feel good, I would suggest that they reset the alignment of the divisions and rename them the Dave Gavitt and Gene Corrigan divisions They could look like this:
DG: BC, Miami, Louisville, Va Tech, Syr, Pitt, Clemson;
GC: Ga Tech, UNC, NCST, UVA, FSU, Duke, Wake
They all play each other in their dvsisions with one cross over "rival" and then pick up 1 other every year. You get your 8 games and really it would be like the old BE in one division and the old ACC in the other. I would move the ACCCG to the home field of the highest ranked team, like the Pac 12 does. It keeps traditional rivalries, allows OOC games and maybe it creates a better brand of football and more interest in places like BC and Syracuse.
As for UConn....I think they are the safety choice as was discussed above. If there are any more defections, they come on board. But Christ, what a situatin for them. No super conference really wants them. I don;t really get it to be honest at this point. Is it their location? TV market? NCAA issues with hoops? all of that, none of that??
Louisville football is much bigger than Charlie Strong. they have won at least 9 games in 7 of the past 13 years. They had a bad run under the disasterous Steve Kragthorpe, but Petrino won huge there, and John L Smith won 2/3 of his games in his 5 yearsLouisville's football coach, credited with the current success of the program, doesn't look like he cares to stick around to sustain that success in the ACC.
Rumors also have him interested in the Arkansas gig. Can't blame him for wanting to jump ship, but I have to give props to the Louisville folks for keeping this under wraps until AFTER they were invited to join the ACC. Taking Louisville over UConn will look... short-sided... when a couple years from now Louisville and UConn have the same record and a big football school or two bolt the ACC anyway.
I think it is only UConn that wanted things to stay the way they were. Once the BE was first raided back in the early 2000's, the world of college sports changed. Everyone knew it and it became a case of survival. I used Gavitt's name only to make a point that when you line up the teams you see that 6 of the 14 teams in the ACC (well 7 of 15 if you include ND) are former BE programs...essentially the "old" BE and the "old" ACC merged.Bernie, all due respect, Dave Gavitt would roll over in his grave if his name was associated with a still largely-southern conference. He was a Northeastern basketball guy first and foremost.
The fact that Cuse and Pitt have moved to the ACC would make him vomit. The only reason as a UConn fan I wanted to get into the ACC is because that's where our biggest rivals are. Other than that Fuckem.
Is it me or are UConn fans the only Big East BB/FB fans who wanted everything to stay the way they were? I enjoyed hating on the ACC, I enjoyed our basketball-first rivalries with some football thrown in. I love the BET in Madison Square Garden. Cuse and Pitt gone, but I guess at least UConn, G-town, St Johns and Nova will still give it that NE basketball feeling. Maybe Temple and Providence is on the upswing.
Oh well.
Great column from Dennis Dodd on why the Big 12 is pumped and jacked to have just 10 teams now and for the foreseeable future:
This I don't really get. Is this an agreement that came into place after the SEC poached two schools directly from the Big 12, including one in the Big 12's primary state? And if no schools can leave the Big 12 for thirteen years, then what is the benefit to the Big 12 of any such agreement? Are they really worried about the SEC scooping up Houston or SMU?-- Big 12 expansion rests, indirectly, on a perceived gentleman's agreement with the SEC. The league supposedly would not expand to states where there currently are teams. That seemingly takes Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech out of the mix.
-- The Big 12 can't lose any schools in the next 13 years (see below) so a raid by another conference seems unlikely.
Dennis Dodd reports GSU is indeed on their radar. And while the previous reports of Western Kentucky & New Mexico State already joining the C-USA proved incorrect, Dodd says NMSU and Idaho are both in play for the Sun Belt . Regarding WKU, C-USA is playing the Sgt. Schultz "we know nothing!" card.In this article about FAU to CUSA, it mentions the Sun Belt had prelim contact with Ga Southern and App St (and an unnamed 3rd team thought to be Lamar or Sam Houston St) back in September. I would assume the phones are ringing on those campuses now.
http://www.sun-senti...0,3912422.story
Idaho, New Mexico State and Georgia Southern are on the Sun Belt's list of schools to replace Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic, CBSSports.com has learned.
Idaho and New Mexico State are immediately available. Both are exploring playing as independents after the demise of the WAC following this season. Georgia Southern is an emerging FCS program moving up to FBS. The school's students approved a student fee increase in September to finance the move.
Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky has said on three occassions in the past year that the league could possibly expand to 16 teams. He was asked Thursday, why not make the move to 16 now rather than waiting until another possible raid by the Big East.
"We're going to have a process," Banowsky said. "We kind of deal with arrangement of expectations. We focus on what the optimum structure is. Whether Big East moves again, we'll be ready. If they do, that's not really going to influence what we think is the best structure."
Banowsky said he had no idea about rumors that Western Kentucky and New Mexico State would be the next football additions to his conference.
Conference USA currently pays out $2 million-$3 million to members in TV revenue per year. Sun Belt's per-team number is approximately $1 million.