The question is will the deal be relevant after several schools win their legal actions and are released by the courts? At least five public schools in the ACC have legislatures that never approved the ACC Grant of Rights and the authority to approve such agreements reside with them to include UVA, Va Tech, UNC, NC State and Pitt.
ACC
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The ACC chief and Espin doing what they can to ensure the league survives but to what end.
There are going to be exits that's plain and, in the end short of the ACC paying their schools what the Big and SEC are now there is NOTHING the ACC can do to stop their exits. They can throw up temporary roadblocks to slow things up and that's what you're seeing from the ACC and Espin now.
Espin desperately needs to keep the ACC alive because they need content. I think it survives but more along the lines of lesser conferences. If they are not careful the ACC will look a lot more like the PAC than anything else.
Espin has problems far beyond the ACC surviving as it would appear the skids have been greased by the new head of Disney to eventually pawn off Espin. Couldn't happen to a nicer group of people.
Just take Colorado and Utah from the west...then 3 of those schools and were good. I'm not taking Duke but open to the others. Then add ND. 24 teams...all AAU. Everyone is happy. Maybe steal Mizzou and boot Rutgers if the SEC would allow it
I think we will see a 36 team Big Ten by the time realignment is over. Think about this, you get a natural playoff, all AAU schools, all would benefit, and preserve natural rivalries up and down the board while isoloating the cheaters league of southern junior colleges to the southeast where they belong.
Pac - 8
Oregon
Washington
UCLA
Southern Cal
Stanford
California
Arizona
Arizona State
Big Eight
Nebraska
Iowa
Kansas
Colorado
Missouri
Texas
Texas A&M
Utah
Big Ten (Nine)
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Illinois
Indiana
Purdue
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Big East
Penn State
Notre Dame
Rutgers
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
Duke
Georgia Tech
Miami
This is just you hatig the SEC--doesn't make any sense at all. A&M will never leave the SEC to go WITH Texas somewhere. Texas isn't going somewhere without OU.
I get that I just never liked CO and I don't like Prime Time's schtick. Even if he wasn't there I wouldn't want them the same way I wouldn't want sPitt. Probably just me and my idiosyncrasies.
Fair but what programs we like or dislike shouldn't really matter. AAU school that adds a solid market who has some history and because of Prime a large following at the moment. Nebraska-Colorado-Utah-Iowa-Wisconsin-Minnesota is a nice little pod even without title contenders.
Reports of the ACC's demise may not be accurate
The ACC board of directors is scheduled to hold a call Tuesday to go over the settlement terms. In addition, Florida State and Clemson have both called board meetings to present the terms at noon ET Tuesday. All three boards must agree to the settlement for it to move forward, but sources throughout the league expect a deal to be reached.
According to sources, the settlement includes two key objectives: establishing a new revenue-distribution model based on viewership and a change in the financial penalties for exiting the league's grant of rights before its conclusion in June 2036.
Sources: FSU, Clemson expected to reach settlement with ACC
Florida State and Clemson will vote Tuesday on an agreement that would ultimately result in the settlement of four ongoing lawsuits between the schools and the ACC and a new revenue-distribution strategy that would solidify the conference's membership for the near future, sources told ESPN on Monday.The ACC board of directors is scheduled to hold a call Tuesday to go over the settlement terms. In addition, Florida State and Clemson have both called board meetings to present the terms at noon ET Tuesday. All three boards must agree to the settlement for it to move forward, but sources throughout the league expect a deal to be reached.
According to sources, the settlement includes two key objectives: establishing a new revenue-distribution model based on viewership and a change in the financial penalties for exiting the league's grant of rights before its conclusion in June 2036.
Sources: FSU, Clemson, ACC expected to settle
FSU and Clemson will vote Tuesday on an agreement that would ultimately result in the settlement of lawsuits between the schools and the ACC, sources told ESPN.
www.espn.com
From burn the ships to bend the knee: Florida State, Clemson stuck with ACC - like it or not
From burn the ships to bend the knee, the ugly divorce that wasn't between Florida State, Clemson and the ACC is close to resolution.
www.usatoday.com
Another good article on the subject. In the end, the grant of rights was absolute. FSU and Clemson had no landing spots anyway and came crawling back to the ACC. And truly the ACC was very generous in terms of giving them a greater revenue share based on viewership, likely just deciding to pay a few dollars for complete stability. No more conference realignment news until the 2030s! I imagine ND is breathing a sigh of relief that they can keep their ACC sweetheart deal. Miami and UNC are benefactors of this as well in terms of viewership = more revenue share.
From burn the ships to bend the knee: Florida State, Clemson stuck with ACC - like it or not
From burn the ships to bend the knee, the ugly divorce that wasn't between Florida State, Clemson and the ACC is close to resolution.www.usatoday.com
Another good article on the subject. In the end, the grant of rights was absolute. FSU and Clemson had no landing spots anyway and came crawling back to the ACC. And truly the ACC was very generous in terms of giving them a greater revenue share based on viewership, likely just deciding to pay a few dollars for complete stability. No more conference realignment news until the 2030s! I imagine ND is breathing a sigh of relief that they can keep their ACC sweetheart deal. Miami and UNC are benefactors of this as well in terms of viewership = more revenue share.
Many things will happen with realignment between now and the 2030s
It likely only postpones the death of the ACC. The unequal revenue share will wear thin very quickly and become a thorn in the side of the rest of the conference.
It will eventually be a major point of contention from the majority of the ACC who will be second class citizens in their own conference.
It will eventually be a major point of contention from the majority of the ACC who will be second class citizens in their own conference.
Agreed--all it takes is UVa or UNC to jump ship and the dominoes fall
This might be good for Clemson, FSU and Miami because they weren't getting offers but UNC and UVA (maybe Ga Tech) were always the "big pieces" here. Clemson and FSU just thought because one is "good at football" and one had a nice run in a weak conference before falling apart that the Big Ten and SEC would want them.
The ACC is about 2 teams--that isn't FSU and Clemson
It postpones the ACC’s death as a power conference until the early to mid 2030s, as the path that starts to open up in 2030 is still mighty expensive. For now, realignment is dead and the conferences will be status quo. The ACC is run by much smarter people than the former PAC12! They stuck to their guns, stayed reasonable, and got a deal done with ESPN. When the ESPN deal was done I knew FSU and Clemson were dead in the water. And why would ESPN want to pay more for those schools in the SEC vs the discount in the ACC?
One of the things negotiated in this deal was the exact cost for leaving the conference that was never a certainty before. Those wanting to leave never knew what that figure would actually be, now they know. This deal will give an absolute (affordable for some) path for exit. The teams who will be able to afford the exit fees are for sure Miami FSU Clemson UNC as others. The ACC is still busy making plans to back fill. The only thing that has changed is now there's a path out. IMO this is a best-case scenario for all. Teams who have the bucks or can get the bucks can now find a landing spot and go. The ACC makes huge money on those fees giving them the money to restructure the conference. While not exactly what the ACC wanted it pretty much guarantees its survival.
Their best shot at making the CFB playoff is to go to G5 conference. Sure, they might not make any money but they might win enough games at that level.
UNC has value, but why UVA and GA Tech? 10-15 years ago conference additions were driven by TV markets and forcing the Big 10 or SEC networks upon cable systems in major metropolitan areas.
That no longer applies as streaming is taking over and networks are streaming services are paying for ratings. I don’t think anyone cares about GA Tech or UVA athletics to add a net financial benefit to the conference. I’d take UNC and FSU with Clemson a distant 3rd. Tech and UVA are basically Pitt and Syracuse.
It doesn't postpone anything. The Big Ten/SEC breaking away is a deathblow and programs like UNC not know exactly what it costs to leave. I don't understand why you believe this changes anything. ESPN would absolutely love some schools to leave because that will end the conference and they won't be blamed for it.
The exit fee will drop by 18 million minimum. Probably more over time. That's big plus programs will retain their media rights.
Yep...and it looks like it was designed to buy some time to get the conference fixed and up to speed versus the SEC and B1G. If not, the teams would pay a lot less in exit fees.
Tell that to Tony Petitti for expansion teams TV Markets and Viewership is what drives him. Why GT just look at that market and the potential viewers. Same for UVA. It's not what it is now it's what it's going to be ten years from now after investing in those teams. Investments are ALWAYS long term on such ventures. Peopel who are stuck in the here and now or running on short-term fears will never accomplish anything.
No matter how people may want to slice this thing this is great news for programs looking to leave. But UNC still has in-state political stuff to get resolved. If I were them I would take a look at becoming a private school for at least a short period.
It’s viewers not markets. I’m willing to bet UVA and GA Tech have poor ratings even in their home markets. Both are also not exactly “schools for the masses” and I can’t say I’ve ever met a Tech or UVA fan that didn’t attend the school.
The expected ratings for the conference games is absolutely what matters. Teams under consideration need to deliver solid ratings and fan bases or they’re just dragging down the whole. Markets were coveted in situations where adding Rutgers was supposed to force NY area cable carriers to add the Big 10 network. Per everything I read, conferences are now interested is adding solid brands with fans that can be useful chips in negotiations TV/streaming contracts based on ratings.
You’re assuming a lot.
The problem is not to get starry eyed at potential viewers and instead focus on actual viewers.
Look no further than Rutgers (even with all the money, marketing, and ‘investing’ in that program due to Big membership).
This is not a matter of Ga Tech just having a few down years in an otherwise stellar existence-
- They’ve had 5 seasons where they won 10 or more games in the last 70 years.
- They’ve had 16 seasons where they finished ranked in the AP poll in 70 years.
You don't understand how these deals work. You get into the market and force companies to put the Big Ten Network in their lowest tier package. Then, everyone has to pay even if they don't watch at all.
I'm with you on GT when it comes to television markets, but not UVA. Unless you're excited about getting a foothold in the Tidewater or Richmond markets, UVA isn't bringing much. The B10 is already firmly established in the Northern Virginia market thanks to UMD and a massive number of transplants with direct and indirect ties to existing B10 schools. If the B10 is looking at strengthening their market hold in Virgina, and I'm not sure why they would, VT is a better choice than UVA.
UVa is definitely on the short list for both the SEC and Big Ten. Whether we agree with the logic or not.
I dont want UVa but I'm prepared
UVA brings to the SEC and B10 the same thing that Cal and Stanford brought to the ACC, including the same attitude toward athletics. The conferences would be better served trying to get SMU; at least you get into the Dallas market.
UVA literally has G5 TV viewership numbers. Very few people care about UVA football in the state of Virginia let alone nationally (around 250k avg tv viewership.) They are never getting into the P2 unless they turn it around next year and sustain on field success and real tv viewership numbers over the next few decades.
You don’t understand how these deals work. Cable TV is going the way of the land line and nobody is basing future TV deals on the crappy Big 10 network. Hulu, YouTube TV, and the streaming services are taking over. NFL games are exclusively on Prime and Netflix already and PSU-Washington on Peacock.
Streamers want can’t miss live sports to move the needle on subscriptions and will pay much more than local cable systems. They want marquee matchups they can promote all week and get a big rating on Saturday afternoon or evening, and again most importantly entice fans to sign up to catch their favorite team.
Tech and UVA don’t draw ratings and provide no additional leverage for the Big 10 to negotiate future rights deals. The just suck up a portion of the pie for everyone else while being less value than they’re extracting.
Absolutely correct. Cable is almost dead. Even my 73 year old father is moving from cable to Sling. My mother-in-law has been on hulu live for a few years now. Millennials and younger primarily stream. Local news often have their own apps. Markets are becoming less relevant for cfb tv viewership as you said. FSU and Clemson tried to leave the ACC because of low revenue schools like UVA.
It is not about TV numbers in many instances. UVA brings UVA credibility which drives research dollars and there are a lot of advantages to bringing them into the fold. Advantages that trump the chump change of college athletics. For a T1 research university, football is a side project. I have seen many people here falsely claim Penn State is what it is because of football. Joe certainly helped (Franklin is a hindrance however) but the University was more than a cow college before Joe won a title and it really took off after joining the Big Ten due entirely to research dollars.
That is false. Otherwise, Stanford would’ve been invited into the big 10. But instead, they were never invited and took a greatly reduced revenue deal to play football across the country in the ACC. And UVA is not even remotely close to Stanford in terms of academic research.
@Wallace Breen is at it again. His theories are generally wrong, but he is never in doubt.
College football will never move away from Cable until somehow forced to. The leagues are too heavily invested. While many seem to campaign for streaming citing a few individual cases as proof doesn't prove anything. Streaming for gaming watching movies videos and the like is becoming more popular among the young but by and large the general public are on cable and seem to like it there. Cable is expensive because of the way it's packaged and they force you into a bunch of crap you are never going to watch. But the second cable is financially pushed to change due to market pressures they will because they will have no choice.
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2024 Was Another Tough Year For Cable Television Industry
2024 was another difficult year for the cable industry with the acceleration of cord cutting and continued audience erosion. Both have negative financial implications.
www.forbes.com
That is just one of many, many articles. Sorry, but cable TV is quickly dying. I would not be surprised if it’s completely dead by the early to mid 2030s . The median age of a cable TV viewer is nearly 65 years old now.
I saw he resurrected the fairytale about the GORs for some schools, including VT and UVA, being voided because the legislatures didn't approve them. It's a total fabrication. The approval authority in VA is entirely with the Department of Education and delegated to the schools' respective presidents and Boards of Visitors. It's basic separation of powers where legislature has no role, not that reality and facts matter to the guy with videogame villain name for a handle.
