College Football--Big Ten Expansion

[Anonymous]

If there is no further movement in the next week or two with respect to ACC expansion, then Cal & Stanford along with Oregon State and Washington State may try to rebuild the Pac-12 by adding at least 4 new members to qualify as a conference under NCAA rules. Curious as to whether or not SMU would join in or remain in its current conference.

[Anonymous]

Very interesting short article sharing the thoughts of UNC Women's Soccer coach:

https://si.com/college/2023/08/23/north-carolina-anson-dorrance-stanford-cal-acc-move-should-die-on-vine

Raises a few good points: travel costs, recruiting competition, and--at least by my reading--an underlying disgust of Stanford & Cal (which I think is widespread).

[Anonymous]

Notre Dame outgoing AD (athletic director) Jack Swarbrick insists that Cal & Stanford are still being considered for ACC membership. Swarbrick is scheduled to retire sometime in the first few months of 2024.

The Notre Dame AD is not doing Stanford & Cal any favors by fighting for them to be accepted into the ACC. Will be disastrous for Cal & Stanford due to the burdens of frequent cross-country travel.

Swarbrick probably wants to stay on at Notre Dame until a new contract with NBC is negotiated between Notre Dame football & NBC. Notre Dame football has two early season games which may impact contract negotiations: Navy this Saturday, August 26, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland (anything can happen when jet lag is involved) and Ohio State at Notre Dame on September 23, 2023 with an always tough NC State in between.

If Navy upsets Notre Dame or Ohio State blows out Notre Dame, then contract negotiations might lean toward a lower price which may lead to serious consideration of conference membership once Swarbrick is gone. On the hand, if an undefeated Notre Dame beats Ohio State, then the negotiations should lean toward a higher price that is likely to keep Notre Dame football independent for many (5 to 10) more years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame outgoing AD (athletic director) Jack Swarbrick insists that Cal & Stanford are still being considered for ACC membership. Swarbrick is scheduled to retire sometime in the first few months of 2024.

The Notre Dame AD is not doing Stanford & Cal any favors by fighting for them to be accepted into the ACC. Will be disastrous for Cal & Stanford due to the burdens of frequent cross-country travel.

Swarbrick probably wants to stay on at Notre Dame until a new contract with NBC is negotiated between Notre Dame football & NBC. Notre Dame football has two early season games which may impact contract negotiations: Navy this Saturday, August 26, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland (anything can happen when jet lag is involved) and Ohio State at Notre Dame on September 23, 2023 with an always tough NC State in between.

If Navy upsets Notre Dame or Ohio State blows out Notre Dame, then contract negotiations might lean toward a lower price which may lead to serious consideration of conference membership once Swarbrick is gone. On the hand, if an undefeated Notre Dame beats Ohio State, then the negotiations should lean toward a higher price that is likely to keep Notre Dame football independent for many (5 to 10) more years.

Winning matters less than how many people watch Ohio State blow out Notre Dame. It's good to see that the rest of the ACC sees the hypocrisy of ND trying to foist Cal and Stanford on a league they aren't willing to join.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame outgoing AD (athletic director) Jack Swarbrick insists that Cal & Stanford are still being considered for ACC membership. Swarbrick is scheduled to retire sometime in the first few months of 2024.

The Notre Dame AD is not doing Stanford & Cal any favors by fighting for them to be accepted into the ACC. Will be disastrous for Cal & Stanford due to the burdens of frequent cross-country travel.

Swarbrick probably wants to stay on at Notre Dame until a new contract with NBC is negotiated between Notre Dame football & NBC. Notre Dame football has two early season games which may impact contract negotiations: Navy this Saturday, August 26, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland (anything can happen when jet lag is involved) and Ohio State at Notre Dame on September 23, 2023 with an always tough NC State in between.

If Navy upsets Notre Dame or Ohio State blows out Notre Dame, then contract negotiations might lean toward a lower price which may lead to serious consideration of conference membership once Swarbrick is gone. On the hand, if an undefeated Notre Dame beats Ohio State, then the negotiations should lean toward a higher price that is likely to keep Notre Dame football independent for many (5 to 10) more years.

Winning matters less than how many people watch Ohio State blow out Notre Dame. It's good to see that the rest of the ACC sees the hypocrisy of ND trying to foist Cal and Stanford on a league they aren't willing to join.

Great points.

I have raised the issue of transgender athletes competing for Stanford University and how that may result in difficulties for any women's athletic events in the state of North Carolina (UNC & NC State are ACC member schools).

To illustrate California craziness on the transgender athletic issue of women's sports:

https://thecentersquare.com/california/article_c691948a-4080-11ee-a99c-0b2dcf6d7d53.html

Event disbanded because presenter used term "biological male" to refer to transgender male-to-female athletes.

[Anonymous]

Would NC State & UNC have a way out of the ACC without penalty due to illegality if Stanford & Cal were admitted as ACC members without the votes of UNC & NC State and Cal & Stanford insisted on using transgender athletes in women's sports ?

[Anonymous]

ACC found a lot of ESPN's money if it expands. Likely to add Cal, Stanford, & SMU all of which will accept less than a full share payout (SMU will play for free for 5 to 7 years). The ESPN / ACC contract apparently requires ESPN to pay additional equal shares for each new member. Since the three new member schools will receive less than a full share each, the remaining money could be used as incentive money geared towards football to satisfy FSU & Clemson with higher payouts.

https://theathletic.com/4800635/2023/08/23/acc-cal-stanford-smu-expansion/

[Anonymous]

https://si.com/fannation/college/cfb-hq/ncaa-football/college-football-expansion-acc-looking-at-three-schools-cal-stanford-smu

https://on3.com/news/acc-conference-realignment-serious-consideration-smu-mustangs-cal-golden-bears-stanford-cardinal-financial-models/

[Anonymous]

Even CBS Sports is reporting that ACC expansion is receiving very serious consideration:

https://cbssports.com/college-football/news/acc-expansion-conference-renews-discussions-to-add-stanford-california-smu-at-reduced-price-per-reports/

But will ESPN agree ? Or is ESPN bound to pay more regardless of whether or not it agrees to the additional schools ?

[Anonymous]

If true that ESPN has to pay an equal share more if a new member school is added to the ACC, then SMU should be viewed as the most valuable addition as it will forego any payout for 5 to 7 years which could leave enough money to distribute to other ACC members such as FSU & Clemson based on football performance.

[Anonymous]

CLEVER. ACC rumored to be adding 3 new members (SMU, Stanford, & Cal) just for football, men's basketball, & women's basketball. (Must have been reading our DCUM thread.)

https://tarheelswire.usatoday.com/2023/08/23/report-suggests-acc-close-to-adding-three-programs/

[Anonymous]

If ESPN is required to pay an additional full share payout for each additional school added to the ACC, the additional payment from ESPN would be $72 million per year ($24 million per school) according to a very recent news report.

I don't know whether or not ESPN is obligated to pay or whether ESPN consent is required in order for it to be obligated to pay additional money to the ACC if teams are added. The report used the would "could" as in ESPN could pay an additional $72 million per year. "Could" sounds discretionary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CLEVER. ACC rumored to be adding 3 new members (SMU, Stanford, & Cal) just for football, men's basketball, & women's basketball. (Must have been reading our DCUM thread.)

https://tarheelswire.usatoday.com/2023/08/23/report-suggests-acc-close-to-adding-three-programs/

The total would be $72M increase per article below. If cal/stanford take a 30% distribution and smu zero, that is only about $4M more per team. Not much after you subtract added travel expenses. When they start taking more of their share, teams will potentially be losing $$$$.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-acc-expansion-talks-still-alive-as-leaders-consider-new-financial-proposal-222140103.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would NC State & UNC have a way out of the ACC without penalty due to illegality if Stanford & Cal were admitted as ACC members without the votes of UNC & NC State and Cal & Stanford insisted on using transgender athletes in women's sports ?

Don't need their votes if they get Clemson. And it would be legal because when the ACC that was the rule that they agreed to. Can't get out of it later. On the transgeder --- not sure that is or was a serious question. I doubt that is the direction they are going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would NC State & UNC have a way out of the ACC without penalty due to illegality if Stanford & Cal were admitted as ACC members without the votes of UNC & NC State and Cal & Stanford insisted on using transgender athletes in women's sports ?

Don't need their votes if they get Clemson. And it would be legal because when the ACC that was the rule that they agreed to. Can't get out of it later. On the transgeder --- not sure that is or was a serious question. I doubt that is the direction they are going.

I think that you misunderstand my posts--sorry if I wasn't clear enough.

If UNC & NC State voted to add Stanford, then they probably wouldn't have an out based on illegality--that is why I specified that the ACC expansion was without the votes of UNC & NC State.

Four ACC teams/schools are based in North Carolina (Duke, Wake Forest, UNC, NC State). If Stanford or Cal tried to use a transgender athlete in a women's sport, it would be illegal in the state of North Carolina.