UNC is the biggest get in the ACC for both the Big Ten and SEC. FSU and Clemson won't like to hear it. Even Virginia is probably favorable to FSU.
Duke isn't happening anytime soon. Stanford is clearly a superior football school over 20+ years and is a superior academic brand. You can see how much the Big Ten wants them (only if ND comes).

Anonymous wrote:40 of the 69 US AAU Member Universities play D-1 football.

17 of 40 are in the Big Ten Conference. (Nebraska is the 18th Big Ten school.)

5 are in the ACC.

5 are in the SEC.

5 are in the Big 12 Conference.

Available AAU Member Universities which play D-1 Football: Notre Dame, Stanford, UCal-Berkeley

The Big Ten can more easily walk back their unwritten AAU criteria now that Nebraska is no longer a member. I wouldn't worry too much about it. The presidents can rationalize it and just talk about great R1s

Anonymous wrote:FSU has hired investment banking firm JP Morgan to help it (FSU) raise money to leave the ACC. A prominent private equity firm is working with both FSU & JP Morgan.

Betting odds favor FSU moving to the Big Ten Conference, next is moving to the SEC, then the long-shot bet is that FSU remain in the ACC.

I disagree with the odds makers as FSU is one of the least compatible teams for the Big Ten Conference. And I doubt that the SEC wants FSU.

SEC member U Florida is compatible with the Big Ten culture, but not FSU.

U Florida, Georgia Tech, UNC, Virginia, and Duke are compatible with the Big Ten, but not FSU.

I agree with your assessment.

FSU has hired investment banking firm JP Morgan to help it (FSU) raise money to leave the ACC. A prominent private equity firm is working with both FSU & JP Morgan.

Betting odds favor FSU moving to the Big Ten Conference, next is moving to the SEC, then the long-shot bet is that FSU remain in the ACC.

I disagree with the odds makers as FSU is one of the least compatible teams for the Big Ten Conference. And I doubt that the SEC wants FSU.

SEC member U Florida is compatible with the Big Ten culture, but not FSU.

U Florida, Georgia Tech, UNC, Virginia, and Duke are compatible with the Big Ten, but not FSU.

Broadcast partners of the Big Ten Conference do not want to show games at stadiums with lots of empty seats. Understandable--from this perspective--why USC, UCLA, Oregon, & Washington were offered membership in the Big Ten Conference and Cal & Stanford were not.

Football recruits would be wise to attend a home football game at Stanford and/or Cal-Berkeley and then at USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Penn State, or at any SEC school or most Big Ten schools before making a commitment.

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t the Big 10 chasing Cal & Stanford? Maybe it’s the sparse crowds that show up at Cal & Stanford home games? Or their mediocre football teams in recent years? Or, considering that the Big 10 is still anchored in the Rust Belt, maybe they just don’t like the smug superiority that oozes out of both schools.

I agree that there is a cultural difference between ultra-liberal, my way or the highway attitude found at schools like Berkeley & Stanford. Too little respect for differing opinions.

I read short bios on the transfer portal for Stanford football. The players transferring out of Stanford lament losing the chance to earn a highly valued undergraduate degree from Stanford, but complained about the lack of student support for the football program.

Why isn’t the Big 10 chasing Cal & Stanford? Maybe it’s the sparse crowds that show up at Cal & Stanford home games? Or their mediocre football teams in recent years? Or, considering that the Big 10 is still anchored in the Rust Belt, maybe they just don’t like the smug superiority that oozes out of both schools.

Why does the Big Ten Conference have an interest in adding ACC teams such as U Miami, FSU, Georgia Tech, Virginia, and/or North Carolina ? The dominant reason would be to enter the most fertile recruiting grounds for high school football talent in the country.

In the South, from Texas to Florida to Georgia and nearby states, high school and college football is a religion--a booming religion.

To state the obvious, without a continuous supply of high school football talent, there would be no college football.

The top ten states for football recruiting are:

1) Florida
2) Texas
3) Georgia
4) California
5) Alabama
6) Louisiana
7) North Carolina
8) Maryland
9) Washington state
10) Pennsylvania followed by Missouri, Arizona, and Ohio.

7 of the top 8 states are in the South.

What are the concerns of the Big Ten Conference about adding UCal-Berkeley and Stanford into the Big Ten Conference ?

Clearly, there are no concerns regarding academics as both Stanford and Cal are world class universities with respect to academics and research.

And both are in a major media market (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose area) ranked #10 in the US. This is a high income, highly educated region.

The Big Ten Presidents are fine with Stanford and Berkeley as it would add academic & research prestige to the conference and to its research co-operative.

The only two barriers that I see are money and recruiting.

Without competition from Berkeley & Stanford for California and Western US high school football players, USC, UCLA, U Washington, and U Oregon should have less competition for top athletes who want to stay in the West/California.

Money to pay for two additional member schools. Apparently the Big Ten Conference media partners did not see enough value in adding Stanford and Berkeley to justify the expense--even at a discounted rate for the first 6 or 7 years of Big Ten Conference membership. Somewhat surprising because of the location of the two universities in the 10th largest media market in the US populated by high income earners.

But, maybe there is another concern. The Pac-12 failed as a football conference. What would be different now ?

The difference would be that only the top 6 teams from the Pac-12 conference would become members of the Big Ten Conference. This seems like it would be regarded as a factor for success rather than as a concern for failure. Get rid of the dead weight and the remaining six football programs (USC, UCLA, Washington, Oregon, Stanford, and Cal) should prosper.

This leads back to two concerns: recruiting competition and time zone issues. The Pacific Time Zone does not attract viewers from across the country--especially after a long day of football viewing games played in the Eastern & Central time zones. In order to be successful at the level expected of SEC & Big Ten football programs, Pacific Time Zone teams need to travel to East to the Central and Eastern Time Zones. Not always, but for a significant number of games during the 12 game regular season.

Assume that the Big Ten Conference would be interested in Stanford, but not Cal. UCLA had to pay Cal-Berkeley millions of dollars before the California Board of Regents would allow UCLA to leave Cal behind in the Pac-12 when UCLA agreed to move to the big time in the Big Ten.

I don't know the answer as to how to get both elite academic universities an invitation to the Big Ten Conference. I do know that Stanford would be welcome as a traditional rival of Notre Dame IF Notre Dame would commit to the Big Ten Conference, but that is unlikely at present under the current CFP selection method.

Why is it so humiliating for the ACC? It’s the PAC-4 schools who took a bath, put on a nice dress, & are sitting on the front porch swing…and nobody is coming for them. It’s like a Tennessee Williams play for those schools.

Very sad for the ACC schools. They are in a humiliating situation.

40 of the 69 US AAU Member Universities play D-1 football.

17 of 40 are in the Big Ten Conference. (Nebraska is the 18th Big Ten school.)

5 are in the ACC.

5 are in the SEC.

5 are in the Big 12 Conference.

Available AAU Member Universities which play D-1 Football: Notre Dame, Stanford, UCal-Berkeley

Even the infamous Stanford trombone player has reportedly entered the transfer portal.

Anonymous wrote:The Big 10 & Big 12 have taken in their share of the homeless waifs. The Ivy League must be shaking in their boots for fear that someone will guilt them into offering Cal & Stanford a bowl of porridge & a place to play crappy football.

Constant travel to the East Coast would destroy Stanford & Cal athletics. The ACC, Ivy League, and Patriot League are not realistic options for Cal or Stanford.