Expansion Thread 2023

[Chewbacca2099]

I hope the ACC does take them because I don't personally have much interest in seeing UC play Calford. Also saves more spots for eastern expansion if the ACC ever blows up later

[bearcatbret]

College football expansion: ACC to decide on 3 new schools soon, per reports (msn.com)

Do you really think Stanford and Cal will be happy with $8 million a year while the rest of the ACC distributes the remaining of their share throughout the existing members? As a side note, they could make $5M/yr in the Mountain West or $8M in the AAC. Is their academic reputation so important that they want to be in with the likes of Duke? Vote could happen tonight.

• Stanford and Cal will take around $8 million per year each, or around 30 percent of the ACC's normal distribution to start off
• SMU is willing to take no distribution at all for the first seven years, according to insiders, for the chance to join the Power Five
• Those decisions will allow the ACC to free up around $50 million per year in new money, which it hopes will appease some of its more rebellious, exit-minded members

I think that all of the bottom dwellers that are known for their academics should create a second ivy league (vandy, duke, cal, stanford, northwestern, etc.). BTW, the Ivy League does not give scholarships.

[swilsonsp4]

The ACC meeting scheduled for tonight has been postponed because of the shooting incident at UNC today.

[richard k.]

[members[/LIST]I think that all of the bottom dwellers that are known for their academics should create a second ivy league (vandy, duke, cal, stanford, northwestern, etc.). BTW, the Ivy League does not give scholarships. [/QUOTE]

They do give scholarships (mostly need based) - just not "ATHLETIC" scholarships.

[Lobot]

Mandel out here with soccer style predictions on FBS. He's predicting a 28 team break away Premier League but still thinks the CFP will be 12 teams and inclusive of G5, which I personally doubt. ($)

https://theathletic.com/4776402/2023...remier-league/

[bearcatbret]

Mandel out here with soccer style predictions on FBS. He's predicting a 28 team break away Premier League but still thinks the CFP will be 12 teams and inclusive of G5, which I personally doubt. ($)

https://theathletic.com/4776402/2023...remier-league/

Does he name the 28 teams? I suspect 8 to 10 each from the B1G and SEC, then 3 or 4 from the ACC, then 3 to 4 from the Big 12. Many are predicting that kind of breakaway starting at the next TV rights deals in around 6 years. My question is, how do the mighty throw the others out to the curb?

[Lobot]

He does in fact and it's so very wrong. I feel like I'm stealing this graphic because I am but here's what's in the article.

Screenshot 2023-08-29 at 4.53.49 PM.png

[bearcatbret]

I still find this very interesting. There are so many aspects to this story.

Yahoo Sports AM: A look inside SMU's Hail Mary (aol.com) SMU'S HAIL MARY

SMU once came undone due to booster money. 40 years later, can the Mustangs come back because of it? Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel dives in...

The wild spending of aggressive, wealthy SMU football boosters once killed the program — via a literal "death penalty." That was the 1980s, when local businessmen kept buying talented recruits.

• Now the businessmen are back — a new generation at least — trying to save the program before a final churn of conference realignment leaves the prideful Mustangs behind forever.
• Give SMU backers this much: four decades ago, they never blinked at the price of a running back and they sure aren't blinking now at the far steeper cost of conference realignment. This time it could cost $200 million.

What we're hearing: SMU, which is currently a member of the AAC, is so desperate to get into a Power 5 league that it is willing to join the ACC for free (or close to it).

• In a proposal that will likely be voted on today, SMU could receive an ACC membership offer that calls for the Dallas-based school to receive no media rights revenue for seven to nine years, sources told Yahoo Sports' Ross Delenger.
• In an era when everyone is jumping leagues to get more money, SMU is willing to get no money because its monied alums are willing to cover the loss. Money is, literally, not an issue.

The stakes: The NCAA Death Penalty caused SMU to shut down for the 1987 and 1988 seasons. It's never recovered. This is probably the program's last chance to be a player in big-time football again.

• [SMU boosters] already went big on an NIL deal that assured each player about $36,000 a year in base deals, with plenty more for stars. Expect SMU to spend millions more.
• It's all checkbooks on deck now. There is no time to waste. If in five years, SMU is a national player again, and somehow, some way, it survives the next round of realignment, then it will be worth it.

The other dominoes... SMU isn't the only school being linked to the ACC. Stanford and Cal are also considering forgoing a majority of revenue distribution to join the conference after the Pac-12's seismic implosion.

[Lobot]

When SMU tells you who they are, believe them. Lots of money and desperate to be relevant again in football. They might get admitted based on the money'd donors but they do not move the TV ratings needle at all in the new broadcast rights era. The donors are trying to buy their way in.

Related.. they tried this in basketball and threw a ton of money at Larry Brown trying to be relevant for the first time since the 1950s. He cheated, the AD got canned for hiring him at 3M/yr , and the new AD got forced to fire him. Now they're irrelevant again in hoops.

Mo Money, Mo Problems. But, it's a nice campus.

[bearcatbret]

I am old enough to remember when SMU was relevant in Football. Also remember their death penalty (funny that it could be perceived as legal now). Most casual football fans have never heard of SMU. Kind of like when Tulane got the death penalty in basketball.

And to Lobot's comment, maybe the SMU boosters can buy them an ACC championship.

[bearcatbret]

Here is your look at a two-conference league with 20 teams each. UC was one of the first four out. Megaconferences Are the Future of College Football (msn.com)

[Lobot]

The ACC will meet tomorrow to discuss and vote on SMU, Cal and Stanford per the Athletic

[bearcatbret]

I think that the deal the ACC is proposing to the three schools is a no brainer. SMU will receive zero dollars for at least 7 years and CAL and Stanford will only receive 1/3 the rate. I look at this as ESPN collusion because if Stanford and Cal joined the Big 12, they would have received full share. Now, ESPN will be able to keep FSU and Clemson happy in the ACC at the expense of Cal and Stanford. This is a rotten deal for the three potential schools.

[Lobot]

ESPN is reporting that SMU, Cal and Stanford are in as new members of the ACC for the 2024-2025 season.

[Chewbacca2099]

SMU making $0 for NINE years. WOW. Glad we didn't have to be that desperate