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Conference Expansion: Stanford, California and SMU Join the ACC

If this "alliance" helps to purge some of the dogshit non-conference games I'm all for it.

Our future non-conference foes include marquee programs such as:


Liberty
Army
ODU
UConn
Northern Illinois
Tulane
Georgia State

I'm assuming we keep an annual I-AA game, but the other three slots could be much more appealing.
 
What a joke the "Alliance" is. No binding agreements, nothing, just a couple AD's saying lets have a teleconference to make sure it looks like we did something.
 
TimmyClutch said:
What a joke the "Alliance" is. No binding agreements, nothing, just a couple AD's saying lets have a teleconference to make sure it looks like we did something.
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Only they are going to kill the 12 team playoff and showed the SECovid the power of how they will use their vast media market advantage in scheduling down the road.
 
SCDeac said:
If this "alliance" helps to purge some of the dogshit non-conference games I'm all for it.

Our future non-conference foes include marquee programs such as:


Liberty
Army
ODU
UConn
Northern Illinois
Tulane
Georgia State

I'm assuming we keep an annual I-AA game, but the other three slots could be much more appealing.
Click to expand...

Amen to that, and several more interesting cities to visit.
 
macktheknife said:
Only they are going to kill the 12 team playoff and showed the SECovid the power of how they will use their vast media market advantage in scheduling down the road.
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I don't know if this is satire or not, but I seriously doubt the SEC (+OU & UT) are quaking in their boots over some "alliance" between 3 conferences a literal country apart. An alliance is what you do to distract folks when no real/better deal is available.
 
Kent said:
I don't know if this is satire or not, but I seriously doubt the SEC (+OU & UT) are quaking in their boots over some "alliance" between 3 conferences a literal country apart. An alliance is what you do to distract folks when no real/better deal is available.
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so you're saying the ACC/B1G have achieved peace for our time
 
Seems like the conferences are still trying to figure out what the Alliance actually will mean for individual schools. At this time, the primary benefit of the "alliance" is that it's based on the ACC, Big 10 and Pac-12 staying in tact.

If you read this thread from the beginning, when the news dribbled out about OK and TX leaving for the SEC, some immediately predicted that Clemson, UNC, UVA, FSU would follow suit; same for USC, UCLA and Oregon and that there would be a single super-conference with the SEC at the core that would relegate WF to the Magnolia League or the Southern Conference status (so predictable that whenever there is any realignment that a large segment of our fanbase thinks WF will be kicked to the curb). While there are key differences between the flimsy ties that schools have to the Big 12, and the 2036 grant of rights deal that binds all ACC schools, the concern loomed that the ACC would crater at some point in the future. We shall see what this new Alliance really means, but at a minimum, it looks like the member schools in the ACC, Big 10 and Pac 12 remain committed to their conference, and these schools want to work collectively to find a way to use the Alliance to leverage bigger payouts and to stem the influence of the SEC over the future of college athletics. Agree that how well all of this works remains to seen, and the SEC will continue as a force particularly in college football, but the Alliance is as good of an initial step as WF could expect in response to what appears to be the end of the Big 12.

Interesting to note that this Alliance really leaves the remaining eight Big 12 schools in survival mode.
 
Seems significant that in 3 years we could see Wake vs USC instead of Norfolk State and Clemson vs Oregon instead of Wofford. Or do you believe the working group of ADs they have established will just meet and do nothing. In addition I think they will modify the football playoff proposals.
 
This could also force ND into the ACC when Michigan and USC dump them to play UNC and Clemson.
 
Pilchard said:
Seems like the conferences are still trying to figure out what the Alliance actually will mean for individual schools. At this time, the primary benefit of the "alliance" is that it's based on the ACC, Big 10 and Pac-12 staying in tact.

If you read this thread from the beginning, when the news dribbled out about OK and TX leaving for the SEC, some immediately predicted that Clemson, UNC, UVA, FSU would follow suit; same for USC, UCLA and Oregon and that there would be a single super-conference with the SEC at the core that would relegate WF to the Magnolia League or the Southern Conference status (so predictable that whenever there is any realignment that a large segment of our fanbase thinks WF will be kicked to the curb). While there are key differences between the flimsy ties that schools have to the Big 12, and the 2036 grant of rights deal that binds all ACC schools, the concern loomed that the ACC would crater at some point in the future. We shall see what this new Alliance really means, but at a minimum, it looks like the member schools in the ACC, Big 10 and Pac 12 remain committed to their conference, and these schools want to work collectively to find a way to use the Alliance to leverage bigger payouts and to stem the influence of the SEC over the future of college athletics. Agree that how well all of this works remains to seen, and the SEC will continue as a force particularly in college football, but the Alliance is as good of an initial step as WF could expect in response to what appears to be the end of the Big 12.

Interesting to note that this Alliance really leaves the remaining eight Big 12 schools in survival mode.
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I really don't disagree with any of this. But my overall take on it is that these three conferences saw the obvious danger (perhaps a bit late), huddled up to do something, and this was all there was to do. By no means does this mean a school in those conferences is materially less likely to jump ship if an offer materializes. This alliance is going to mean nothing in the face of some future opportunity that can really save them, make them richer, allow them in the cool-kids club, etc.

From the ESPN article:

"The gist of the alliance -- which a source said is in response to the shifting landscape of college athletics, but not necessarily a direct counter to the SEC on its way to becoming the first 16-team superconference -- is an ability to collaborate academically and athletically among some of the country's highest-regarded research institutions."

That is some next level gibberish.

"The bottom line is that there is no immediate or direct impact today on college football."

 
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If you all read Saban's thoughts on conference expansion last week, one of the topics was that a lot of the power 5 games against group of 5 games would disappear, in part, because power 5 schools preferred to replace those games with conference games due to TV, tickets, etc. Combined with the fact that group of 5 programs are paid to play those games, group of 5 programs are going to start to dry up at this level. And this is why the ACC/Big 10/Pac 12 alliance matters. Instead of playing those crappy group of 5 teams, the alliance is going to have better leeway to schedule more big time matchups within the alliance. So if nothing else, it will solidify the finances of those conferences.
 
Texas and Ok don't join the SEC til 2025. Plenty of time for this alliance to thwart SEC hegemony. And don't forget the voting block it will have at the NCAA constitutional convention or whatever replaces the NCAA.
 
PhDeac said:
Pac-12 will announce plans on expansion by end of week: Sources https://theathletic.com/news/pac-12...expansion-by-end-of-week-sources/QRbsYi0ljqA1
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The Pac 12 Network needs to gain a foothold. They don't want to add 8 schools, guessing either 2 or 4. Not sure which of the remaining Big 12 schools constitute the best targets for that conference. Who are the #3 and #4 schools in Texas (behind A&M and Texas)? Texas Tech and Baylor? TCU and Baylor? OK State is clearly the #2 school in a small state. Iowa State is the #2 school in a small state. Kansas is super-attractive as a basketball entity (probably 2nd to only Kentucky in size and loyalty as a fanbase), but word was that the Big 10 and Kansas were flirting.
 
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If the ACC/BIG/Pac-12 all agree to a particular set of terms for playoff expansion, that by itself solves some problems.

This assumes that the P-5 conferences have some sort of majority-rules set up for college football. I have no actual idea if that is the case.
 
The first helpful thing the alliance does is kill the 12 team playoff, which only helps the SEC.
It also creates a relationship among schools that have good academics.
It creates better scheduling possibilities - more interesting games that do not include the SEC. This helps recruiting, programming, ratings, and TV contract negotiations.
It tacitly acknowledges the SEC's divide and conquer strategy, and begins to confront it by starving the beast.

It is a quick, informal agreement among like-minded institutions that will have to do in the short term until a more formal agreement can be reached. They'll experiment until then.
 
One way to put it is that the SEC made waves and the ACC, Big Ten, and PAC-12 built a boat. The PAC-12 is figuring out who else to let onto the boat. Meanwhile, the remaining Big XII schools are figuring out if they should scramble out of their life raft to try to get on the boat.
 
If as a result of this "alliance " the 3 conferences decided to only play each other and not schedule any games against the SEC schools they could actually do some pretty serious damage to the SEC.
 
PhDeac said:
One way to put it is that the SEC made waves and the ACC, Big Ten, and PAC-12 built a boat. The PAC-12 is figuring out who else to let onto the boat. Meanwhile, the remaining Big XII schools are figuring out if they should scramble out of their life raft to try to get on the boat.
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Would the ACC consider adding a Texas school? Baylor or Texas Tech?
 
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