Maryland to the B1G

It is being reported here.

Props to Swofford!

Sweaty Gary’s take (The Washington Post):

“Anybody that has been connected with the ACC will say there have been great moments,” said Williams, who led the Terps to the 2002 NCAA championship. “Up until they expanded in 2003, we were by far the best basketball coach in the country. That was a great thing to be part of. At the same time, once expansion started — and not just in ACC, but everywhere — things changed.

“A lot of it has to do with football. I think sometimes people don’t understand, or they forget a little bit, that your ability to run an athletic department is based on selling tickets and raising money and then, with your conference, the amount of money you can earn from the various contracts you have. When you look at the Big Ten, they have done a great job of putting every school in a great situation.”

“Kevin is really good because he doesn’t try to sway me into thinking any certain way, but we talk,” Williams said. “This is my view from where I’ve been as a coach, and being a longtime part of the ACC. That’s the important thing, that we as Maryland people — you certainly have your feelings about the ACC, but at the same time — [consider] what’s best for Maryland and the athletic department and the football program.

“I try to look at it from what is best for the athletic department and the University of Maryland.”

ACC & Other General

49 Responses to Maryland to the B1G

  1. PackerInRussia 11/19/2012 at 1:16 PM #

    “Wulfpack—-With Fowl-up in charge, we are lucky we got what we have, as O’Brien fell into his lap”

    Heard his backup plan was “ask Madden”

  2. theghost 11/19/2012 at 1:33 PM #

    Packfan – big football schools make $50-60 million from football. Very few basketball schools get over $15 million from basketball. http://espn.go.com/ncaa/revenue

    the reason it’s going to be 4 instead of 5 is they don’t want to split the money any more than they have to, and also they’re positioning for a playoff among 4 league champions, and they’re not interested in a 5-team playoff.

  3. coach13 11/19/2012 at 1:37 PM #

    Those clinging to tradition (like us) will be screwed the worst. We will continue to tow the line at UNC’s and the UNC run ACC’s orders. And win UNC comes out smelling like a rose, NCSU will be wear the stupid donkey mask.

  4. PackFan 11/19/2012 at 1:43 PM #

    theghost – thanks for the info. I guess we’ll see what happens..

  5. wolfbuff 11/19/2012 at 3:16 PM #

    I’m not sure what Clemson has to offer the SEC, as they already have SC. And the Greenville TV market (and wherever else Clemson graduates disperse to) doesn’t look all that attractive to the Big 12. I’d be more worried about GT; the Atlanta TV market would be more enticing to someone like the Big 12 or maybe even the Big 10 – to get a foothold in the SE.

    I don’t know that the NC market would be all that attractive to the Big 12, which leaves just the SEC as an option for State, if we want to play in the major leagues. I suppose it’s possible the Big 10 might like to get into NC and VA, but I rather think they’d go for the prestige factor (perceived or not) of UNx. Absent either of those options, we’re going to be in the LBC (left behind conference) with former Big East, MAC, Conference USA, etc. members.

  6. LRM 11/19/2012 at 4:14 PM #

    You have to keep in mind there’s only one way to ultimately justify expansion: new TV revenue, which is only coming from new TV markets.

    The B1G wasn’t attracted to anything beyond the D.C./Baltimore and NYC TV markets, where they can now promote the real money maker, BTN, to Charter and TWC and DirecTV, etc.

    Obviously there are peripheral benefits (recruiting, academics, etc), but it’s really a simple equation:

    X = TV + BCS revenue with 16
    Y= TV + BCS revenue with 14

    If X/16 > Y/14, then you go to 16; if not, you go to 14.

    That’s why NC/VA is more attractive to the SEC than adding teams within its footprint. The Big XII could extend its footprint into NC/VA/FL/SC.

    This ain’t over.

  7. GAWolf 11/19/2012 at 4:40 PM #

    So given Gary’s somewhat true comments about the decline of ACC basketball post-expansion it goes to reason in part the decline could be attributed to more schools fishing in the pond of recruits interested in playing in the ACC.

    Is SEC prepared for the same effect? For instance, lets say for argument that NCSU or UNC entered the SEC last year. UGA would likely have two less awesome running backs helping them to a top 10 ranking.

    Just something to chew on…

  8. sundropdrinker13 11/19/2012 at 5:55 PM #

    GAWolf, if that were the case then UGA would have gotten a good RB from somewhere else, and State would have gotten one or 2 good RBs, and while we still might not have been good this year, we would be better in year 3.

  9. ActionPACKED 11/19/2012 at 7:15 PM #

    At this point I think the best case scenario would be to coerce ND into a full time membership and hold at 14 members. If ND won’t budge, it may be time to be proactive and secure the ACC as one of the 4 power conferences by inviting Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma & Oklahoma State. Hiding behind academics at this point really questions Swofford’s ability to lead. UNCheat makes the ACC no better than Texas Tech’s academic standing.

  10. GAWolf 11/19/2012 at 7:20 PM #

    The two kids from NC are starting and contributing greatly at UGA this year. The primary point is once an SEC team exists in NC, the NC talent wanting to play in the SEC might no longer leave for USC, UGA, UT, etc.

    That’s GREAT for whichever team bolts from the ACC to the SEC first, but it will be bad for the rest of the SEC teams who have been poaching our best talent for years. If those schools cannot poach talent out of states which previously had no SEC option in-state for the best prospects, the talent differential should converge relatively quickly. That makes the new team better, but more of a concern to the SEC as a whole it brings their programs, theoretically, more in line with the rest of the country.

  11. GAWolf 11/19/2012 at 7:31 PM #

    The first step to keeping the rest of the schools in the ACC is to get rid of the self-serving Swofford. Bringing in a neutral leader would help member schools believe they were getting unbiased leadership into what is obviously going to be a tumultuous time.

  12. Virginia Wolf 11/19/2012 at 8:13 PM #

    Well, State is left saying “What happened” again! Maryland is gone, soon we lose Fla. State and maybe Va. Tech and State is still holding on to tradition and wondering “what happend?’ Well, it’s time for DY to get on the phone with the SEC commish and make something happen before someone else (UNX) is gone while we are holding on to precious tradition. Oh yeah, and Swofford is an idiot.

  13. blpack 11/19/2012 at 9:15 PM #

    At some point in this ever shrinking ACC, Swoff will get what he wants: a 2 team league with UNC-cheat and Duke. Or he will get fired.

  14. Wulfpack 11/19/2012 at 9:19 PM #

    Anyone know what percentage of the university presidents’ vote is needed to oust Swofford? It could be tough as the new guys aren’t going to vote him out. Maryland likely can’t vote now.

  15. freshmanin83 11/19/2012 at 9:37 PM #

    My emotion wants us to stay in the Acc and work to have it be prominent. My intellect says we should protect ourselves if there is not a plan of action for the Acc to be viable when the music stops.

    It is not the same ACC I grew up with anyway.

    I guess nostalgia is best kept on a shelf.

  16. 61Packer 11/19/2012 at 11:29 PM #

    Agree with GAWolf, John Swofford must go; that’s the first step if the ACC is to remain a serious player in the college football world.

    Am hearing from all around that this realignment mess isn’t over yet. Under Swofford’s BRILLIANT guidance which is supposedly being driven by football, we went from 9 ACC teams to 13, in the process losing a charter member and absorbing the bottom tier football members of a doomed second rate football conference. We’ve also signed our football soul to Notre Dame for the privilege of playing them at home once or twice a decade, and in exchange they get our league’s best bowl and all the $$$.

    Wolfpack fans may now have to endure another year of TOB because the Pack, unless disaster strikes Saturday, will likely get a decent bowl. But that’s because the ACC is so awful that possibly only 4 bowl-eligible teams will emerge, which might give even Duke a decent bowl.

    I’m old-school and believe in tradition, but that’s dead, I’m told. Rivalries aren’t dead, however, and that’s what sells tickets, not tv. If the Wolfpack Club thinks it can pass off a home schedule that features the likes of BC, Wake, Syracuse, UConn, ECU and Directional U, they’d better think again. I simply will not continue buying LTR football tickets for a schedule that is primarily Big East teams, and lousy ones at that.

    We’re about to be no better off than ECU.

  17. Alpha Wolf 11/20/2012 at 1:43 AM #

    “Basketball doesn’t matter. Basketball won’t get you TV contracts.”

    Not a conference, true, because the NCAA conducts the lucrative championship and renders conferences moot in the money distribution process. It does, however, generate a LOT of money.

  18. JasonP 11/20/2012 at 7:59 AM #

    I think folks mention VA Tech’s potential for leaving b/c they’re traditionally good. But that’s not what this is about – see Rutgers and Maryland football.

    VA Tech brings nothing to the table when it comes to eyeballs. They’re out in BFE where the ad dollars are slim. Only way a conference takes them is with UVA so they can get the whole state of VA’s cable contracts. Maybe they’re both out there right now talking to the Big 12 or SEC, I don’t know. I sure hope that we’re out there with someone else too. Doesn’t necessarily have to be UNC. We’d make a hell of a package deal if we teamed with Clemson though. Big 12 would love that.

  19. tobaccordshow 11/20/2012 at 8:52 AM #

    Alpha, that is true. The NCAA distributes money from the top down in terms of the rights to the basketball tournament which banks somewhere north of a billion annually (I think).

    But given that the NCAA is largely absent from Football “post season” the same rules don’t apply.

    I’m not sure if a revenue sharing model would work for college football in the same way it works for MLB. It’s a great political example of how “socialism” work in a small, fairly wealthy environment (MLB with 32 teams). If you expand that model to the 300+ Div 1 athletics, you would most certainly see a watering down of the product on the field.

    Given that we’re most likely on the outside looking in, I’m ready for a self-serving Bolshevik revolution in college football. If I’m Texas, any school from the SEC or Big 10, I would say screw that.

    Just wish we were one of the haves.

  20. Tau837 11/20/2012 at 10:07 AM #

    Saw this posted on another board:

    “The Big Ten is planning on expanding to 20 universities.
    They plan on having two divisions (ten teams in each division).
    They will keep the name of the Big Ten.
    Big Ten – Leaders (“ten” for ten teams in the Leaders division)
    Big Ten – Legends (“ten” for ten teams in the Legends division)

    “Ten” as in ten teams in each of the two divisions.

    Notre Dame will become a member of the Big Ten, once the Big Ten snatches more ACC teams. North Carolina and Virginia are almost in the bag as we speak. If North Carolina leaves, they will tag Duke along with them to join the Big Ten. Georgia Tech and Florida State will also join the Big Ten afterwards. However, N.C. State will join the SEC (as they are currently in conversations with now). The Big Ten doesn’t care about N.C. State once they get North Carolina and possibly Duke.

    Here’s how the two Big Ten divisions will look, if all this comes to fruition (as the Big Ten is planning on). Ohio State and Michigan will be put back in to the same division, to guarantee that they play each other every year. The crossover situation may get more tricky, with having ten teams in each division (20 teams total).

    Leaders: (Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia, Duke, North Carolina)

    Legends: (Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue, Georgia Tech, Florida State)

    The Big Ten captures the entire midwest, east coast (including mid-atlantic), eastern seaboard, much of the populous sun-belt, all the way down through Atlanta and into Florida.

    No other conference will be able to compete with that, in terms of territories, markets, economics, and overall geographic and media footprint.

    Don’t laugh, because this is what’s on the Big Ten’s mind.”

    I certainly cannot verify this in any way, but it’s interesting. This scenario does not address Miami, Clemson, Wake, Virginia Tech, BC, Pitt, or Syracuse. It seems possible that if this scenario played out, the Big 12 would take Miami, Clemson, VT, and someone else (Louisville?). (Or maybe VT or Louisville goes to the SEC?). Leaving BC, Pitt, and Syracuse to rejoin the crumbled remains of the Big East?

    Regardless, this scenario would seem to result in destruction of the ACC, in which case I am gratified it shows State going to the SEC.

  21. ppack3 11/20/2012 at 10:37 AM #

    I see the SEC getting into North Carolina by taking NC State so that the footprint of the television contract is in this territory. I could also see the Big-10 taking UNC and (maybe) Duke.

    The problem with Va. Tech is that they are not in a great TV market. Hell, it took a literal act of congress just to get them into the ACC! I have a hard time believing that the SEC would gladly sign VT.

    The SEC won’t take another team from a state in which they already have a representative. So, Louisville, Fla. St and Clemson are not viable options that would increase television revenue enough to make those teams worth taking. And, that’s what drives the boat.

  22. ppack3 11/20/2012 at 10:41 AM #

    I think that Wake is toast. And, unless UNC forces someone to take Duke, Duke is toast.

    These teams that are left over will play in a basketball-centric hybrid, ACC/BigEast Franken-Conference.

    In fact, that name is catchy.

  23. Tau837 11/20/2012 at 12:13 PM #

    “The problem with Va. Tech is that they are not in a great TV market.”

    I don’t think this is really true. I live in Virginia Beach, which is pretty far from Blacksburg. But Virginia Tech fans dominate the Hampton Roads region/market. I suspect they also have strong fan bases in Richmond and northern Virginia.

    Virginia is a large market, and Virginia Tech probably has a larger share of it overall than any other university.

  24. wolfbuff 11/20/2012 at 12:40 PM #

    The scenario that tau837 lays out is plausible. And I agree that VaTech would be ripe for either the SEC or Big 12. They would deliver the VA and DC markets (and even some NC), where most of their grads matriculate to. While from a football standpoint, Duke doesn’t make sense to the Big 10, they would absolutely enhance their basketball portfolio. Duke’s brand is hard to ignore.

    NC State and VaTech to the SEC makes a lot of sense for all parties, if all this plays out.

Leave a Reply