No one will poach from the ACC for at least another 10 years

[RedCap]

There's chatter that some ACC schools are unhappy with their restrictive media rights deal. Enough of them to change it? Probably not yet but I'd guess that would happen before the 10 years are up. Everyone else is struggling to keep up with the B1G and $EC.

Working together I think the B1G and $EC could bust up the ACC any time IF they wanted to do it. They'd only have to split up the ACC teams among themselves and make enough coordinated offers at once to join their conferences. I don't think for now though that they want to do that. There would probably have to be some extraordinary media deal as a carrot (in other words, college football basically becoming a monolithic NFL-like monopoly exclusive to the big boys).

 

[moralvictories]

There's chatter that some ACC schools are unhappy with their restrictive media rights deal. Enough of them to change it? Probably not yet but I'd guess that would happen before the 10 years are up. Everyone else is struggling to keep up with the B1G and $EC.

Working together I think the B1G and $EC could bust up the ACC any time IF they wanted to do it. They'd only have to split up the ACC teams among themselves and make enough coordinated offers at once to join their conferences. I don't think for now though that they want to do that. There would probably have to be some extraordinary media deal as a carrot (in other words, college football basically becoming a monolithic NFL-like monopoly exclusive to the big boys).

The ACC would need at least 8 members to dissolve the conference and subsequently the grant of rights. The problem is getting 8 schools to get on board. Schools like Boston College, Duke, Wake Forest, Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt, Virginia Tech, Duke, and North Carolina State are unlikely to be on board with this since they are the least likely to have a landing spot in the SEC or the B1G.

 

[RedCap]

The ACC would need at least 8 members to dissolve the conference and subsequently the grant of rights. The problem is getting 8 schools to get on board. Schools like Boston College, Duke, Wake Forest, Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt, Virginia Tech, Duke, and North Carolina State are unlikely to be on board with this since they are the least likely to have a landing spot in the SEC or the B1G.

But money talks. If a combination of the B1G, $EC and some media giants agreed to pay off the teams left behind with some cash settlement to make it happen, who knows.

 

[Redmich]

The only payout escalation clause that exists in the new big ten media rights deal is for notre dame

If the big ten were to add Washington - Oregon - North Carolina and Virginia for instance it would mean the current media rights deal would be divided by 20 teams instead of the current 16 meaning the payouts per school would be diluted. Which means it isn’t happening. Current big ten members aren’t going to take less money in order to add teams

Adding additional schools would have to

1. Include ND or
2. Involve an additional media rights deal that would continue to make current big ten members whole - that would involve a very big additional media rights deal or a lesser deal with the new members agreeing to take lesser payouts

As above the big ten isn’t taking new schools that simply dilute the current payouts

 

[moralvictories]

But money talks. If a combination of the B1G, $EC and some media giants agreed to pay off the teams left behind with some cash settlement to make it happen, who knows.

The problem is, the ones left behind get relegated to the Big 12 or the AAC. Would that be acceptable to them?

 

[RedCap]

The problem is, the ones left behind get relegated to the Big 12 or the AAC. Would that be acceptable to them?

Who knows, probably depends on the amount of money. I didn't think the Big 12 would let Texas and Oklahoma leave a year early either but money changed minds.

 

[moralvictories]

Who knows, probably depends on the amount of money. I didn't think the Big 12 would let Texas and Oklahoma leave a year early either but money changed minds.

Perhaps the best scenario would be for the ACC and the PAC 12 to merge. It would probably help stabilize the PAC and perhaps the increased TV revenue would keep Florida State and Clemson happy for a little while.

 

[RedCap]

Yes, I think some kind of merger among some of the schools from the three conferences (ie., Pac 12, Big 12 and/or ACC) would be appropriate. There really isn't room for five Power 5 conferences any more after the B1G and SEC expansions.

Perhaps the best scenario would be for the ACC and the PAC 12 to merge. It would probably help stabilize the PAC and perhaps the increased TV revenue would keep Florida State and Clemson happy for a little while.

 

[ckriley]

Given the on field performance since joining the football nerds would agree.

Unfortunately, this. You can take a gander on r/cfb on Reddit and see the majority of B1G fans coming up with various scenarios in which they can swap Nebraska for any number of other teams.

Of course, winning would solve a lot of this. NU just needs to win. Because up to this point, adding Nebraska has been a bad look for the conference.

 

[moralvictories]

Yes, I think some kind of merger among some of the schools from the three conferences (ie., Pac 12, Big 12 and/or ACC) would be appropriate. There really isn't room for five Power 5 conferences any more after the B1G and SEC expansions.

Maybe the ACC, the Big 12, and the PAC 12 should merge into a 24 team super conference. Kick the bottom feeders out and keep the best 24 teams. Financially and competitively, this super conference should be able to keep pace with the SEC and the B1G.

 

[Redmich]

Unfortunately, this. You can take a gander on r/cfb on Reddit and see the majority of B1G fans coming up with various scenarios in which they can swap Nebraska for any number of other teams.

Of course, winning would solve a lot of this. NU just needs to win. Because up to this point, adding Nebraska has been a bad look for the conference.

Media rights deals and program value are related to viewership and not necessarily wins and losses

The only big ten schools with games of over 4 million viewers without any games under 400k were MI-OSU-PSU-NEB. These 4 schools along with USC and maybe UCLA are what drove the massive media contract. The rest of the big ten schools are simply along for the ride and will get paid handsomely.

This is why you can expect those big brand programs to be playing each other more often than the rest of the league. Fox, CBS and NBC didn’t pay for the rights to show Iowa v Purdue

 

[RedCap]

Media rights deals and program value are related to viewership and not necessarily wins and losses

The only big ten schools with games of over 4 million viewers without any games under 400k were MI-OSU-PSU-NEB. These 4 schools along with USC and maybe UCLA are what drove the massive media contract. The rest of the big ten schools are simply along for the ride and will get paid handsomely.

This is why you can expect those big brand programs to be playing each other more often than the rest of the league. Fox, CBS and NBC didn’t pay for the rights to show Iowa v Purdue

Yes, Nebraska has still drawn good viewership numbers despite the losing seasons. And these days it's all about eyeballs for the media contracts. Now if Nebraska was to become a national contender again, the viewership (and importance to the media contract) would only grow from present levels.

 

[RedCap]

Maybe the ACC, the Big 12, and the PAC 12 should merge into a 24 team super conference. Kick the bottom feeders out and keep the best 24 teams. Financially and competitively, this super conference should be able to keep pace with the SEC and the B1G.

I don't think the teams would match the B1G and SEC in terms of followings and individual viewership numbers BUT coming together like that would provide one massive package of content that would be hard for media companies to ignore when they need to fill the time slots.

 

[moralvictories]

I don't think the teams would match the B1G and SEC in terms of followings and individual viewership numbers BUT coming together like that would provide one massive package of content that would be hard for media companies to ignore when they need to fill the time slots.

Yes absolutely. How would an ACC, Big 12, and PAC 12 merger look? Perhaps take the best 8 teams from each conference. So who would get kicked out? Here's what I would suggest:

PAC 12 - kick out Washington State and Oregon State.

Big 12 - kick out Houston, UCF, Kansas, and Iowa State.

ACC - kick out Duke, Wake Forest, NC State, Syracuse, Boston College, and Virginia Tech.