Conference Revenue Sharing

I'm sure they'd like to be able to do that, but my guess is that at least for the SEC and Big-10, that's probably not an option. I have to imagine there's stipulations that games can't be exclusively shown outside where they were contracted under the current contract. I can't imagine the SEC and Big-10 would allow games to be put on PPV. Smaller conferences may not have that same leverage.

I agree with you. I don't think there's any other alternative for the remaining elite programs in the Big-12, ACC and Pac-12 than doing some kind of merger or reorganization. All 3 of the remaining "power" conferences are falling further and further behind the SEC/Big-10 counterparts as well.

And those top programs in those conferences are falling behind as well. The problem is that I'm not sure any of the remaining programs, other than Notre Dame, are going to push the SEC or Big-10 to expand further at this point. If they decide they need to get bigger, there are certainly some attractive programs (Washington, Oregon, FSU, Clemson, UNC and Oklahoma State in particular come to mind). But I don't think if FSU or Washington called, that the SEC or Big-10, would decide to expand to get them.

The problem is that the ACC, Big-12 and Pac-12 all have a small handful of elite level programs and then several clearly second tier programs. Any merger that keeps any of those 3 conferences intact is going to clearly be perceived as a significant step down from the Big-10 and SEC.

For those top remaining elite schools to stay relevant, they need to do something drastic and pretty quick. There's no way the weaker schools in those conferences are going to voluntarily get left out. It's probably going to have to be a situation where the elite programs are forced to leave their conference to start a new entity. They're probably going to have to fight the GOR in court together.

I could see a 18 team conference with 3 divisions and 6 teams from each conference :
ACC: 6 from Clemson, FSU, UNC, NCSU, UVA, VT, GT and Miami
Big-12: Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Kansas, WVU, Texas Tech and Iowa State
Pac-12: 6 from Oregon, Cal, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Stanford, Arizona and Arizona State

Maybe the Big-10 takes Washington and Oregon as you have suggested and the SEC takes 2 from FSU, UNC and Clemson and there are 3 18-team top conferences.

If the remaining schools don't do something like this, like you said, some pretty major college football programs are going to effectively become irrelevant very quickly. Maybe some of the schools are exploring the options. I wonder if the FSU discussion about the buyout may be a step in that direction.

 

Didnt Vandy beat us last year...

 

Interesting take. It may happen. What I am unsure of is the dynamic of the NFL and the "local" games versus the cable games. If anyone tries to go too exclusive, you lose eyeballs, which means your advertisement revenue goes down. If the NFL/ESPN sees local as mainly the gravy and not the meat, I can see a decision to change to "pay more". I realize we are talking about cable versus cable plus, but still, I see it as an unnecessary expense. Will there be enough folks prepared to pony up?

 

Why do these hacks simply recycle the drivel F$U spews without ANY investigation of the facts?!

F$U is the bedrock of the ACC?! If there had been relegation the previous four years they might be playing in the Mountain West right now.

They were glad to get the same payout as the other schools when they failed to make bowls.

 

I listened to a national radio show about our qb situation and the hack was saying Stokes was a top 25 player. Where do they find these clowns that are suppose to be professionals.

 

In fairness FSU, UNC and Clemson do probably drive a grossly disproportionate percentage of the ACC revenues (UVA, VT, NCSU and Duke (basketball) and maybe Miami might be the next level). So I understand where they're coming from. But I don't think anybody but FSU fans believe they are what they think they are.

But they really don't have much of a defense in this argument. FSU chose to go to the ACC when they had a shot at the SEC. They made that choice because they thought a smaller conference gave them an easier path to a national championship. That obviously hasn't worked out the way they planned.

But the bigger mistake was when it came time to add new programs to try to keep up with the SEC and Big-10 expansion around 2011, they voted for, or at least allowed BC, Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville (4 metro schools) to be the additions, which REALLY hurt the conference. I know there weren't really any better programs available, but those moves really weakened the ACC.

FSU has been trying desperately to stay relevant and trying even harder to get out of the ACC since. I think now they may be trying to destabilize the ACC hoping the conference implodes. Kind of a desperation move. Problem is even if they do, I don't think the SEC or Big-10 would take them right now. The best they might get is Big-12, which may be even worse than the ACC.

It's been kind of fun to watch!