The Confidential

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Archive for the tag “conference comparisons”

14 Jan 2013
1 Comment

ACC Considering a Network?

In a move that should surprise exactly nobody, the Atlantic Coast Conference may be considering an ACC network.  The Big 10 has one that mints money.  The Pac-12 is working on a network.  The SEC is in the planning stages of having a network.  The ACC really has to consider this as a means of survival.  Or at least “keeping up with the Joneses.”

While nobody should expect an ACC network to generate the type of revenue that the Big 10 network does, the ACC can still make additional money with a network.  The Big 10 has been successful with third-tier games.  An expanded ACC has some pretty compelling third-tier games to offer.  And the ACC basketball side of things will lead to substantial inventory.  This is what the Big East always missed–basketball is inventory.  Hopefully, the ACC will learn from the Big East’s mistake.  You’ve got to market what you have to market.

To be sure, ESPN has the ACC’s rights locked up for the next 15 years.  But if ESPN wants to have an ACC, it is going to have to bend.  If the ACC is splintered and split up by the other conferences, Fox could very well end up with some of the most attractive names.  ESPN may have sole rights over the SEC, but the SEC only has room for 2 more teams.  The Big 10 and Big 12 can take 8-10 teams between them.

In any event, it is good to see the ACC exploring all of its options.  A network is part of the future revenue puzzle.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Conference News, Opinion and tagged , , , ,
11 Jan 2013

ACC Releases College Football Schedule for 2013.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, set to expand to 14 teams for 2013, has released the football schedule for this fall.

First, the divisions.  The ACC insists on eschewing the geographical split, instead opting for this setup:

Atlantic Division Coastal Division
Boston College Virginia Tech
Clemson Georgia Tech
Florida State Miami
Maryland Virginia
NC State North Carolina
Syracuse Pitt
Wake Forest Duke

Obviously, each team plays every team within its division.  Then, in order to get to 8 total games, each team has a primary crossover and a rotating crossover.  The team’s primary crossovers are listed in the above chart, with Boston College being paired with Virginia Tech, etc.  Syracuse and Pitt will be primary crossovers.

The secondary, rotating  crossovers are not as straightforward.  For 2013, the secondary crossover pairs are: Boston College-North Carolina; Clemson-Virginia; Florida State-Pittsburgh; Maryland-Virginia Tech; NC State-Duke; Syracuse-Georgia Tech; and Wake Forest-Miami.

Pittsburgh begins ACC conference play with home games against Miami, North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida State.  It will travel to Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Duke, and Virginia Tech.  Syracuse begins conference play by hosting Boston College, Wake Forest, Clemson, and Pitt.  Syracuse will travel to Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, and North Carolina State.

In notable games, Florida State will travel to Clemson in 2013.  Florida State will host Miami.  Miami will travel to North Carolina.  North Carolina will travel to Georgia Tech.  Georgia Tech will travel to Clemson.  With the ability to host both Florida State and Georgia Tech, Clemson has to be considered the early favorite.  The return of Tajh Boyd helps that too.

The Confidential does not know about you… but football cannot come around again soon enough!!!

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Conference News, Football and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
18 Dec 2012

Nice Article About ACC’s Financial Picture

The Confidential will be light for the next week or so.  Sorry in advance.  There will not be many posts.

Here is a link to check out though.  The ACC might not be able to compete with the Big 10, but it sure is looking good overall.  According to this article, anyway.   Give it a read and let us know what you think.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Conference Realignment and tagged , ,
13 Dec 2012
2 Comments

R.I.P. Big East

Well, the Confidential is all about the Atlantic Coast Conference.  That being said, there is no denying that the ACC has had a huge role in killing the Big East, taking Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, and Notre Dame in the past 10 years or so.  That’s a conference unto itself.  Thus, today’s news that the Big East will announce the exiting of more schools–the seven basketball-oriented, football-eschewing, Catholic schools–is met with some guilt.  That the Big East is dying is unfortunate.  Moving forward, however, the question is what happens next?

The general consensus is that the 7 Catholic schools will somehow, someway form a new conference.  It might be called the Big East.  It might be called something else.  Who knows?  The consensus also is that additional, similar schools will be invited.  If so, this is what the Confidential would like to see:

Catholic Basketball Conference–East: Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Georgetown, Villanova, Fordham

Catholic Basketball Conference–West: DePaul, Marquette, Creighton, St. Louis, Dayton, Xavier

If they wanted to get crazy, they could great a western flank, with Gonzaga, Loyolla Marymount, Santa Clara, and Portland, among others.  Either way, this would be the Catholic Basketball Conference–why not?

What about football?  What about football.  Yikes.  These are dark times for UConn, Cincinnati, USF, and Temple.  Newcomers UCF, SMU, Houston, Memphis, East Carolina, Tulane, and Navy are not too thrilled either.  While some of those schools may eventually get promoted to a top 5 conference, they cannot worry about that right now.

Without making a prediction, this is what the Confidential would like to see is two larger conferences form, centered around geography.  They can use the C-USA and MWC labels, as necessary.  It is important for the talent to be consolidated into two conferences so that there are more, better games.  This is the only way those schools will ever show any separation.  Remember, Boise State played a rather unimpressive schedule en route to national prominence.  It is up to these schools to schedule strong OOC and follow the same pattern.  If a small school in Boise, Idaho, can do it, any school can.

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in Conference Realignment, Opinion and tagged , ,
07 Dec 2012
3 Comments

Florida State & Expansion (Update)

Frank the Tank is now fanning the fires with respect to a Florida State move to the Big 10.

But the ACC Presidents decided to jointly issue a statement pledging allegiance to the ACC.  The text is as follows:

“We, the undersigned presidents of the Atlantic Coast Conference, wish to express our commitment to preserve and protect the future of our outstanding league.  We want to be clear that the speculation about ACC schools in negotiations or considering alternatives to the ACC are totally false.  The presidents of the ACC are united in our commitment to a strong and enduring conference.  The ACC has long been a leader in intercollegiate athletics, both academically and athletically, and the constitution of our existing and future member schools will maintain the ACC’s position as one of the nation’s premier conferences.”

Obviously, this is not a binding contract or anything.  But it is noteworthy that some of the most desirable expansion targets initiated this process.  Regardless of is value, it is an unprecedented move.  This is negative, because such moves have not previously been necessary.  It is positive because the Presidents are trying to assure each other that they do not need to try to beat each other to the punch.  Unless and until there is a grant of rights (which the Confidential believes is not insurmountable), the rumors are not likely to stop.  Indeed, one wonders how much of the realignment rumor mill is being created by those who recruit against the ACC.

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Conference Realignment and tagged , , ,
05 Dec 2012
10 Comments

Is Florida State the Next to Leave the ACC?

With the Georgia Tech rumors squashed over the weekend, the rumor mill has turned back to Florida State.  This time, it is a rumor that Florida State is shopping itself around.  You can take the source for whatever it is worth.

One does have to keep in mind that the Florida State fan base is putting a lot of pressure on the administration here.  Somehow, they have rationalized that their football failures are based on lack of revenue, rather than simple things like poor coaching and bad luck. The best case scenario is that Florida State’s leadership has to come out and say that they are happy with the ACC.  This is imperfect because it will just anger the fan base more.  The worst case scenario, of course, is that where there is smoke, there is fire.  Welcome to the Big Ten’s vision of college football–where money is more important than anything else.

The reality is that, unless and until someone does something to stabilize the ACC, it is just going to be one rumor after another.

So what could possible stabilize the ACC?  The Confidential thinks that the only thing that could possible stabilize the ACC is for ESPN to step up and make the ACC a legitimate player from a revenue standpoint.  In the absence of that, there will not be a grant of rights, which would be significantly more protective than the exit fee (whatever it is).  At the very least, the ACC and ESPN should negotiate to allow Florida State to keep its precious Tier III rights.  Throw a dog a bone, even if it is whining for no reason.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Conference Realignment and tagged , , , ,
03 Dec 2012
7 Comments

Is Georgia Tech the Next to Leave the ACC? Updated.

The Confidential does not invent these rumors, just reporting them. This one is getting a lot of attention over on Frank the Tank’s latest blog entry.  See the comments and sources there.

This never ends.

Update 1: For whatever its worth, the acting athletic director is denying the rumors.  See here.  The money quotes are as follows:

“I’m not aware of any communications between university leadership and the Big Ten or any other conference,” Griffin said Friday afternoon from Charlotte, where Tech will play Florida State for the ACC football championship Saturday.

Griffin acknowledged that an action like switching conferences from the ACC to the Big Ten would take place at an executive level, but said that Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson “has told me there’s been no communication nor does he expect any.”

It is hard to know what is smoke and what is smoke from fire these days.  Take most of what you read with a grain of salt, apparently.

Update 2: Well, Bud Peterson has spoken up.

Here is the money quote:

“Not true. Not true,” Peterson said prior to the ACC Championship game. “We’re happy in the ACC. We’re staying.”

Internet and radio reports cited unnamed sources or repeated rumors that the school will follow Maryland out of the ACC and to the Big Ten, one reporting that the school will hold a news conference Monday to announce its departure.

“We’re not going anywhere,” said Peterson, speaking outside his suite at Bank of America Stadium.

Perhaps there can be some relaxation now.

Posted by acaffrey in Conference Realignment and tagged , , ,
01 Dec 2012
2 Comments

Now the Rumor is Georgia Tech & Virginia to the Big 10

Someone named Kevin Jones claims to have a source indicating that Georgia Tech and Virginia will be in the Big 10 by Monday.  If so, it certainly seems that Jim Delaney is hell bent on putting the ACC out of business.  If you cannot win on the field or on the court, at least you can win in the conference realignment game.

 

Posted by acaffrey in Conference Realignment and tagged , , , ,
30 Nov 2012
2 Comments

Is Georgia Tech the Next to Leave the ACC?

The Confidential does not invent these rumors, just reporting them. This one is getting a lot of attention over on Frank the Tank’s latest blog entry.  See the comments and sources there.

This never ends.

Update: For whatever its worth, the acting athletic director is denying the rumors.  See here.  The money quotes are as follows:

“I’m not aware of any communications between university leadership and the Big Ten or any other conference,” Griffin said Friday afternoon from Charlotte, where Tech will play Florida State for the ACC football championship Saturday.

Griffin acknowledged that an action like switching conferences from the ACC to the Big Ten would take place at an executive level, but said that Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson “has told me there’s been no communication nor does he expect any.”

It is hard to know what is smoke and what is smoke from fire these days.  Take most of what you read with a grain of salt, apparently.

Posted by acaffrey in Conference Realignment and tagged , , ,
29 Nov 2012
2 Comments

The College Expansion Game… is it Risk or is it Monopoly?

Everyone talks about college football as if it was a game of Risk.  Delaney and the Big 10 have the blue armies and are moving 10 of them to Kamchatka.  Slive and the SEC have the red armies, and will respond by trying to take Egypt.  Empire creation at its best.  Of course, some of those folks then turn around and say that the Big 10 and SEC are not competing against each other.  Huh–what Risk game involves cooperation?  The goal is to be the last one standing.  In any event, it is sad that college sports is no longer like Monopoly.

Yes, in the old days, college sports was like Monopoly.  The NCAA had the Monopoly of all the properties.  The value to a conference was driven not by the properties (i.e. the individual schools), but what could be done by acquiring all the similarly colored properties (i.e. forming conferences).  The Big 10 was the Dark Blues, with Michigan and Ohio State.  The Pac-12 was the Green properties.  No matter who played in the Rose Bowl, it was special.  Some conferences benefited by location–the Oranges and Reds have a little extra value because you might get sent to St. Charles Place and have to run them.  This is the equivalent to the Big East having the major metropolitan areas in basketball.  Or the SEC having the advantage of the key Southern, football-crazy areas.  Notably the game of Monopoly made the colored properties adjacent.  Indeed, being nearby your neighbors is valuable to a cohesive conference (notwithstanding the development of serious rivalries, of course).  Other than Notre Dame-USC, is there any rivalry that does not involve geographic proximity?  No.

Now, it’s all about a brand.  You might be able to make more money combining Boardwalk and Park Place, but Boardwalk would know its valuable and not want to be dragged down by Park Place.  Conferences are trying to build houses on Boardwalk and Marvin Gardens.  It works because the people paying are only focusing on the relative worth of the properties they are landing on… i.e. Boardwalk is a better property than Marvin Gardens.  The people paying do not realize that pairing Boardwalk with Park Place is more profitable than just Boardwalk alone.  Fans of conferences want to break off pieces of other conferences.  Fans of the Big 10 are drooling over North Carolina, forgetting that part of what makes North Carolina great is its rivalries with Duke, North Carolina State, and Virginia.  Sure, it’s a great school–but you cannot fabricate sports rivalries.  And you cannot just create a trophy and make it a rivalry.

The Confidential hopes that someday, the powers-that-be recognize that the real value in conferences was when they were geographically appropriate.  Perhaps they can figure out how to allow the revenues to be apportioned as per the current conferences, but go back to allowing schools to primarily play their neighbors.  More Penn State-Pittsburgh, and less Penn State-Iowa or Pittsburgh-Georgia Tech.

About the only thing we know is that, as of today, the Big East has Baltic Avenue.  Oh, and Connecticut Avenue.  And they had to mortgage Vermont Ave. to pay rent.  The ACC seems like the railroads–nice to have & pretty well spread out, but not generating enough money to keep up.  The SEC is now the Dark Blues–making plenty of money, and winning football and basketball titles regularly.  Or maybe the Big 10 is the Dark Blues.  It sure seems like the Big Ten Network is the “Chance” card sending someone to Boardwalk to make them wealthier every time it comes up.  And Rutgers just landed on Free Parking–from rags to riches on one roll of the dice.

In your game of College Sports/Expansion Monopoly… who is who?  Feel free to share your opinion.

 

Posted by acaffrey in Conference News, Conference Realignment, Opinion and tagged , , ,

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