ACC Begins Seismic Shift In College Sports

ACC begins seismic shift, SEC and Big Ten will finish it

PUBLISHED 2 days and 2 hours ago

Matt Hayes
Sporting News


The ACC officially pulled out a cap gun Sunday, preening and posturing its proactive shot in college football expansion for all to see.

Careful fellas, don’t shoot your eye out. The big guns are up next.

While ACC commissioner John Swofford announced the ho-hum additions of Pittsburgh and Syracuse, the commissioners of the Big Three BCS conferences—the SEC, Pac-12 and Big Ten—are primed to drastically change college sports as soon as this week.

The ACC accomplished two things with yet another surprising raid of the Big East: It assured itself—and not the Big East—of a spot in the superconference era. And it was the first shot in a messy, get-yours process that could include the ACC itself getting cannibalized before it’s all over.

“In all my years of college athletics administration,” Swofford said, “I’ve never seen this level of uncertainty and instability.”

And here’s the scary part: Mike Slive, the SEC commissioner, and Jim Delany, the Big Ten commissioner, have been eerily quiet during the process.

While Texas desperately tries to prove it’s not the reason for the madness; while Oklahoma defiantly tries to show it’s not Texas’ lapdog; while the Pac-12 tries to convince us that expansion is about academic fit and not television money; the SEC and Big Ten are in the process of getting down and dirty.

The gloves are off in expansion.

Consider this: The SEC’s gentleman’s agreement of not adding teams to states where current SEC teams reside is likely no longer. And the ACC’s new $20 million exit fee? Chump change. If the SEC wants an ACC team (Virginia Tech, Maryland, Florida State), the SEC could even help pay the exit fee.

Said one high-ranking SEC official: “Every option is on the table now.”

So are the three critical chips left in conference expansion. Two of those schools—Big 12 heavyweights Texas and Oklahoma—have board of regent meetings Monday, where it is expected that their respective boards will approve the search for a new conference.

The third member of that elite free agent club is longtime independent Notre Dame. Irish athletic director Jack Swarbrick has repeatedly said the university values its independent status, and that only dramatic change in the college landscape could force the Irish to join a conference.

That change began taking shape early last week, when the ACC began serious talks with Syracuse and Pitt. The loss of those two Big East stalwarts could mean the end of the Big East—and the end of Notre Dame’s cozy relationship with the Big East that allows it to park its Olympic sports in the conference without a football membership.

If Notre Dame has no conference for its non-revenue producing sports, that could be the seismic shift that pushes the Irish toward the Big Ten. The question with Notre Dame—and with Texas—revolves around unique television deals specific to each university.

Swofford said Sunday that the ACC’s equal revenue sharing deal is “sacred” and that the “fundamental principle is very important to us. I don’t see that changing.”

That statement leaves the ACC in line with the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 in their firm commitment to equal revenue distribution deals. It also leaves the four major BCS conferences (assuming the Big 12 and Big East are no longer serious players) in a game of chicken with the two most powerful brands in college football.

Notre Dame’s television deal with NBC and Texas’ Longhorn Network deal with ESPN leave both in a position of strength—but also in a position of weakness. If none of the four BCS leagues agree to take either school without equal revenue distribution, Texas and Notre Dame would be forced to find homes for their Olympic sports in non-BCS conferences—something neither prefers to do.

But here’s their trump card: One or more of the four BCS leagues will eventually break down because the draw of having Texas and/or Notre Dame is too monetarily attractive for television rights deals.

Either way, the dawn of superconferences is upon us. It’s just a matter of where the pieces fit.

And what moves the big guns make.

“We’re very comfortable where we’ve landed for now,” Swofford said, “as long as the landscape is what it is.”



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