I have a hard time taking the first part of that statement at face value. I'm sure they'll use currently existing schedule agreements as an excuse not to go everywhere for the first few years, and by then the landscape will probably change anyway, but unless they can convince some of the middle teams (Carolina 4, VA 2, Clemson*) to play neutral site games elsewhere, I've got to think ND will do what it has to to get one of Miami/FSU on the schedule every year, and at least one of Pitt/Syracuse/BC. Maryland and GT I'm not sure about - there's no historical rivalry there, but the location right next to DC and in Atlanta are much more attractive than anything in the Carolinas.

(Before fans of those schools get too mad at me, it has nothing to do with quality of football program or # of fans, but simply proximity to alumni and future recruits/students.)

I think the 16th ACC school will be whoever they need to get ND to become a full member in football.

I find it interesting that we didn't hear ANYTHING about this deal until it was done.

Well, there was the thing a couple months ago where the ACC presidents were in South Bend, but the ACC in general seems to be pretty good at moving quickly before big rumors get started (see: Syracuse, Pitt last season)

/thread

Not mad but ... GT& ND have played 34 times in the past 90 years, so about once every three seasons is right on par with what they've done historically.

Notre Dame and BC have a long running rivalry too.

FYI

and Pitt and Notre Dame play again this year, so you can add 1 more to that.

Notre Dame basketball coach admits that ND's AD used the Big 12 as leverage to land a spot in the ACC.


Thanks to football, Notre Dame*hoops now has a secure future - Pete Thamel - SI.com

I don't see where Brey admitted anything of the sort.

Probably because all but a very small handful of coaches have a clue what's going on in conference realignment. I seriously doubt Brey knew much of what was going on until it was announced.

agreed. I see where an author stated as much right after he used Brey's name. nothing more.

Yep.

That's the same guy with a hard-on for Calipari, isn't it?

Article updating current negotiations to get back local rights so SEC Network can be formed.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/J...Media/SEC.aspx

The main issue with the SEC Network is they are going to have to navigate getting it started through existing contracts. The Big Ten and Pac 12 were able to carve out its own games through new contracts. The Big Ten has a big inventory because it chose not to sell more games. The Pac 12 reserved a bigger chunk of games. The SEC starts from scratch, so it presents some additional problems for inventory. Nothing that it won't be able to handle, but it will be somewhat more challenging to get it off the ground.

Update on the Notre Dame thing:

To make room for playing ACC teams five times a year (but not being a full member, no).. Notre Dame is ending their series with Michigan, and other such rivalries are on the chopping block as well

Notre Dame Fighting Irish opts out of series against Michigan Wolverines - ESPN

WTF?

SI

Assume USC and Stanford for recruiting the west coast and Navy for a win and a better financial split (a home game every year and better economics on a game in Ireland or the Meadowlands or somewhere than a road game in the Big House)?

They owe Navy an "unending debt of honor" for keeping Notre Dame afloat during WWII by moving one of their training sites to South Bend, IIRC. Navy's on the schedule as long as they want.

At this point they are doing what's best for them in terms of exposure. They would rather play in Cal and Florida than in Michigan.

Or...they are setting the table for a full move into the acc. Ssince their current tv contract forbids them from conference football affiliation, this may just be step 2 towards full acc membership.

With NBC coming along for the ride, via the NBC sports network in an attempt to rival espn and the sec...

That's the theory a local radio talking head is pushing. And while I guess it's plausible it breaks down with the current acc espn deal.

MrSEC.com is reporting today that the new SEC TV deal + new SEC Network will allow each school to receive $30-35M per year starting in 2014.

SEC Schools Will Have More Cash Rolling In If They Want To Fire Coaches

How much do they make now when you include the third tier rights the schools keep for PPV and hoops?

Just over $20M. Latest estimate I saw this summer was $20.1M per team, give or take a million for third tier rights. For comparison, Big Ten average is currently $23.6M per school on average.

Maryland Terrapins, Rutgers Scarlet Knights in talks to join Big Ten Conference, sources say - ESPN


Maryland talking B1G. If they go, Rutgers is coming with, apparently.

and this helps the big 10 how?

Markets.

I was talking with my buddy's dad, a big Rutgers donor, during the Syracuse game on 10/13. He said that guys within the athletic department were saying we were good to the Big 10. We didn't believe him, and asked when. He said an announcement in a month. Thought he was BSing even more.

I'll let the extra few days slide if it turns out to be true.

They'll probably get a deal on gear from Under Armor.

Big miracle if it happens. No offense to fans of these teams but wasn't really excited about the idea of playing Memphis, Houston, SMU, etc on a yearly basis.

So they go from waiting on ND to MD and Rutgers? :devil:

I hope this doesn't happen. Just stay at 12.

I really don't want MD to go to the Big Ten. We're charter members of the ACC, and have so much history...I couldn't imagine not playing the Carolina schools every season.

Just say yes Maryland

Pathetic that B10 would even consider Rutgers, they must be desperate to fill slots. At least the B10 will be getting one decent hoops program in Maryland.

Rutgers would currently be the third highest ranked football team in the Big Ten even if you included OSU.

Ya, if the Big 10 wants to expand for some reason, they could do a lot worse than Rutgers. Though I'm pretty sure Rutgers insiders have already reported that they're going to the Big 10 several times over the last few years. The success rate of insider reports on conference realignment is right around 0%, I think.

I don't buy that the NYC market is some big prize that Rutgers could deliver either. If that was the case conferences would have been falling over themselves forever to get them, certainly in the last few years with all the conference movement and Rutgers being a more successful program. But if you're looking for a team from the non-BCS ranks (the big east having been excluded now), they're the obvious one left I guess.

As a Syracuse fan: we get to swap Maryland for Uconn? Hell yes please!

Can't wait for the big Maryland-Iowa matchups.

Rutgers/Nebraska... Maryland/Illinois...

Have all the Syracuse fans commented now? I think they have.

Maryland is pretty much the only team in the ACC that can afford the $50 million exit fee--thanks to Under Armor.

At least the Big Ten division make alignment easy, Maryland joins the division with all the other Ms and Rutgers to the other one.

I was hoping this would give them a chance to redo the alignment, but I still couldn't think of a good way to do it.

I've seen some of the uniforms, I think they're underpaid.

They could do a basic East/West alignment by drawing a simple and easy line right down the middle of Big Ten country.

Might as well call that North/South, based on the jog the line takes in the middle...

Nah, that's just, uh, following the contour of the Earth. It just looks weird laid out flat on a map...

Though geographically incorrect East and West is still better than Leaders and Legends.

Then again Bacon & Eggs would have been better than L&L.