GTFLETCH
Dodd-Like
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2014
- Messages
- 2,786
It was 11 years ago, but former Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson has clear memories of conversations from that time. It was in 2011 that the presidents of the ACC member schools, to say nothing of the athletic directors, coaches, players and fans whose interests they represented, faced uncertainty about the future of their conference.
In that year, power conferences were plotting to expand, plans that made multiple ACC schools potential targets for poaching. The long-term viability of the ACC was uncertain. In that swirl, Peterson said in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a group of presidents of schools most likely to field interest from other conferences – his included – gathered to consider their commitment.
“Several of the presidents got together, and we agreed that if we stuck together, the ACC would survive and, in fact, could thrive,” Peterson said.
In revisiting the realignment frenzy of 2011, Peterson said that he – and many others – envisioned an eventual playoff for football that included four 14-team conferences. Believing the Big 12 could collapse, Peterson and others envisioned the ACC surviving along with the Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC.
“So those four conferences, and that would have made the playoffs pretty easy,” he said. “The divisions play a conference championship, you have four teams (advancing). Of course, it cut everybody else out. So I think that’s the reason the ACC added the schools they did, because there were a lot of folks that felt like we were moving in that direction, in that way.”
Peterson declined to confirm that Tech was contacted by other conferences, though a person familiar with the situation from that time told the AJC that representatives from the Big Ten and SEC reached out to institute officials to gauge interest. The discussions were preliminary and did not go far, undoubtedly in no small part because Peterson was committed to keeping Tech in the ACC.
Peterson was steadfast in keeping the institute in the ACC, which at that point was far more competitive from a revenue standpoint with the SEC and Big Ten than now. “There are quite a number of very, very high-quality academic institutions that have pretty good athletic programs, but the relationship between athletics and academics in the ACC was something that I was proud of,” Peterson said.
Of course, the four-league playoff scenario didn’t materialize, as the Big 12 did not collapse, weathering the losses of Texas A&M, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and, soon, Oklahoma and Texas. The Big Ten and the SEC have moved far ahead of the ACC in television revenue. And the moves of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten from the Pac-12 have reignited questions about the long-term viability of the ACC.
Despite rumors and reports of the conference’s imminent demise following the Big Ten’s addition of USC and UCLA in June, the ACC has not immediately fractured, held fast by the conference’s grant of rights, if nothing else. The league’s grant-of-rights agreement obligates any school leaving the conference prior to the 2035-36 academic year to forfeit its media revenue to the ACC through that year. That is on top of an exit fee for 2022-23 of $120 million, according to ESPN’s Andrea Adelson.
The commitment of Peterson and colleagues kept the ACC together through a realignment tempest. Eleven years later, as uncertainty about the future envelops the conference again, he stands by his decision.
“If I had to do that all over again, I’d make the same decision,” Peterson said. “Given the things that we knew at the time – again, a number of us thought it was moving toward four major conferences. The ACC has historically been a conference that has a strong focus on academics, and that is a very positive thing. It’s one of the really positive aspects of the ACC. My hope is that the ACC will survive and continue, but it’s tough for a number of the institutions in the ACC to compete financially with the television contracts.”
www.ajc.com
In that year, power conferences were plotting to expand, plans that made multiple ACC schools potential targets for poaching. The long-term viability of the ACC was uncertain. In that swirl, Peterson said in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a group of presidents of schools most likely to field interest from other conferences – his included – gathered to consider their commitment.
“Several of the presidents got together, and we agreed that if we stuck together, the ACC would survive and, in fact, could thrive,” Peterson said.
In revisiting the realignment frenzy of 2011, Peterson said that he – and many others – envisioned an eventual playoff for football that included four 14-team conferences. Believing the Big 12 could collapse, Peterson and others envisioned the ACC surviving along with the Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC.
“So those four conferences, and that would have made the playoffs pretty easy,” he said. “The divisions play a conference championship, you have four teams (advancing). Of course, it cut everybody else out. So I think that’s the reason the ACC added the schools they did, because there were a lot of folks that felt like we were moving in that direction, in that way.”
Peterson declined to confirm that Tech was contacted by other conferences, though a person familiar with the situation from that time told the AJC that representatives from the Big Ten and SEC reached out to institute officials to gauge interest. The discussions were preliminary and did not go far, undoubtedly in no small part because Peterson was committed to keeping Tech in the ACC.
Peterson was steadfast in keeping the institute in the ACC, which at that point was far more competitive from a revenue standpoint with the SEC and Big Ten than now. “There are quite a number of very, very high-quality academic institutions that have pretty good athletic programs, but the relationship between athletics and academics in the ACC was something that I was proud of,” Peterson said.
Of course, the four-league playoff scenario didn’t materialize, as the Big 12 did not collapse, weathering the losses of Texas A&M, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and, soon, Oklahoma and Texas. The Big Ten and the SEC have moved far ahead of the ACC in television revenue. And the moves of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten from the Pac-12 have reignited questions about the long-term viability of the ACC.
Despite rumors and reports of the conference’s imminent demise following the Big Ten’s addition of USC and UCLA in June, the ACC has not immediately fractured, held fast by the conference’s grant of rights, if nothing else. The league’s grant-of-rights agreement obligates any school leaving the conference prior to the 2035-36 academic year to forfeit its media revenue to the ACC through that year. That is on top of an exit fee for 2022-23 of $120 million, according to ESPN’s Andrea Adelson.
The commitment of Peterson and colleagues kept the ACC together through a realignment tempest. Eleven years later, as uncertainty about the future envelops the conference again, he stands by his decision.
“If I had to do that all over again, I’d make the same decision,” Peterson said. “Given the things that we knew at the time – again, a number of us thought it was moving toward four major conferences. The ACC has historically been a conference that has a strong focus on academics, and that is a very positive thing. It’s one of the really positive aspects of the ACC. My hope is that the ACC will survive and continue, but it’s tough for a number of the institutions in the ACC to compete financially with the television contracts.”
Ex-President Bud Peterson revisits Georgia Tech’s role in last realignment frenzy
Former Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson continues to watch with interest and an informed perspective as this summer’s events seem to have increased the possibility of the SEC and Big Ten forming super conferences capable of breaking away from the rest of Division I.
Last edited:
