I've said it before and I'll say it again, I expect future expansion will be based on teams that best fit the mold for the right fit for a conference in the longer term. In other words, does the school fit the culture, can they give back meaningfully in some significant capacity over the long-haul, and does their program have potential even if it's not hitting on all cylinders today? GT checks the boxes for both the B1G and SEC in my biased opinion, but especially for the B1G.
Expansion to and beyond 16 teams is a complicated thing to do, it's historically been untenable. I get football is driving the bus, but still presidents are going to feel better about these decisions the less they disrupt or even benefit all other sports and academics. Looking at some of the pros that many of you guys are overlooking...
GT's benefits:
- GT's academics speak for themselves
- GT is a research powerhouse. There's a lot of difficulty in becoming an AAU school, particularly doing it without even having a med school.
- GT IS situated nicely in the Atlanta/Georgia TV market and is still growing
- Georgia has become the 3rd strongest recruiting state in the country, with only 2 major college football programs in that state
- GT has a history of competing big for championships when it has the resources and desire.
- And GT is up the road from the Atlanta airport, one of the biggest, busiest airports not only in the country but the world. It's got direct flights daily to virtually everywhere in the country. As a school president who is concerned about football revenue but wants to sell additional schools as a win to their other sports programs, adding GT is a big positive over most other programs in the country. Your teams aren't taking 3 connecting flights and a 2-3 hour bus drive to get to middle-of-no-where-college-town.
Obviously money is the main and maybe only reason conferences will expand, but I can see reasons for GT being on the shortlist for several conferences. If you're inviting a team to come join and play together for the next 100 years, do you roll the dice on a flash in the pan school that currently has the right coach and hot ratings today, or the one who you think can consistently deliver and fit well in the longterm? We may not be the B1G or SEC's top pick, but I think it's reasonable that we would be on their short lists.
I don’t disagree with your points as it relates to GT the school fitting the academic side of the B1G, etc. However, as reported yesterday on XM Radio College Sports Saturday, when the B1G added USC and UCLA, the TV deal went up $500 million. The brands are what drove the price up. USC with Lincoln Riley at the helm was an instant impact. USC will be back to competing for a CFP spot sooner rather than later. UCLA the school can no longer ignore giving additional resources for football. They have the $$ now. Chip Kelly’s resume speaks for itself. So the conflicting reports now are, whether the B1G are still looking around to expand, while the 16 schools are happy with the huge revenue share they are about to get. So to those schools, why add right now? The same is reportedly true from the SEC president’s. They are happy at 16.
So when it’s time to expand again (B1G will likely go 1st to hit 20) if you go by the reports, and made for TV games are what the driving force is…..Where does that put GT? Of the ACC candidate’s from a football perspective, the rankings based on current state of the program + facilities + attendance / size of the stadium, I’d go with the following:
1. Clemson (Everyone wants them. Enough said).
2. FSU (Brand only. Should be a quick fix with the revenue stream).
3. Miami (Brand + reinvestment at Miami when hiring Mario C).
4. NCSU (Solid football program + huge fan support).
5. UNC (State school + sports).
6. Louisville (Better fan support + better overall sports).
7. VT (Better fan support + better overall sports).
8. UVA (Better football program + solid academics give them the edge over GT).
9. GT (Atlanta market + academics are all that’s attractive at the moment).
10. Pitt (NFL stadium, despite being a better program gets no fan support).
11. Duke (Only because of hoops).
12. BC (Boston market).
13. Wake (Stable football program, but small stadium).
14. Syracuse (Honestly, hoops is all they bring to the table).
I know the B1G prides itself on the academic members (both of which USC, UCLA are a part of) so that probably eliminates Louisville and VT. So that probably positions GT as #7 on the current pecking order (due to the current state of the big 2 in sports).
So if the true reason for expansion is made for TV games, does GT move the meter against say Louisville, VT, UVA or even Pitt against fill in the blank B1G team? I don’t know if they do.
Oregon & Washington are easy picks for the B1G. I think they’ll even grab Stanford to create a West pod (USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington). So if 20 is the number, that leaves room for 1 ACC team. If the SEC grabs Clemson, FSU, Miami and 1 of NCSU / UNC, it would be real interesting to see which ACC school the B1G would take. My guess is NCSU or UNC.
Growing up in metro Atlanta, but living outside of Los Angeles for almost 3 years, followed by a few years in each of the Carolina’s and now in the CST (company has gone perm WFH since the pandemic) I’ve visited numerous ACC / SEC / B1G / P12 stadiums over the last 20 years. I’ll go by personal ranking based on stadium environment on Game day:
1. LSU
2. Oregon
3. Wisconsin
4. Clemson
5. UGA
6. Auburn
7. UF
8. NCSU
9. USC
10. Washington
11. FSU
12. Colorado
13. UCLA
14. UNC
15. UVA
16. GT
17. Maryland
18. Wake
19. Duke
When you visit other program’s inside and outside the ACC, you unfortunately see what GT lacks. The electricity / vibe just isn’t there. And for the record, I haven’t been to a GT game at BDS since 2010. Honestly I don’t know what GT can do at this point in time, but they need to figure out how to attract a larger sidewalk fan base. Outside of Duke and Wake, GT was at the bottom as far as student support goes. But that’s always been the issue I guess.
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