Oh man, oh man, oh man. I have a freaking metric ton of thoughts about REALIGNMAGEDDON to share with you. But I've had trouble getting things organized, struggling to get my mind right, and I wanted to spend some time reading up and watching what's happening (or not happening, as it were) with Texas and Oklahoma before I started posting.
Turns out, I've arrived at the decision to just vomit this out as it rises up my throat. Splatter.
Please keep in mind that this is [mother-f#cking] Wahooze, and everything you're about to read from me is going to be from a strictly University of Virginia-based standpoint. I love college football, but I only really care about UVA. A strong ACC means a safe and secure athletics home for the University of Virginia, simple as that. In an expand-or-die landscape, it's important to do what you need to do to survive. The ACC is the best possible home for us -- the B1G isn't a good fit and would destroy our elite baseball program while putting us in line for several poundings by football factories like Ohio State and Wisconsin. The SEC would be even more brutal, as we'd join Vanderbilt as the nerd getting pounded by the meathead bullies. The ACC is our best possible home. Anyway, back to it...
First up, we need to learn a thing or two about the history of the ACC. To understand where we're going, we have to appreciate where we've been.
GO!
The [Brief] History of the ACC:
December 1953 -- The fledgling ACC rescues Virginia, and the Hoos become the league's 8th team.
1971 -- South Carolina gives us deuces, and the Gamecocks peace out to become an independent. Back to seven schools in the ACC.
1978 -- The ACC throws the life raft to Georgia Tech, which had been toileting in the Metro Conference. Eight again.
1991 -- In an attempt to take a bolder step toward the golden egg that is football revenue generated by television deals, the ACC lures Florida State out of independent status to become the conference's 9th team. (This move was seen as a direct response to the Big Ten dragging Penn State from the ranks of the independents a year earlier, in 1990.)
2003 -- You probably remember the clumsy, litigation-marred, politicked-to-death additions of Miami, Virginia Tech (shouldabeen Syracuse), and Boston College (whose defection from the Big East was delayed an extra year). This expansion to 12 is supposed to cement the ACC as a football powerhouse, with basketball quality trampled underfoot. It doesn't really work out for the conference, with Miami and FSU both falling on relatively hard times. ACC football cred suffers, in spite of the expansion. When Virginia Tech is your vogue football program, you have some troubles. But hey, at least the economy of Southwest Virginia is saved!
September 2011 -- Syracuse and Pittsburgh submit formal written applications to join the ACC. Both are accepted into the conference the following day, in a bold, confident, scalded-dog-quick move that made the entire nation take notice. The ACC is now positioned at 14 teams, stable and strong, with a newly-renegotiated $20 mil / 125% annual revenue buyout clause. None of these schools are going anywhere, and the conference as a whole is suddenly positioned as an aggressor in the conference realignment game. We are the hunters, not the hunted. Get lost, SEC poachers! Scram!
#1) Both deliver strong academics (Syracuse ranked #62 by US News and World Report, Pitt ranked #58), which -- believe it or not -- is important to the ACC. It's the main reason West Virginia will NEVER be in this conference. The schools of the ACC share a very lucrative research/academic relationship, and that's an important part of identifying the right schools to add to the league. You have to have decent academics, which 'Cuse and Pitt definitely do. And for those keeping score at home, the USNWR rankings for the other 12 ACC schools: Duke #10, UVA #25, Wake #26, UNC #29, BC #31, GT #36, Miami #38, UMD #55, Clemson #68, VT #71, FSU #101, NCSU #101 (tie). The ACC has some really good schools.
#2) Both Syracuse and Pitt grant access into important media markets, which is the real driving force behind all of this conference realignment stuff. Pittsburgh is the 22nd-biggest market in the US, and New York City is [obviously] the #1 biggest. Now, if you're about to say "BUT New Yorkers don't care about Syracuse football," you're totally missing the point. It's all about access into these markets. Get the conference on those TV sets, and the networks will pay out the ass for the rights to that broadcast. That's an oversimplification, but you see my point. Will TV sets flicker on to watch Duke/Syracuse? No, of course not. But will New Yorkers click on the tube to watch Florida State/Clemson? I'm thinking yes, or at least enough to really move the needle for the networks. The top-50 ranked markets touched by some of the other 12 ACC schools: Boston #5, DC #8, Atlanta #9, Tampa #12, Miami #17, Orlando #20, Baltimore #24, Charlotte #27, Raleigh-Durham #29, SC #35, Hampton Roads #42, Greensboro/Winston-Salem #47. Important markets, but small fries compared to the Big Apple.
#3) Syracuse and Pitt are good enough at football. Good enough to hold their own on both the recent performance and long-term legacy platforms. Not good enough to really elevate the conference's football profile, but good enough to not damage it, either. In other words, status quo. Syracuse enjoyed some great success under Ben Schwartzwalder in the '50s and '60s, they were damn good in the late '80s, and rock solid in the '90s. Jim Brown, Larry Csonka, John Mackey, Art Monk, and Donovan McNabb are all former players for the Orange. Pitt boasts NINE college football national championships, and is top-20 all-time in wins. Famous Pitt football alumni include Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Mike Ditka, Darrelle Revis, and Larry Fitzgerald. These two programs have been middling (or worse) of late, but they have rich history and the potential to return to increasing levels of relevancy as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Good enough.
#4) Syracuse and Pitt are obviously awesome basketball schools. I won't belabor this point, other than to say the ACC has increased its pool of elite basketball programs by two, while simultaneously decreasing the Big East's by two. There should now be no doubt about which conference is the best basketball conference in America. It's the ACC, baby (and she ain't done expanding -- more on that later)!
#5) Syracuse brings great lacrosse to the mix. Love that.
#6) This guy:
#7) Football recruiting. Similar to the expansion of the media market footprint, adding Syracuse and Pitt opens up new recruiting territory for the ACC schools. New York is a dry desert for football talent, but Pittsburgh and the state of Pennsylvania... it's verdant.
I'm excited about these two schools joining the conference, mostly for #4, above. It will be interesting to see how the conference forms its divisions, and that's a process that could ultimately screw Virginia depending on how the Plinko chips fall.
It will also be interesting to see if the ACC stays at 14. Bet the farm that it won't. 16 is the magic number, and UConn and Rutgers are already throwing themselves at us like 4:30 AM whores. But I think [ACC Commissioner] Swofford has his eye on bigger fish... one whopper in Austin and one leviathan in South Bend. More on that later, unless you happen to be click-savvy and literate.
Or in case you like your links spoon-fed to you by yours truly.
The Latest on Realignment
Notre Dame Should Jump to the ACC... and Fast
Notre Dame Needs to Change with the Times
My prediction? The ACC can't reconcile the concept of allowing wiggle room for the Longhorn Network and won't take Texas Tech, and its attempts to smoke Notre Dame out of hiding by burning up the Big East fall just short, and we settle for the whores. UConn and Rutgers, welcome aboard!
But gosh, how awesome would it be to land Notre Dame...
Anyway, one more great article for you to sink your teeth into:
The Geography of College Football Fans (and Realignment Chaos)
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