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MEGA Conference Realignment and lawsuits Megathread: Stories, Tales, Lies, and Exaggerations

Rickd said:
The Big Mountain podcast last night was a "realignment update" in which they stated there is a lot of planning taking place regarding realignment even though there might not be a move in the next month or so ... but nobody knows the actual time lines that the conferences have ... a lot of it depends on the $$$ resources that the media partners can come up with to expedite the time lines from the 2030 to earlier dates:

-FSU is the prime focus of the B10 ... period. There is mutual interest ... however FSU is hoping there
are two conferences interested.

-UNC is all about the SEC ... mutual interest and the prime target of the SEC.

-Prediction .... the SEC pulls the trigger first with UNC ... no idea who might go with them ... possibly alone or with Clemson.
They state a lot of FSU fans want the SEC as well ... but they believe FSU ends up in the B10.

-If FSU does end up in the SEC then Miami "likely" is the next target for the B10. Miami might even be a potential travel partner
with FSU to the B10 ... but they did believe there are issues with Miami ... primarily the stadium issue.

For now it is all background noise.
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Stadium isn’t an issue with B10. Lol. SEC is a different story. They aren’t a serious option so it’s irrelevant.
 

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When you really think objectively, Miami should have much of what the BIG is looking for in a school. The knocks on Miami don't add up.

- Eyeballs on TV: UM was top 3 in the ACC
- Miami is Private: so was USC
- FSU has a health network: so does Miami
- Need AAU: We got it
- Miami doesn't have an on campus stadium: Neither does USC and UCLA
- USC has athletic success and football championships: So does Miami.
- PAC 4 schools brought TV markets: So does Miami.

Miami has a passionate national fan base that would bring a lot to a BIG conference that would have a national footprint. We also bring a hotbed recruiting ground, and a destination for fans.

This narrative that Miami has all these gaps just doesn't pan out when you put pen to paper. Miami is probably one of the strongest candidates available outside of FSU and UNC.
 
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SyracuseMiami said:
When you really think objectively, Miami should have much of what the BIG is looking for in a school. The knocks on Miami don't add up.

- Eyeballs on TV: UM was top 3 in the ACC
- Miami is Private: so was USC
- FSU has a health network: so does Miami
- Need AAU: We got it
- Miami doesn't have an on campus stadium: Neither does USC and UCLA
- USC has athletic success and football championships: So does Miami.
- PAC 4 schools brought TV markets: So does Miami.

Miami has a passionate national fan base that would bring a lot to a BIG conference that would have a national footprint. We also bring a hotbed recruiting ground, and a destination for fans.

This narrative that Miami has all these gaps just doesn't pan out when you put pen to paper. Miami is probably one of the strongest candidates available outside of FSU and UNC.
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Would bring a LOT to B1G. No BRAINER. NO GAPS.

So with no HURDLES left, why isn’t FSU CLEMSON or MIAMI in the B1G yet. The insiders for all were PROMISED to have offers just had to get passed the GOR HURDLE. No HURDLES now. MIAMI was work BTS and had the OFFER. At least the offers have no AAU. Miami has EVERYTHING. let’s take what is OBVIOUSLY ours

If they aren’t announced BEFORE the szn, then none of these schools EVER had offers, sans NOTRE DAME.
 
rascon said:
So we have moved from Genetics to the Mountain West for our information? Got it! ✅✅
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Lot of people interested IN realignment and some of these podcasters in the midwest do actually have contacts with B10 athletic departments ... for some actual insight into discussion topics at least. The Big Mountain guys have a couple of contacts in Penn State and one of the Midwest schools. The CFB mafia group has some contacts at Ohio State and a couple of other B10 schools. Nobody is getting direct "insight" from Sankey or Pettiti. It is all discussion, debate, and opinions, with some shading due to comments from individuals connected to a few of the programs involved.

The CFB Mafia had an interesting podcast "ACC Apocalypse" ... if you can handle their format (which involves constant comments from subscribers that is annoying). Their premise was interesting:

-The timing for teams actually leaving is likely the 2028 football season.
-The 2030-2031 contract renewal for the B10 (2 years later for the SEC) don't mean anything since
both conferences will likely REVISE their current media agreements to account for :
-added conference games
-cross conference scheduling agreement between B10 & SEC
-additional realignment
-Teams they expect to be GONE from the ACC by then are
-FSU, Clemson, UNC + UVA to the SEC
-Miami + Ga Tech to the B10
(or Miami + FSU to the B10 and perhaps Va Tech replaces FSU to the SEC)

The ACC would backfill with USF, Tulane etc., Some additional schools might leave the ACC for the B12 ... depending on how the initial
exit fees from the first 6 schools leaving are actually paid out. If the exit fees are paid in 3 years ... there would be incentive for schools
to remain in the ACC for the "windfall" ... if the fees are paid out though 2036 ... there might not be incentive to remain for those few that
might have a B12 invite (Louisville, Pitt, Va Tech).

Potential is there for the SEC to go to 20 teams and the B10 might decide on 24 ... in order to expand the West Coast pod (adding Stanford) for travel considerations + ND in a scheduling agreement.

There seems to be a lot of smoke from different sources all pointing to one factor ... timing ... not being delayed until 2030 ... and moves involving the same cast of the top brands (FSU, Clemson, Miami, UNC (with UVA, Ga Tech) and ND in some relationship.
 
TheOGCane said:
Would bring a LOT to B1G. No BRAINER. NO GAPS.

So with no HURDLES left, why isn’t FSU CLEMSON or MIAMI in the B1G yet. The insiders for all were PROMISED to have offers just had to get passed the GOR HURDLE. No HURDLES now. MIAMI was work BTS and had the OFFER. At least the offers have no AAU. Miami has EVERYTHING. let’s take what is OBVIOUSLY ours

If they aren’t announced BEFORE the szn, then none of these schools EVER had offers, sans NOTRE DAME.
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Make no mistake. As of right now, the GOR is in fact a hurdle. Yes, it gets cheaper with time, but I don’t foresee any announcements happening for a while.

Miami is keeping cards close to the vest and being company man. We are here now.

Does Miami want more money? Of course. So does every school.

I think it is safe to say that unless a huge money pile drops on a school, it’s status quo. Also, any potential bidders (B10, ESPN, etc) know full well they can also save money by waiting an extra year.
 
caneingville said:
NYC has tons of college football viewers, but it’s all the people who went to college elsewhere, now live and work in NYC and are watching their college. They aren’t watching NYC-area schools, such as Rutgers. I lived there for the three years I was in law school, so my UM friends and I would meet up at the bar that showed the Miami games. My Gator friends went to the UF bar. There was of course the Penn State bar, the Michigan bar, the Ohio State bar, the Duke bar, and so on and so forth.
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'Tons' is still a very small percentage of the sports viewer/listener population in the NY metro area.
We're here, but we're a small minority in the area.
 
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TheEye said:
Make no mistake. As of right now, the GOR is in fact a hurdle. Yes, it gets cheaper with time, but I don’t foresee any announcements happening for a while.

Miami is keeping cards close to the vest and being company man. We are here now.

Does Miami want more money? Of course. So does every school.

I think it is safe to say that unless a huge money pile drops on a school, it’s status quo. Also, any potential bidders (B10, ESPN, etc) know full well they can also save money by waiting an extra year.
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I believe you might be underestimating the pressure that the Big 10 is under currently to provide ALL of their media partners with "Big Games" to slot for their agreed on broadcast slots.

It isn't just FOX sports ... the Big 10 now has new additional agreements with both CBS for 15 games and for NBC for 14-16 games (marketed as Big 10 Saturday Night). They aren't looking forward to Purdue vs Rutgers ... they want matchups that will draw eyeballs ... nationally. CBS and NBC aren't looking to 'wait another year' ... they want excitement and big games as soon as possible.
 
There's nothing stopping any of the ACC "brand" schools from announcing a departure tomorrow, with an effective date of '27, '28, '29 etc. IIRC, OU and UT announced 3 years prior to the effective date, that they were headed to the $EC. And they ended up going a year early.
 
JD08 said:
If you thought the league was against us in the ACC, just imagine in the SEC.
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I think this happens in any conference Miami is in. If I had to bet we would go to the big10. But I wonder if the big12 offered something wild. The commish said they wanna make their conference known for dominant basketball programs and North Carolina is attractive some others also. The travel might be easier in the SEC but idk if Miami would even be allowed to enter.

Where will Clemson and FSU be ?
 
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Rickd said:
I believe you might be underestimating the pressure that the Big 10 is under currently to provide ALL of their media partners with "Big Games" to slot for their agreed on broadcast slots.

It isn't just FOX sports ... the Big 10 now has new additional agreements with both CBS for 15 games and for NBC for 14-16 games (marketed as Big 10 Saturday Night). They aren't looking forward to Purdue vs Rutgers ... they want matchups that will draw eyeballs ... nationally. CBS and NBC aren't looking to 'wait another year' ... they want excitement and big games as soon as possible.
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I'd say there is more pressure on the TV execs who agreed to such a deal if the ROI is not what they calculated it to be. The B1G is actually more than what they said they would be when the contract was signed in August 2022. They were 16 teams at that time - Oregon and Washington announced they would come over a year later in 2023.

CBS especially had to know they would get fewer marquee games as they just had afternoon slots to offer while Fox paid the most and NBC offered primetime slots. They offered what they thought would still be profitable based on marquee program vs. scrub program blowouts - OSU vs. Purdue, Michigan vs. Rutgers, etc. If it's not panning out as they planned, shame on them. They knew how the B1G schedules its games.

This is why I say the TV execs probably want to wait on throwing more money at the situation by bringing in more schools until they see this ROI. Of course, there is one way to guarantee a higher percentage of quality games without the TV networks throwing more money at the problem, but many on here think it is impossible to occur.

animation execution GIF by Kyle Platts
 
SyracuseMiami said:
Miami doesn't have an on campus stadium: Neither does USC and UCLA
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The LA Coliseum is the next block over from USC's campus, not 20-something miles away like Joe Robbie Stadium or the Rose Bowl

The Coliseum is owned by the state, county and city, but the school took over the lease and footed the bill for a $270M renovation project in 2019. Needless to say, it fits USC's brand and traditions better than JRS does ours

USC---Completed-renovation.jpg
JRS.jpg
 
Playing devils advocate…

UM’s brand during our glory years has been come to UM, get drafted in the NFL. What better way to showcase that to recruits than to take them to JRS and let them see they will be playing their home games in an NFL stadium.

Secondly, I hate those spread out stadiums like Michigan and LA Coliseum. You can have 100,000 in attendance and the DB level will never match the OB or JRS with its new seating coverage. If you want that 12th man in big games, you want it loud.
There was a Dolphin game back around 1980 when the Eagles were going to the Super Bowl. Monday night game iirc. The fans were so loud, the refs had to stop the game three times and ask Shula to ask the fans to quiet down. This was before silent counts came into being. The point is, a loud stadium is a distinct advantage and though JRS doesn’t get as loud as the OB due to the concrete floors, its louder than the vast majority of college stadiums.
 
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Hold My Beer said:
The LA Coliseum is the next block over from USC's campus, not 20-something miles away like Joe Robbie Stadium or the Rose Bowl

The Coliseum is owned by the state, county and city, but the school took over the lease and footed the bill for a $270M renovation project in 2019. Needless to say, it fits USC's brand and traditions better than JRS does ours

View attachment 322157View attachment 322158
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Okay. And UCLA?
 
swat1 said:
There's nothing stopping any of the ACC "brand" schools from announcing a departure tomorrow, with an effective date of '27, '28, '29 etc. IIRC, OU and UT announced 3 years prior to the effective date, that they were headed to the $EC. And they ended up going a year early.
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... and ESPN "helped" make that happen.

ACC as we know it has two or at max three seasons left before disintegration
 
Hold My Beer said:
???

Not following what you're asking mi amigo
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@SyracuseMiami wrote:

"Miami doesn't have an on campus stadium: Neither does USC and UCLA" as an example of a reason given why Miami doesn't fit the B1G (no campus stadium) is bs (USC and UCLA don't have on campus stadiums).

You gave a detailed response as to USC is across the street from the Coliseum, they spent money on renovations, etc. seemingly to explain why USC fit the B1G mold. I'm asking if having an on-campus stadium is seemingly a requirement for B1G membership, how does UCLA get around that requirement?

Frankly, I think Miami could play their games at InterMiami's stadium in Ft. Lauderdale and the B1G would welcome them with open arms if Miami brings enough eyeballs to the TVs and bring in more money for the group as a whole.
 
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