I canât remember if anyone mentioned it, but part of the reason the GOR even exists is because after Maryland left without having to pay very much, everyone freaked out and wanted something to ensure conference stability. Hence, the GOR. ESPN wanted a long contract to justify their high initial costs to create the ACC Network, hence the long-ass GOR.
The contract, at the time, was praised because it was the largest or 2nd largest per school payout of any conference. This has obviously aged poorly and will continue to do so.
I canât remember Clemson and FSUâs position on the TV deal and the GOR, but presumably they both signed it. Now they both have buyerâs remorse.
There is some poetic justice in the fact that the ACC set all of this in motion by raiding the Big East, freaked out when UMd left, and set up the cage that prevents them from adapting as all power in college athletics starts to collect in two rival conferences. Somewhere Mike Tranghese is smiling.
Whatâs adapting though? Without the cage, the ACC would be in a similar position as the PAC and Big XII. The ACCâs most valuable schools wouldâve been raided already and the remaining ones would be jockeying with the PAC and Big XII for table scraps.
Its very likely that we wouldâve been part of the exodus and wouldnât even be concerned about the fate of the ACC. Weâd be fighting to stay out of the B1G or SEC football basement while trying to keep up with their arms races in basketball.
That could be the scenario without the cage. On the other hand now we wait and get picked off in 12 years, assuming that by then the schools will have anything worth selling. The money gap is going to have a big effect. There are too many D1 schools to fit into two conferences. Ultimately the GOR keeps everyone together, but it also ties the conferenceâs hands in doing anything to become a somewhat competitive third option (which is exactly what Big 12 is trying to do).
Yeah, itâs mostly TV. The Tier I,II,III media rights plus bowl/college football playoff and NCAA b-ball tourney payouts (which are indirectly TV). Ticket sales from conference b-ball tourney and football championship game plus some gate revenue sharing are much smaller pools.
Iâm sure the ACC would love to add those four schools so it can stay alive past the next 5-10 years. Whether or not itâs actually plausible is a completely different story.
Iâd be very surprised if the ACC was able to add any current Power 5 teams to the conference now after the shitshow that was last week.
I mean, I know climate change is bad, but I think even the most pessimistic scientist believes itâs going to take a few millennia before the Atlantic coast reaches Oregon.
Man its getting crazy. Hearing chatter on other boards that Liberty U wants to join the magnificent 7 and break up the ACC to form a new conference and Liberty U will bankroll it. They probably could bankroll it. A few billion dollars is nothing to them.
Seems some high stakes chess is taking place .. crazy if true.
Thatâs probably the worst idea floating around out there. Setting aside my total disdain for Liberty U, thatâs a conference that will NOT attract significant media revenue to make it competitive with the B1G and SEC.
Thereâs only one viable option to remain financially competitive and that is to latch on to one of the two super conferences. Everything else is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
WVU might be interested (geographically they are an island in the Big12 footprint, and the money difference is negligible). SMU would listen (ACC would make more sense than the PAC right now). Oregon and Washington seem like they would wait to see if the BIG offers. The only way Pacific coast teams would work is if you brought in four to six of them. The ACC could go for broke and try for those four along with Cal and Stanford (maybe two others as well).
Seems like we should just take the whole Pac 12. Have two coastal divisions with some light inter-divisional play, and have the division champs play for a conference championship.
