I don't know if there's a misunderstanding or what but just to make my point clear, it was that the ACC was taking schools before the BT took Rutgers and so the ACC could have taken Rutgers if they wanted, but they didn't. Thus, my reasoning is that Rutgers isn't the huge prize you're making it out to be.
Suppose Rutgers TVs count as 2. And suppose the Big Ten network was 10 and the ACC network was 5. Then adding Rutgers to the ACC makes it 7. Adding Rutgers to the Big Ten network makes it 12. The Big Ten network is bigger to start with and also to end with even if Rutgers ended up in the ACC. Fine. But the point is that whatever good all those Rutgers TV does for the Big Ten network, they could have been doing it for the ACC if the ACC wanted. If the ACC came calling on Rutgers before the BT did, considering the uncertainty of the whole situation and cost of getting left out in the end, Rutgers sure as heck wouldn't have said "No thanks, ACC, we'll wait until the Big Ten comes calling."
Didn't I already explain this to you a few posts back? Remember when I said that the ACC and Big Ten had 2 different sets of metrics? Did you forget that already?
The Big Ten had the opportunity to take either Syracuse, Pitt, or both in 2010. They didn't and they weren't going to. Rutgers had higher metrics as they related to the Big Ten's objectives in 2010 than either one of those other two schools looking 20 years into the future and further. Rutgers would have been number 12 if Nebraska wouldn't have fallen in our laps.
1.) Neither Pitt or Syracuse is a State Flagship University. Rutgers is
2.) Rutgers resides in the Nation's Number 1 ranked DMA. Pitt resides in the Nation's 21st ranked DMA, Syracuse resides in the Nation's 84th ranked DMA.
3.) Rutgers offers by far the best recruiting grounds for all sports of the three when you factor in the Penn State overlap with Pitt.
4.) Rutgers is predominantly football centric while the other 2 are basketball centric. Rutgers has been to 9 Bowl games in the last 10 years with a record of 6-3.
5.) Rutgers enrolls roughly 10,000 more students than Pitt and Syracuse combined.
6.) Syracuse does not have AAU affiliation.
7.) The New York and Washington DC Media markets are the two most influential media markets in the Country. The Big Ten already had beat media coverage in Pittsburgh with Penn State. The Big Ten will have exponentially more media coverage in the New York City DMA with Rutgers over Syracuse just due to the fact Rutgers resides inside the New York City DMA.
Oh ya. Rutgers blew out the ACC's North Carolina in last year's Bowl Game as a member of the Big 10.
The ACC model isn't working as well as the Big Ten's or the SEC's. They are, and will be falling further and further behind in revenue distribution.
Some of their schools have been sniffing around the Big Ten, SEC, and even the Big 12 in the last few months. They are not happy campers that they have been sold a Bill of Goods by ESPN and Swofford re: their Conference Network. The ACC took Pitt and Syracuse. Good for them. Look what it's gotten them. Discontent and Big Ten/SEC envy.
ESPN/Disney is paying each ACC school roughly 2 million dollars per year in lieu of no ACC Network. If the look-in in 2017 has a GOR escape clause as is being hinted at by a couple of schools, all heck will break loose.
