Conference Realignment Rumors: Texas A&M To Join SEC (For Reals This Time?), ACC Defection Watch On
by Brian Favat on Aug 11, 2011 9:22 PM EDT
in Conference Expansion
Email
PrintThe past week has been filled with Texas A&M to the SEC rumors which has really been nothing more than idle speculation and internet rumors from those the furthest removed from the decision-making process -- fans. However, now we have our first website reporting that the Aggies joining the SEC is finally a done deal. According to AggieYell.com -- a subscription site -- Texas A&M has decided that it will join the SEC, but cannot officially announce the move until August 22, the day the Texas A&M Board of Regents will next meet.
"Texas has the Longhorn Network. Texas A&M has the SEC. Aggieyell.com is reporting that the Aggies have cast their lot with and have been accepted by the Southeastern Conference."
Of course, this is the same site that reported that Texas A&M to the SEC was a done deal LAST YEAR, so take this report with a huge grain of salt. I'll believe this when Mike Slive, the Texas A&M Board of Regents or someone with some decision-making authority says something. If this story actually had legs, wouldn't you expect to see it reported in a mainstream news outlet and not behind a pay wall written by someone who looks like this?
If the Aggies ever do get granted their divorce from Texas and the Longhorn Network, that would give the SEC an uneven 13 programs. The next shoe to drop is who the SEC invites to round up the conference to an even 14 (or 16?). We basically have a bunch of fan bases foaming at the mouth hoping their program gets Mike Slive's golden ticket. That includes ACC programs like Florida State, Miami, Clemson, and Virginia Tech.
So if A&M to the SEC is really a done deal, who becomes 14 (or 15 and 16)? Will the ACC soon be looking north again to once again raid the Big East, before the conference signs its next TV deal worth billions upon billions of dollars?
OK, everyone start freaking out and wildly speculating! The Slives are coming! The Slives are coming!
57 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
The Slives are coming! The Slives are coming!
Hopefully for FSU. Clemson if not FSU.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
FSU or Clemson are the fan favorites, but neither is the practical choice. Virginia Tech, Oklahoma or Missouri more likely.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Aug 11, 2011 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions
Blauds of the Globe just tweeted: " we think ACC has UConn on its wish list."
/Slams head on desk
Writer at BC Interruption SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
Follow me on Twitter
Of course Blauds would stump for UConn … He’s practically the program’s Globe beat writer.
I’m imagine Syracuse would be higher on any made up list. Original ACC expansion plan, and all that good stuff.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Aug 11, 2011 10:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Probably so. Now we are hearing VaTech or Missouri.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
VaTech is the only team I can say with 100% confidence will NOT happen.
As a NC native (from Greensboro no less), and lived in the southern part of Virginia back in during the Michael Vick years no less)…I can sat with absolute certainty that Virgina Tech will not leave the ACC. Remember that first girl you had it real bad for back in high school? And she knew it too, but she just preferred to keep you around as a toy to boost to her self-esteem, while you were too much of a $^# to do anything about it? Yeah, well, when it comes to Virginia Tech—the ACC was that girl. And high school lasted over 50 years. Only thanks to some last-ditch political pressure, that loveable loser actually got his dream girl.
The ACC will leave VaTech before VaTech ever leaves the ACC. The SEC (or any other conference ) would have an easier time luring Duke away from UNC, or UNC away from Duke.
Hey that works for me. The only ACC schools that interest me are FSU and Clemson. FSU first of course.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
You can have either one ...
If either Florida State or Clemson bolted to the SEC, I would love to see the ACC stand pat at 11 teams.
Get rid of the ACC Championship Game and ditch the Atlantic / Coastal divisional split. Make up for the lost TV inventory re: the ACCCG by moving to a nine-game football schedule and an 18-game hoops schedule (if the NCAA allows for a 20 conference game round-robin, go for that).
Everyone acts like 11 is this ridiculous number but the Championship Game isn’t all that it is cracked up to be and the Big Ten managed for years. One less hurdle to a BCS bowl plus it would put teams on the Coastal Division side on the conference on the schedule much more often (read: Miami).
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Aug 12, 2011 10:33 AM EDT up reply actions
That’s because the ACC Championship Game has been a disaster. You wouldn’t be saying that if it had turned out to be like the SEC Championship Game.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
It’s been a disaster because the divisions and the ACC Championship Game were set up to pit Florida State vs. Miami in Florida for the game’s first five years of existence. How’d that turn out for us?
Like I said, you can have FSU.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Aug 12, 2011 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions
That is true.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
11 is a ridiculous number
Because the Big Ten is the Big Ten, they papered over the problems, but it’s still a bad idea.
You have to play an 8 game football schedule (because you can’t play 9 due to math and and 10 leaves no room for a non-con schedule), and that means you will get a lot of ties for the conference title (50% of Big Ten titles in the 11-team era were shared, often between teams that didn’t play each other).
I’d bet on completely reworking the divisions with FSU gone and (presumably) Syracuse added (not my first choice, but seems extremely likely if an ACC school becomes #14 in the SEC, and wouldn’t be terrible). Maybe even with rationality breaking out, ala
North: SU, BC, MD, VA, VT, Wake Forest
South: UNC, Duke, NC State, Clemson, GT, Miami
As soon as the contracts run out, go to the Pac 12 model and play the Conference Championship Game @ the highest seed (DC would be the best fixed location, but the new Redskins Stadium is too big, RFK too old, and playing in the Nationals’ baseball stadium would be weird).
Playing a conference championship game at the highest seed is a terrible idea due to the unbalanced schedule.
If a BC finishes 7-1 and a Virginia Tech finishes 6-2, but the Hokies beat the Eagles during the regular season … why should BC get home field when they could have rolled up seven wins against Wake Forest, Maryland and N.C. State, all of which VT may not have played that year.
Editor, BC Interruption
Still better than a half-empty stadium on national TV
And there’s no plausible neutral location to hold an ACCCG (-FSU +SU) where a half-empty stadium won’t be likely for many plausible championship games. It’s not the SEC, where everyone except LSU and Arkansas are within driving distance of Atlanta (and Atlanta has lots of alums from all SEC schools), and the SEC generally has much more devoted football fans.
You should let the Big East know about this with Marinatto’s grandiose plans of a Big East Football Championship in the New Meadowlands.
Baltimore or Washington D.C. would work. Or just leave it in Charlotte.
Editor, BC Interruption
Marinatto and the Providence Mafia are clueless
We know this already.
DC doesn’t work. Redskins Stadium is huge, and if Virginia Tech isn’t playing there’s no chance of coming close to filling it. RFK is a dump. I’ll admit I didn’t think about Baltimore; that might be plausible. Miami will hate the idea, but they’re SOL; Miami is a long way from everyone else no matter what conference they’re in.
Oh, unless this Texas A&M->SEC thing causes the full-on 16pocalypse, the BE will get paid
But that’s just because the Big East is comically undervalued right now and Comcast is perfectly willing to get in a bidding war to get some content for Versus NBC Sports Channel. We’re almost sure Dr. Gross and Oliver Luck had to tie Marinatto up to keep him from accepting ESPN’s first offer right away.
Love the Big East AD pissing contest as to who exactly killed the original deal … I’ve read Gross, Lucky, Pederson and Pernetti all killed the deal. I’m sure Jeff Hathaway had his hands in that, too.
Editor, BC Interruption
Missouri. Puke.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
See you do have something in common
with the Big10.
by ev on Aug 11, 2011 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I pray that is the only thing.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
Agreed
Mizzou or Oklahoma make the most sense.
Can’t we just all have 5 12-team conferences and then everyone else? Guess not…
How in the heck does Missouri make any kind of sense?
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
New TV markets. Respectable football and hoops programs. Large public university.
I just don’t see Clemson or FSU jumping off the ACC ship. Feel Mizzou would be a target of the SEC’s after.
Missouri can have their markets. Missouri just lost their basketball coach, their done. As for football, once in a blue moon…they are just like another Rutgers. Flash in the pan.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
Fight rumors with sources, didn’t even get through reading before the other side comes out: http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2011-08-11/source-report-of-texas-am-accepting-sec-invitation-just-not-true
Poor Clemson / FSU fans
Too bad Dick Blumenthal isn’t the AG of Florida or South Carolina. He could lead a lawsuit against Aggieyell.com for getting FSU and Clemson fans hopes up.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Aug 11, 2011 10:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Haha.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
Where are all of these "pro-SEC Clemson fans" supposedly coming from?
I would be devastated…DEVASTATED…if we moved to the SEC (or to any other conference for that matter). I would still support my alma mater (obviously), no matter what happens. But we are still a founding member of the ACC, for the better part of six decades. Yes, the SEC has a big fat wallet to offer. ESPN is their $lut. Plus I realize academics don’t count for much in the modern-day reality of collegiate athletics. And I recognize that Clemson is hovering right below the middle-tier among the academic profiles of ACC membership. But still—outside of Vanderbilt, Florida, Auburn (and Texas A&M)—my beagle is smart enough to get into least half of those SEC schools (probably get summa cum laude in Alabama). Maybe my problem is my entire life has been comprised of watching us play in the ACC. Maybe this is just a byproduct of turning 30 and, by extension, more stubborn in the face of change. But I would like to see us win at least one basketball game in Chapel Hill before I die.
Team Speed Kills wonders whether Clemson officials or the AD was ever even on board with this proposal. To get an answer, TSK asked DrB of Shakin The Southland whether there was any chatter among the Clemson faithful about a possible SEC invite:
“No, we heard nothing of the sort. Not even my inside sources.
What we know is that President Barker was on Swofford’s committee that was exploring what the ACC would need to do if the offer came from the Big 10 or SEC. We’ve had no inkling at all that the Administration of the University would ever be willing to jump to a (this is what they’d say) “lowly sports conference that would dishonor our academic integrity and hurt our improved national stature.”
Meanwhile the AD is all over it if the offer came. They’d be ready to jump real quick. So would I, and most of the fanbase. We have no allegiance to this conference. The bluebloods in charge on the academic side would balk all day long, even with the huge revenue increase, because they want to be like UVA and UNC and Duke and be associated with that academic stature.
That kind of crap has been Clemson’s biggest problem for the last 25 years."
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Aug 11, 2011 11:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Dear Mike,
Trade ya Florida State and Clemson for Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Cool? Awesome.
Hugs,
Swoffy
Editor, BC Interruption
I’d be more sad if Vandy left than Kentucky.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
And I’d be less thrilled with Kentucky than Vandy.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Aug 11, 2011 11:17 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
So we’re good there.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
I got a good laugh outta that. Thanx.
In all seriousness though, I think it will be sad when conference become completely unbalanced. If the SEC loads up with A&M and OU, I think that will totally suck. If this is all gonna go down, I’d rather see OU go to the Pac12. In fact, I’d rather see smaller conferences than larger ones.
by Maroon Baboon on Aug 11, 2011 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions
UA-Anchorage has better chance of getting into the SEC than Miami.
Can we stop putting Miami in the same category as Clemson, VT, and FSU?
If super-conferences ever cometh, Miami will likely be left out. It was a colossal mistake for the ACC to make Miami the centerpiece of expansion.
The three others you mentioned are SEC-like, even if they aren’t targets for SEC expansion.
Miami plays in a half-empty NFL Stadium not remotely close to their campus, their fan base sucks, and SEC types are repelled by their football brand. This might be tolerated in the BE or ACC, but not in the conference that defines college football.
Club sports.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
Title
Any blog post titled with “Conference Realignment Rumors” makes me really nervous and upset to read. I just want BC to be in a respectable conference that isn’t the Big East!
Further, I just want BC to be in a respectable conference that doesn’t include UConn, West Virginia or Rutgers.
Editor, BC Interruption
Seconded
Gut feeling: A&M to SEC doesn’t come to fruition. Just grabbining blindly for leverage with UT.
by Eagle in Brighton on Aug 12, 2011 8:01 AM EDT up reply actions
Agreed
Also, I have a feeling that in the event that A&M to SEC does happen, the ACC will remain in tact and 14 comes in the form of Missouri or Oklahoma.
Editor, BC Interruption
Hate to say but I just don't see either of those schools
There is no advantage to Missouri, hell even the Big10 didn’t want them. Maybe to a Pac16 as a round out school (and even then they would tr to pick up Kansas first), but not a #14 pick to the SEC. Oklahoma is sticking with Texas in the Big12 or heading to a Pac16 with OSU. Two cents.
No
If we did, we’d already have West Virginia.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Aug 12, 2011 10:55 AM EDT up reply actions
PLEASE, PLEASE TAKE KLEMPSUM
I agree with your BRI-BCI
I would luv to see Tiger Nation depart. SEC PLEASE OFFER THEM.. Klempsum is both stupid and arrogant enough to view it as a major compliment and the fulfillment of their destiny. (and then once in surpise : they will be crushed by ’Bama, LSU etc to bring them to the doormat status they deserve). Dr. B go suck an egg.
Maybe we could then bring into the ACC some more northern flavors (but not the UConn butt-odor flavor) — Pitt? Syr?
FSU I’d like to keep around the ACC. They have a lot more going for them than does Klempsum
Syracuse over Pitt, please.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Aug 12, 2011 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions
Brian, do you believe a Texas A&M move to the SEC would set off the dominoes we expected to fall last summer? Are super-conferences formed? Would the best 16 teams in the Big-East and ACC eventually merge (after the Big Ten and SEC load up)?
I don’t think the SEC going to 16 teams is likely this go-round. I think 14 makes the most sense to balance out the divisions.
The thing is, ESPN and CBS aren’t going to willingly give the SEC money for expansion. Here’s a great take from Frank the Tank:
"2. ESPN isn’t going to willingly hand the SEC more money for expansion – Let’s take a quick look at where ESPN stands right now. First, ESPN worked extremely hard to keep the Big 12 together last year in order to block the formation of superconferences by going so far as to give that league the same amount of money even though it had just lost its most populous non-Texas state (Colorado), a marquee national name (Nebraska) and a conference championship game. Second, ESPN has just invested a ton of capital in the Longhorn Network, which essentially depends upon the Big 12 surviving as none of the other BCS conferences besides maybe the Big East would let that monstrosity live.
Call me crazy, but when considering those two points, it seems quite far-fetched that ESPN would actually provide an incentive to the SEC to expand with Texas A&M (and/or Oklahoma and/or Missouri and/or whoever else you want to throw in) that would directly kill off the Big 12 that ESPN has every incentive to save. Plus, with the amount that ESPN is paying the Pac-12 now and with the Big Ten contract going up for bid in a couple of years, it doesn’t make any sense that the network would give the SEC any ability to increase its rights fees prior to 2024. If the SEC’s contract was up in a couple of years like the Big Ten’s deal, then maybe I could see ESPN throwing more dollars in order to lock in an extension, but there’s no business logic for the network to re-open a deal that’s locked in for the next 13 years that the SEC can’t do anything about."
Editor, BC Interruption
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on BC Interruption
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
