Ending Conference Realignment- The Role of the Fans
UPDATE- I will be posting contact information for all future/current ACC school Presidents and ADs (except for Maryland), as well as information for ESPN and all major conferences tomorrow morning (2/20)
Maryland’s Short-Term Fix, Destroys a Long-Term Vision
As realignment rumors heat up in the WVU circles, I wanted to continue my series on conference realignment. Today, I wanted to touch on the fan’s role in all of this. At times, it seems like our opinions don’t matter at all. When Maryland first announced their intentions to join the Big Ten, prominent alumni spoke out against President Wallace Loh’s practically singular decision. He claimed that due to the confidential nature of the talks, he was unable to involve more people in the decision-making process. Basically, this meant only one thing in common speech- He wanted to do what he wanted to do. He didn’t care what anyone else thought. Any responsible school president would have realized that a decision of this magnitude, one that uproots a school from its athletic conference of over 60 years, needs more than an outsider’s input and opinion. Big decisions have big implications. That’s why even though the benefits of the Charlotte Bobcats rebranding as the Charlotte Hornets are painfully obvious, they’re still conducting serious research to determine the best move going forward. For a team coming off of the worst season in NBA history, it’s pretty telling that they’re willing to make this kind of investment. They want to know how the fans feel because they know that this will affect the bottom line. Maryland didn’t care, they just acted. Fans weren’t given an opportunity to speak, and when they did, it was too late. Don’t let this happen to your school, or your conference.
Since Maryland’s Big Ten announcement, many fans and alumni have publicly reversed their opinion on the subject. And why not? They can’t change anything so they may as well be happy. Or at least convince themselves that they’ll be happy. But it won’t work. After all, who in the Maryland administration can say that games against Iowa and Minnesota will be as exciting as the one against Duke last Saturday? They can’t. The only reason they can sell the “academic superiority” and “financial benefits” of a move to the Big 10 is because they have an inferiority complex stemming from their complete financial mismanagement and athletic mediocrity. They have to say something, even if it’s justifying “exciting new matchups” against “traditionally strong” teams like Wisconsin (last NCAA men’s basketball championship in 1941), Ohio State (1960) and Indiana (1987), teams that they have far less history against than members of the ACC. And that’s just basketball. If the Maryland football team was struggling with support when they played local rivals, how many tickets do they think they’ll sell for games against Indiana and Iowa? Will fans really show up for an Ohio State game, if they didn’t show up for Florida State? Wallace Loh can say yes all he wants, but history points to no. The problem isn’t your opponents Maryland, the problem is YOU. You mismanaged your own budget, you devalued your own rivalries and you were the one putting unbelievably mediocre teams on the field and court for the last decade. You got yourself into this problem and the answer isn’t to join the Big Ten.
Proposed Expansion Disaster- UNC to the Big Ten
As a fan of an ACC school often rumored to be leaving, I know one thing for certain. If MY school joined the Big Ten, I would never care about it in the same way again. In fact, it would all but ruin college athletics for me. It takes decades for rivalries to develop and bonds to be formed. I don’t have 100 years to sit around and wait for games against Nebraska to suddenly and magically become interesting. I’m still not sold on BC and they’ve been in the league for 10 years. History and tradition DO matter and any forward-thinking school president can see that this. Think long-term, not short-term. Rivalries develop because of commonalities and any amount of money cannot change that. Maryland will soon find this out. UNC-Michigan is NOT a rivalry. Maryland-Iowa is NOT a rivalry either. Schools can’t change conferences and expect the perceived “benefits” to outweigh the drawbacks when the drawbacks are rooted in decades of history. The University of North Carolina is a Southern school with Southern traditions and Southern rivals. We’re in the conference that we’re in because of characteristics that transcend more than anything the Big Ten Network can give us. UNC joining the Big Ten would make every game a Boston College game for me. In other words, I really wouldn’t care to watch them.
Fan of a School vs. Fan of a Conference
People say that they’re a fan of a school not a conference, but let’s not pretend that it doesn’t matter who you play. Would Ohio State fans really be happy with a Mountain West schedule? No, they wouldn’t. Would Clemson fans be happy with a CUSA schedule? Absolutely not. The conference that a school is in is just as important as the school itself. A win over Bowling Green would not be as exciting to me as a win over Duke. A conference is the school’s identity. It determines over 60% of matchups in each sport. Schools grouped together to begin with because they had common goals and characteristics. That’s why I wouldn’t be happy with my school in the Big Ten. I’d rather be in the Big 12, SEC or Pac-12 than the Big 10 because honestly, there are more interesting opponents in each of those conferences. We have more in common. But above all, I want to stay in the ACC because that’s where we belong.
What Can Fans Do? Let the ADs, Commissioners and TV Execs Know What You Think
So what can we do as fans? I want to encourage you to write to Commissioner Swofford and conference ADs and presidents. Share your ideas with them. Share your vision. Tell what you like about the conference and tell them about what you don’t. Even contact Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney, Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick and ESPN President John Skipper. They will certainly have a say in all of this before it’s done. Sharing your ideas doesn’t take very long and it’s worth a shot before it’s too late. I’ve done it before and heard back within weeks. At a time when our conference is in such a state of flux, it’s important for the fan’s voice to be heard. Your school BELONGS in the ACC and the ACC NEEDS to stay together. More money won’t solve your problems, I promise. You’ll end up as a misfit pariah like Maryland for the next 50 years. Think about it this way. Being rich doesn’t make Lil’ Wayne and Donald Trump any more similar. In fact, they could not be more different.
The Confidential 
Couldn’t agree more. If Va Tech were in another conference – even the SEC – my level of interest would drop dramatically. The teams I want to see the Hokies play are (mostly) in the ACC. I have written to the ACC office and to ESPN. I specifically told ESPN that I would rather pay extra for an ACC Network than to watch my team play in another conference. It DOES matter.
I have to agree. As a Virginia Tech alumnus and fan, I can only think of two teams outside of the ACC that I would be interested in seeing VT play on a regular basis; West Virginia and Tennessee. It’s a shame that FOX and ESPN are hellbent on destroying as many regional and rivalry games as they can in their pursuit of subscriber fees. One of the reasons I don’t watch the NFL is that their arbitrarily assigned schedules lack true rivalries. I’d hate to see college football go the same route.
I wholeheartedly agree…with a UNC fan. The Lord must be coming back soon 😉 Seriously, I hope everyone stays. There is so much history in all sports and the alternatives for each team are, as you said, no rivalries of interest. I just have a feeling that Swofford will come up big on this.
A good addition or amendment to this post would be to actually provide the means for contacting the ACC and ESPN.
I’ll say this much, though: yes, Maryland mismanaged its money, but the TV contracts are king. They can’t just sit in the ACC and keep losing money.
One thing I’m curious about is ACC viewership vs SEC viewership. We know that the SEC games are more compelling but the ACC sits on the highly populated East coast. I find it hard to believe that the ACC’s viewership is that much worse than the SEC’s. Would love to see the numbers.
Can you elaborate on the WVU realignment rumors? I am not a fan of WVU, but still believe that in hindsight, they should have been invited (especially since the academic piece went out the window with Louisville) last year with Syracuse and Pitt. It would have given the Big 12 less options and protected the ACC better.
Look, I get that it sucks that your conference is being evaluated on just how best to carve it up like a turkey, but this article makes you look really immature. You’re saying “games against Iowa or Minnesota will never equal playing Florida State in football or Duke in basketball.” Keen insight. It’s truly amazing that your best beats our worst.
Come check out a football game at The Horseshoe or the Big House. Take in a white-out at Beaver Stadium or do the jump around in Camp Randall. Come play a basketball game at Assembly Hall, or the Breslin Center, or the Kohl Center and then tell me the B1G doesn’t offer great hoops atmospheres.
Also, you never know. Jim Delany and the B1G presidents might get drunk and expand to 20, meaning you would be entering the B1G with 4 to 6 friends from the ACC that you’d get to play annually. If you guys got to bring Duke, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Maryland with you, would you honestly miss playing all of those former Big East schools that make up the rest of the ACC? Is continuing to play NC State and Wake Forest in conference worth more than $20 million a year?
I feel it needs to be said that many fans of the B1G are against expansion as well, but we’re a pretty agreeable people. As long as you meet us halfway, we’ll welcome you in.
By the way, as bad as the B1G’s national reputation has been in football recently, the ACC has been worse but y’all somehow get a pass on it from the media. You’re 3-13 in BCS bowl games.. Those three wins are Northern Illinois, Cincinnati, and VA Tech (was Big East at the time). The B1G is 13-14.
CHOPEM- It won’t matter if Maryland makes $20 million more a year, they’ll still mismanage it. The point is that teams use whatever they earn. Maryland won’t be saving more and they won’t be spending it more frugally, or responsibly. The problem isn’t with the amount of money they make, it’s the systems in place that allow them to mismanage it. That’s why teams like Boise State, with comparatively small budgets, are able to be successful. They’ve managed their finances well while teams like Notre Dame and Michigan have spent themselves into irrelevancy up until recently. I’ll definitely look into getting a full-scale contact list for my next post though, and you’ll find TV viewership numbers below (as of 2011, I could not find 2012 data, although it may not be available yet). As you can see, the ACC’s contract is widely undervalued when compared to the other conferences-
Here are the average football viewership totals by conference according to Nielsen:
1. SEC – 4,447,000
2. Big Ten – 3,267,000
3. ACC – 2,650,000
4. Big 12 – 2,347,000
5. Pac-12 – 2,108,000
6. Big East – 1,884,000
Here are the average basketball viewership totals by conference according to Nielsen:1. Big Ten – 1,496,000
2. ACC – 1,247,000
3. SEC – 1,222,000
4. Big 12 – 1,069,000
5. Big East – 1,049,000
6. Pac-12 – 783,000
TJCUSEACC- Go to Twitter and read posts by the “Dude of WV.” He’s probably the most consistent, as far as propagating unfounded rumors coming from “inside sources.” He’ll claim that others picking up the same stories legitimizes his positions. I however, but I believe it’s an example of the world we live in today where social media allows ideas to build up to the point where people believe them whether they are true or not. Is the Big Ten interested in UNC, UVA and GT? If they want to expand, why would they not be? These schools have great academic and athletic programs in new markets for the league. It doesn’t take “inside sources” to tell you that they would be on the list. Whether there is actually interest on both sides remains to be seen.
BLAPPLES- You clearly fail to see the entire point of the article. Money doesn’t change differences, or create rivalries. What was so great about college athletics prior to expansion, was that leagues had identities based off of common geographic, athletic, academic and social characteristics. I am a lifetime resident of the Triangle and recent graduate of Carolina. Trust me- UNC does not share any of these qualities with the Big Ten. I have never met a Tar Heel who wants to change conferences, and I don’t think you will either unless they live in Big Ten country and just want to watch our games. I completely agree with you that Big Ten schools have great atmospheres, but that’s not the point at all. It doesn’t make a difference to me what the atmosphere at a school is like because UNC has terrible game day atmospheres. Our fans show up late, golf clap and sit down the entire time. If I compared your “worst schools” to our “best schools,” the I need to elaborate. There are NO interesting schools to me in the Big Ten so it doesn’t matter if we’re playing Ohio State and Michigan, or Iowa and Minnesota. I’m still not interested. Would I rather play Wake Forest and NC State than make $20 million more? ABSOLUTELY. These are some of our closest rivals. That’s like saying that Ohio State will be joining the ACC to play FSU and Clemson, but can’t play Michigan anymore. That just doesn’t make sense. The ACC means a lot to the State of North Carolina and the Big Ten clearly doesn’t have room for all of the schools that I would want to join with. Don’t get me wrong- The Big Ten is a great conference, with great schools and great programs, but it’s just NOT a good fit for the University of North Carolina. I’m right there with you that it hasn’t been the same having to play former Big East schools. That’s been a bi-product of expansion and joining the Big Ten would only make things worse.
Also, look for those football numbers to spike with the addition of 5 Notre Dame games a year. The basketball numbers will also go up significantly with Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Notre Dame coming in. No conference will be able to touch our basketball viewership. Compared to the size of our schools, which on average have an enrollment of 28,547 (compared to 39,777 for the Big Ten), our television numbers are unbelievable.
SEC schools have an average enrollment size of 30,258, meaning that both the SEC and ACC greatly overachieve in their television numbers when compared to the Big Ten which has significantly larger schools
Great point
You can talk about basketball until the (Chick-fil-A) cows come home, but football drives the college athletics bus. And on the whole, Maryland will draw far bigger crowds to Byrd Stadium with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State (and, less frequently, Wisconsin and Nebraska) than it will with Florida State, Clemson and N.C. State. The ACC football brand is lackluster at best. Add the increased revenues, the profitable Big Ten Network (which Maryland will have a share in), and the CIC research consortium, and it’s clear to see College Park is making the right move. I’ve enjoyed the ACC, but the Big Ten is the only league I’d leave it for.
If the revenue gap between the ACC and other conferences continues to expand, members will face the quandary of whether to stay in a conference likely doomed to permanent #5 status (with far fewer opportunities to play for a national football title) or move somewhere else. And if I’m a UNC administrator, letting Chapel Hill become a football afterthought to protect the sacred cow called Tar Heel basketball is foolhardy. Within a few years, UNC will decide it absolutely has to move on (while finding NCSU a home of its own for political reasons), and the best choice would be putting UNC (and Virginia) in the Big Ten and NCSU (and Virginia Tech) in the SEC.
When it comes to the ACC/B1G, I think the MD move was all about dollars (and potentially a very stupid one). If anyone else that leaves, it will likely be more about leaving a conference that is perceived as faltering, for a more stable one.
Sadly for Maryland, they will still make several million dollars less than the rest of the B1G teams do currently, and it will take a few years until they are on equal footing for revenue (if they ever are). Furthermore, if they have to start that process $50M in the hole while only making $1-2M more than the the teams in the ACC, then I think you have to seriously question the intelligence of that move.
The ACC and ESPN need to respond ASAP by announcing an ACC Network on ESPN. Even if the majority of games wind-up being broadcast on an ACC -version of ESPN3 (AC2), if they can at least they show the promise of potential revenue and a commitment to the future of the league that it may help perceptions.
To contact ESPN, go to
http://espn.go.com/espn/contact?lang=EN&country=united%20states
Oh, and “it would be best” if Big Ten fans would stop trolling ACC blogs like this one – it really makes you look desperate! That goes double for WVU and other Big XII fans.
Interestingly, this just popped up…seems Maryland insider now touting UNC has offer as well as other ACC teams to B1G…what is so frustrating is that with no comment at all the ACC is ripe for being ripped apart on not providing info on anything that may be positive to its fans….make all this madness stop:
http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=619481
You r seriously a moron. U r comparing the big ten to cusa or mtn west. The big ten is a superior conference. We also have by far and away more money too! U need to check all ur facts before u speak. Rivalries can still exist in the non conference. Who is in the acc…duke and unc.. That’s pretty much it. Big ten has Indiana, Michigan, Michigan state, Ohio state, and Wisconsin…. Also Nebraska for football…. Plus more. Ur an idiot for making reference to Iowa and Minnesota.
Jeff,
Please never visit our site again if you’re going to resort to petty name-calling. You are clearly a Big Ten fan who isn’t willing to understand the perspective of someone else. I have presented nothing, but a factual analysis of the situation, and I’m not going to give you the satisfaction by arguing with you. Clearly, that is what you want.
Stop trying to sell the dying Rust Belt to the Southeast.
Jeff,
Really, really! like most of us on this site care about Nebraska and Iowa, and indiana…i am going home right now and finding a way to drive for a game….NOT. The B1G is a great conference and so is the ACC…but fact is, without some regional rivalry and cultural fit….who really cares about sports….but sports competition against your neighbor is meaningful and fun. The ACC has tradition and ambiance that we enjoy….have the B1G go raid the Big 12–take Texas and WVU..please.
The big ten is the best conference for academics and athletics. We are also the richest conference. U ppl can still play those same teams in the non conference. Just schedule them. I think ur afraid of getting a beat down in the big ten since we are more superior now. This is about money and not how far u ppl have to drive to an away game. Try and have an open mind about the endless possibilities. New rivals will b formed. Bend over and take it like a lil bitch.
I’ll take issue with the B1G being the best academic conference. The ACC has long been recognized as the best academic conference, as demonstrated by the gaudy USN&WR rankings. Most B1G and B12 anti-ACC people are quick to discount those rankings and talk about AAU, CIC, and pull large, random, unsubstantiated research number$ out of the air, but the fact remains that the ACC is a VERY academically prestigious conference. Schools JOIN the ACC for academics. Nobody leaves the ACC because of academics.
The B1G academic superiority perception is a recent propaganda campaign led by those that want to poach the ACC. That being said, the B1G is also a VERY academically prestigious conference and is to be commended for it. I just don’t buy that the ACC is second fiddle to any conference in the classroom.
Jeff, you have overstepped the line….i am asking that you be banned from this site…no one on here needs your abuse…you were asked politely before this second rant….at least the east and southeast coast respect other viewpoints…you do not. be gone.
Concur – Geography matters!. My interest level would drop significantly if Clemson were playing Iowa State, Baylor, or any Big12 school other than Texas or Oklahoma. And WVU fans are beyond wretched.
Same story with B1G, although Clemson would never get into the B1G. Nebraska, Michigan and OSU would be interesting, but the rest are a big “who cares?” to me.
Better yet, email Delaney directly and beg him not to take any teams from the ACC; that’s probably more effective than asking your school to stay in the ACC or asking Swofford to try and keep anyone against their will.
Personally, I think that UNC is as good as gone to the B1G. As these internet rumors go, it almost seems like it’s the tail wagging the dog. Fans/bloggers talk about what they want to see, that sparks an idea in the heads of the presidents/commissioners, and before you know it that team is in a new conference. (Except for UConn it seems…sorry Huskies).
But, there is an old saying that “the Coach who listens to the fans, winds up sitting with them“. I wonder if that adage applies to University Presidents, too…
I hope that the ACC stay together. Im really disliking these Midwestern punks trying to manhandle our southern schools. All the arrogant remarks how great the Big Tin (Rust belt) is, is a bunch of hoopla. Dont blow that smoke up my peeps A**. You want us southern to help your dying region of this country. I have more respect for the SEC fans then I would ever have to the Big Tin. You dont see the SEC acting desperate at all. The Big Tin want our markets and athletes. From a fan standpoint, if its not the ACC, The SEC is the most logical and cutural choice.
We are the Big Ten. Lower your shields and surrender your universities. We will add your academic and athletic distinctivness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.