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Clemson joins FSU in suing the ACC

The Big10 realizes picking up Rutgers & Maryland was a mistake. They fell into the same trap you are still in....thinking Rutgers is in a "big market", so clearly they make sense. Once again, it's not about the size of the potential market, it's about how many eyeballs the program will attract. Rutgers attracts almost zero NYC / NJ eyeballs. Neither of the Big 2 will make that mistake again.
The size of the alumni base is important. Rutgers is about 580k. I don’t watch as much Rutgers football anymore until they get better but I noticed that I watch B10 football and don’t watch Espn anymore or ACC football. Penn State has the largest alumni at about 700k. So Rutgers alumni if they watch college football watch B10 football, that’s what the B10 people knew. You don’t have to watch Rutgers football but B10 football.

Maryland 408k , Pitts 342k, Cuse 250k, UCLA 476k, UW 503k,
 
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If the SEC wants the Pittsburgh market they will take WVU. They are a cultural and moral fit. Rabid under-educated fanbase willing to skirt academic requirements and largely a "red" population.
 
Well I can’t argue with you, I was told something different from a hockey fanatic who is a Ohio State graduate. I do expect at some point their inclusion in the league will be contingent on them joining fully.

As far as football goes, I think it’s going to be it’s own league. B1G = NFC & SEC = AFC with 24 teams in each. Maybe basketball follows or is included somehow. The rest of the sports will return to a mostly regional schedule. Stanford won’t have to come to Pittsburgh and USC won’t have to come to NJ for volleyball or softball. Which makes sense, and restores local interest.
ND's associate membership in hockey is not contingent at all in them joining in any other sport. That's not how it ever works. It is the same status as Johns Hopkins in lacrosse. They are not members of the Big 10, they are affiliate members of Big 10 hockey. Temple had the same status for football in the Big East (Temple was never invited as a full member and only had football affiliate status), as did Loyola (MD)'s women's lacrosse team.

Affiliate-only sport-specific membership is fairly common in other conferences. Missouri is an affiliate member in B12 wrestling, for instance, because their primary conference, the SEC, does not sponsor wrestling as a sport.

In Notre Dame's case, they are a full member of the ACC and it is their primary conference of membership by NCAA recognition. Despite what you have heard, they are not legally a "partial" member. They have full voting rights on all conference issues except football-specific issues...so they vote in all such issues as membership and media contracts, etc.

This is the exactly the same situation as when Miami was in the Big East, but did not participate in Big East baseball (they kept their baseball program independent). No one called Miami a partial member of the Big East.

Because the ACC doesn't sponsor ice hockey, ND can put their team anywhere as an affiliate-only member. The NCAA does not allow primary membership in two conferences. It is affiliate only and hockey never drives conference decision making.
 
The size of the alumni base is important. Rutgers is about 580k. I don’t watch as much Rutgers football anymore until they get better but I noticed that I watch B10 football and don’t watch Espn anymore or ACC football. Penn State has the largest alumni at about 700k. So Rutgers alumni if they watch college football watch B10 football, that’s what the B10 people knew. You don’t have to watch Rutgers football but B10 football.

Maryland 408k , Pitts 342k, Cuse 250k, UCLA 476k, UW 503k,

Lol Rutgers alums arent watching Michigan State vs Purdue football. They are watching Penn State, Notre Dame, thr Giants, and the Yankees. They dont give 2 shits about college football.
 
I can understand Clemson looking for an out along with FL ST. They see the writing on the wall and choose to be in a power conference.

Don't get me wrong. I really like the ACC, and I try not to be a Debbie downer. However, things just changed.

The B10 effectively destroyed college football when they took Southern Cal, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington.

By doing that, they eliminated the 5th power conference. Now, there is no 3-2 vote among the big boys to hold them back on whatever they want to do.

When Clemson saw the new parameters for the college football playoffs, they knew that college football as we know it, has ended.

Think about this: The new playoffs give SEC and B10 conferences 21 million per team. The ACC will get 13 million per team. The B12 will get 12 million per team. The group of 5 will get 1 and a half million per team.

The B10 and SEC will be getting 7 shares per team while the ACC and B12 will only be getting 4 shares per team.

Once the SEC/B10 achieved that distribution, the writing was on the wall. They set the new pecking order, and I don't see anything reversing that.

Personally, I am appalled at what they're doing to college football, but I am powerless to stop it. Eventually, it will probably alter my viewing habits for major college football. Pitt is the only reason I follow major college football in the first place. If they become irrelevant, my viewership just disappears.
 
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The Longhorn network was not getting renewed. It was a complete failure for ESPN, which also owns the SEC network, so UT didn't bring anything network wise.

Clemson is the premier university in SC, particularly athletically, and academically (at least on the undergrad side).

The math may still not work, but the SEC also may play defense to keep the B10 out of the south, and Clemson fits the profile of an SEC school perfectly.
Niether Maryland nor Rugters brought much athletic success to the Big 10. They did bring access to Washington/Baltimore and New York TV markets. That means more money.

I don’t see any President voting to add members to a conference unless the amount per school remained constant if not increase.

The conference moves are simply about increasing revenue. The other issues are fig leafs to justify the decision.
 
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Niether Maryland nor Rugters brought much athletic success to the Big 10. They did bring access to Washington/Baltimore and New York TV markets. That means more money.

Rutgers didnt add NYC, come on. They added a piece of New Jersey, where they are the #3 team behind PSU and ND.
 
B10 knows what they are doing. They didn’t have to add Rutgers but could have asked Cuse or Pitts but didn’t.
They actually couldn't have asked Cuse or Pitt because they were already in the ACC.

It was reactionary, but also about media market driven and Pitt didn't get them anything and is blackballed by PSU (according to OSU's former AD). And Rutgers' invite was contingent on Maryland accepting.

If Cuse had been available, I'm not sure who they would have taken between them and RU. RU fits the institutional profile better, but SU is a way bigger athletic brand with a larger NY following. My guess is that they would have taken Maryland and Cuse if they could have.
 
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