Conference expansion

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spellingbee

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In a quote from a 2000 football kickoff conference http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2000/07/26/sports01.html, Comm. Swofford said that expansion was "on the backburner." Does anyone know or have a thought on whether it is still on the backburner or even what the time frame for a backburner issue is?

I've read much on the boards about expansion but haven't heard the commish or the coaches and/or
A.D.s weigh in on the issue.
 
Speculation - I didn't see the quote but I did see a similar one from the Big East commish.

From The Big East guy's quote I will speculate the reason for Swofford's quote is that the Bowl Alliance has signed contracts for I think 4 or maybe 5 more years. The Bowl alliance isn't going to change int that time and each conference has its tie in guaranteed. Given that the main impedus for expansion is FB, it probably doesn't make sense to expand until the future of the bowl alliance or FB playoff is understood and can be factored into any expansion plan.
 
My thoughts are that T. Rd will never allow expansion. I remember when Tech came in, most of the coaches didn't want us. I talked with Lefty, and that guy from UVa he didn't want us and it was reported in the Charlotte Observer that most of the other coachs didn't want us either (these were the Basketball coachs not the FB people) so I figure it's more or less a dead issue until TRoad changes.
 
Don't you suppose that if GT, FSU, MD and Clemson decided that the Big East looked pretty good that NCSU would instantly cave and THEN the rest of Tobacco Rd (+UVA) would get off their high horse? Unless they all secretly want I-AA football to go with their b-ball programs?
What I'm saying is that the NC schools aren't the only ones with leverage in the conference.
 
The main issue here is money. The ACC will expand if afterwards we make more money per team, and that's pretty much all there is to it. Right now we make more money per school than any other conference, so there isn't any reason to expand...yet.

However, if the Big 11 adds another team then it will possibly start a chain reaction where the other conferences will also try to expand. If we don't, then we will get left behind, and that is when the money will drop.

If it does come to expansion, what teams would you guys want? Miami and VPI are definites to me. After that I'm not sure. I can't really think of another school that would satisfy Tobacco Road. We have to bring in someone that is good in hoops. That's the only way they will go for it. There is no way we bring in Miami and Virginia Tech without bringing in a good basketball team.

Who could the third school be? Any ideas?

Looking even further down the road, I think that if the ACC and Big 11 expand, it will naturally help lead to a playoff system. I'm hoping that the Big 11 picks up another team in the next few years. This should force the ACC to expand, and hopefully that would cause the Pac 10 to pick up 2 to try and keep up.

That would give us 5 conferences with 12 teams each. Whoever wins the championship game in each conference goes to the playoff. Somehow 3 more teams would need to be chosen from the remaining 1-A schools to give us an 8 team playoff. Possibly choose 6 teams from the "at-large" teams to play each other. The three winners would be in the playoff. If it was this way, I guess you could consider it a 16 team playoff since the championship games would essentially be the first round.

Anyway, sorry for rambling...just thinking out loud.
 
Add ND, then we get our pick of whoever we want.
VT doesn't turn me on. They do not have a distinguished tradition, and after Beamer, who knows?
Penn State would be good: they would follow ND to the ACC.

my .02
 
It will all hinge on the Big East. If the BE crumbles, then we will pretty much get our pick of the litter. I'd say that Miami and Va Tech would be the best bets, followed by Syracuse and Boston College.

I would love for Notre Dame and Penn State to join, but I don't think that wil ever happen. Pess St. is possible, but Notre Dame is too arrogant to think they need to be in a conference. They do just fine as an indy, and I think they'll stay that way as long as they can.
 
ND will join a conference by 2006. It will be the Big10. With TV contracts coming up that year and their ratings sucking wind with NBC they have little choice left.

They are not the storied program they once were and I don't think Willingham will take them back there either.

Miami, VT, Syracuse, BC, WVU, Pitt, Louisville, & Vandy seem to be logical choices for expansion. Personally I would prefer Miami, Cuse, and Louisville. All add to football and basketball.
 
Expansion is a must for this conference. Coaches have wanted it and so do fans. If money is the issue, you have to give a little to get! Any coach or fan who loves the game knows that playing teams with winning records and great tradition builds the fan base and interest. Sellouts come when the big hitters come to town.

I can't imagine Tech fans not wanting to be there if any one of the teams that have been mentioned come to town. I know that would hold true for the rest of the teams in the conference. This is a no brainer!!!
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I would like to see the following added:

Miami - this gives the ACC national exposure, and the Miami, Fla TV Market

BC - Boston TV Market

Syracuse - New York TV Market

Virginia Tech - Good national exposure, pretty much locks up the DC Market (MD, VA, VT)

West Virginia - not much of a TV market addition, but the natural rivalries with VA, VT, and Md could be good for the conference.

ACC North
BC, WV, VT, SY, VA, MD, WF

ACC South
GT, Clem, FSU, Miami, Duke, NC, NCST

Each team plays the 6 "conf" games and 2 rotational games from the other "conf", maybe one could be a standing rivalry (ie. GT vs. UVA for instance)
 
Originally posted by jacketguy:
I would like to see the following added:

Miami - this gives the ACC national exposure, and the Miami, Fla TV Market

BC - Boston TV Market

Syracuse - New York TV Market

Virginia Tech - Good national exposure, pretty much locks up the DC Market (MD, VA, VT)

West Virginia - not much of a TV market addition, but the natural rivalries with VA, VT, and Md could be good for the conference.

ACC North
BC, WV, VT, SY, VA, MD, WF

ACC South
GT, Clem, FSU, Miami, Duke, NC, NCST

Each team plays the 6 "conf" games and 2 rotational games from the other "conf", maybe one could be a standing rivalry (ie. GT vs. UVA for instance)
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<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">Your ACC South is Brutual. Would like to reconfigure your teams a bit, but not sure how.

As for the "TV market" arguement, I think that people are missing how it works. Firstly, the TV markets of Boston and NY are PRO sports centered; most of the avg. fans up there could care less about NCAA when they have very successful PRO sports teams to choose from. Secondly, I think that the TV market is more a function of a winning program than that program necessarily being in a populated metropolis. Blacksburg is definitely not in a TV market; neither is South Bend, Indiana by any stretch of the imagination. However, both programs are big draws and have plenty of games on Nat'l TV every year. Tallahassee, Knoxville, Norman, Lincoln, etc. are definitely not TV markets. Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, etc. are wonderful TV markets--for PRO sports, but not for college.

The biggest thing that helps a conference is having quality matchups week after week that attract the fans, media interest, TV coverage, etc. The ACC's problem is that while we do have some good teams, we simply do not have enough of them to create more than 2 quality matchups each week. By adding a Miami, VT, ???, you would create a deeper pool of teams which would generate more quality matchups, which leads to more media coverage, TV, fan interest, etc.
 
Originally posted by bellyseries:
Don't you suppose that if GT, FSU, MD and Clemson decided that the Big East looked pretty good that NCSU would instantly cave and THEN the rest of Tobacco Rd (+UVA) would get off their high horse? Unless they all secretly want I-AA football to go with their b-ball programs?
What I'm saying is that the NC schools aren't the only ones with leverage in the conference.
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<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">There is ZERO chance we would leave the ACC to join the Big East and their 18 thousand "crappy little catholic schools" (as VT fans put it) conference. That conference is an absolute mess due to their geography and their bastardization of league membership (some football only, some basketball only, some mixed members). There is a reason their league is the weakest (financial, etc.) of the six BCS conferences.

A more likely scenario has some of the BIG East schools like Miami, VT, WVU, Pitt leaving the BE to align with some other schools like GT, FSU, Clem, maybe NCSU, UMd, and UVa to form a new Atlantic area conference. Add PSU (not exactly happy with Big 10 travel as they truly are an Eastern school) and/or ND (independent that eventually will have to join a conference) into the mix and that new conference would be VERY nice and offer top notch competition in all major sports.

Bottom line is that Tabacco Road will have to embrace ACC expansion eventually or they are going to have a much smaller ACC conference by the end of this decade.
 
Expansion is going to happen. Relatively fast. When ND joins the Big 10 (which they will), all the dominoes will fall.

The kick here is that I think the SEC will expand to a 14 team league when the Big East crumbles. The SEC will take Virginia Tech (large state school, marginal academic reputation, new mid-Atlantic market for the SEC) and either East Carolina or Southern Miss (for the same reasons as VT).

The ACC will take three schools, definitely Miami (pretty much a perfect fit for the conference, new S. Florida market), and two of these: West Virginia, UCF, Pitt, Syracuse, BC. Syracuse and BC are the best fits (not geographically).

ACC North: Syracuse, BC, Maryland, Virginia, NC State, North Carolina

ACC South: Miami, FSU, Georgia Tech, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson

Speculating is so pointless but it's fun :-)
 
Originally posted by GT flunkout:
Expansion is going to happen. Relatively fast. When ND joins the Big 10 (which they will), all the dominoes will fall.

The kick here is that I think the SEC will expand to a 14 team league when the Big East crumbles. The SEC will take Virginia Tech (large state school, marginal academic reputation, new mid-Atlantic market for the SEC) and either East Carolina or Southern Miss (for the same reasons as VT).

The ACC will take three schools, definitely Miami (pretty much a perfect fit for the conference, new S. Florida market), and two of these: West Virginia, UCF, Pitt, Syracuse, BC. Syracuse and BC are the best fits (not geographically).

ACC North: Syracuse, BC, Maryland, Virginia, NC State, North Carolina

ACC South: Miami, FSU, Georgia Tech, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson

Speculating is so pointless but it's fun :-)
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<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">I don't think you are going to be able to split the NC 4 like that. They are going to want some sort of guarantee that they can play each other in football each year and home/away in basketball each year.
 
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