Fresh off its first season in the ACC, Syracuse is already sick and tired of taking its northern brand of college football to the South only to play in minuscule media markets. Syracuse AD Doc Gross is already figuring out ways to realign the Atlantic Coast Conference's football divisions, believing strongly that this is an urgent matter with significant branding, revenue and competitive fairness components.
Here is said proposal, probably.
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I) Realign the current ACC Atlantic and ACC Coastal Divisions as follows:
NHL ACC Metropolitan Division
Boston College
Georgia Tech
Miami
Pittsburgh
N.C. State
Syracuse
Wake Forest
ACC Countryside Division
Clemson
Duke
Louisville
Florida State
North Carolina
Virginia
Virginia Tech
II) Teams will play six intra-division games every year and two inter-division games on a rotating basis. Despite the fact that there are some "obvious playing partners" such as Miami-Florida State, Georgia Tech-Clemson, N.C. State-North Carolina and even Wake Forest-Duke, it would be in Syracuse's everyone's best interest to eliminate these games.
III) Starting in 2014, all Syracuse home games will be moved to MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, allowing New York's College Team (TM) the opportunity to play up to seven games a season in the nation's #1 media market.
IV) SU is requesting that all Wake Forest home games be moved to the Carolina Panthers' Bank of America Stadium to afford the SU football team the opportunity to play in Charlotte and the #24 media market.
V) In exchange for Wake Forest moving all of its games to Charlotte, Syracuse agrees to play all games against the Miami Hurricanes in Florida for the requisite recruiting benefits and on the off-chance Orange coaches recruit a Miami native that wants the opportunity to play closer to home 2-3 times a career.
VI) Pittsburgh and Miami already play in NFL stadiums within "major media markets" along the East Coast, so we're good there.
VII) Syracuse's rotating cross-over games against teams from the ACC Countryside Division will be contested in the following locations:
a) Clemson - Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia
b) Duke - Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina
c) Louisville - rotate between Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana and LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee
d) Florida State - whatever they are calling Jacksonville Memorial Stadium these days, Jacksonville, Florida
d) North Carolina - Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina
e) Virginia - RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.
f) Virginia Tech - FedEx Field, Landover, Maryland
VIII) The ACC's bowl selection process should be amended such that should Syracuse become bowl eligible, the Orange will be placed annually in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in the Bronx, New York.
IX) The ACC Football Championship Game should be moved from its current home in Charlotte to Madison Square Garden Metlife Stadium in the Meadowlands.
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Gross said current limits on ACC structure mean a 14 year gap btw when Syracuse would play in Atlanta or Pitt would go to Boston
— Gary Fineout (@fineout) December 19, 2013
Pfft. Just come out and say it, Syracuse. You want to swap divisions with Pitt. So does every non-Florida State ACC Atlantic program. Take a number.