FSU’s President Eric Barron issues a statement on conference alignment. Specifically on the whole issue of the ACC or Big 12 for Florida State.

“I want to assure you that any decision made about FSU athletics will be reasoned and thoughtful and based on athletics, finances and academics. Allow me to provide you with some of the issues we are facing:

In support of a move are four basic factors argued by many alumni:

1. The ACC is more basketball than it is football, and many of our alumni view us as more football oriented than the ACC

2. The ACC is too North Carolina centric and the contract advantages basketball and hence advantages the North Carolina schools

3. The Big 12 has some big football schools that match up with FSU

4. The Big 12 contract (which actually isn’t signed yet) is rumored to be $2.9M more per year than the ACC contract. We need this money to be competitive.

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I’m now of the opinion that conference realignment in college sports is much the same as summer TV programming. It’s generally not as good as the regular season, but at least it’s something to watch.

Apparently I made the mistake of listening to my wife and taking Sunday as a computer/twitter/internet-free day. Not checking for updates. Not looking to see if anything new happened. So I missed the Chairman of the Florida State Board of Trustees (Sorry, I have to do this) going off the reservation. Ranting about the ACC’s new deal, going with the conspiracy theory of North Carolina/basketball favoritism, expressing how interested Florida State is (or should be) in the Big 12. And generally, acting like he came from the message boards rather than as a steward for the entire school.

The biggest problem was that he was horribly clueless about so much of the reality.

[Andy] Haggard played up the long held idea that the league office is in the back pocket of the basketball programs of Duke and North Carolina, while floating the concept that there is some pile of cash possible if the Seminoles could only package some of their lower-profile football games, maybe even like Texas does with the Longhorn Network.

“It’s mind-boggling and shocking,” Haggard told Warchant.com. “How can the ACC give up third-tier rights for football but keep them for basketball? … It continues the perception that the ACC favors the North Carolina schools.”

The truth is the money delivered by selling off the first- and second-tier rights was shocking enough. Also true: neither of his assertions may be accurate. The ACC later said Haggard was incorrect and third-tier basketball rights are not maintained by schools. And no one has any idea what FSU could get from some of its weaker football games.

Sources say the ACC has not distributed the contract with ESPN to member schools. It rarely, if ever, does. Many in the league are wondering how much Haggard himself came up with the third-tier conspiracy, what he thinks is in the deal or why he believes it even matters so much.

It seems like a ploy to drum up fan support for a bold switch. Nothing rallies boosters like the idea of Coach K bullying someone into action, even if it isn’t true.

What’s also sad, is that this piece by Wetzel has its own whopper of an inaccuracy.

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Well, FSU’s AD finally had enough of the chatter and reporters calling and asking for comments.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, FSU athletics director Randy Spetman said his programs were “committed to the ACC” and that any conversations about the school switching conferences is pure nonsense.”We’re in the ACC. We’re committed to the ACC,” Spetman said. “That’s where our president and the board of trustees has committed to, so we’re great partners in the ACC.”

For the past seven days, what started as quiet chatter on message boards and blog sites quickly turned into a matter of serious conversation among those following college football.

Florida State, the speculation said, was contemplating a move out of the ACC and was planning to go to the Big 12.

Spetman flatly refuted such accusations.

“I’m not out negotiating,” he said.

…

Spetman also told the Orlando Sentinel on Friday that any reports about him or any of his fellow FSU officials out talking to Big 12 officials are patently false.

“They’ve said I’ve been in Texas all this week,” Spetman said. “My wife was wondering how I was getting back and forth every day.”

According to Austin American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls, Spetman may be telling the truth.

In a tweet from Thursday, Bohls said that Texas and Texas Tech officials were surprised about the rumors involving FSU and similar rumors involving the Seminoles’ ACC partner, Clemson.

“‘First I’ve heard of it,’ one high-up says,” Bohls tweeted.

When pressed about why reports are existing with respect to his school and Big 12, Spetman added: “I don’t know why people have written that.

“I don’t know how they can say that — and I don’t mean to pick on the media — but how can the media person come out and say that there was a Florida State person in a meeting that wasn’t true? How can they get away with that? To my knowledge, nobody from our organization was there. So I don’t know how they can get away with saying that.”

Will this help end the rumors? I doubt it.

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As I stated yesterday, the new ACC contract will not stop those who want to believe they can raid the ACC (read: Big 12). Specifically for Florida State. This piece details the budget problems for FSU. Interesting that the supposedly loyal and rabid fans of FSU are struggling to make a commitment to pay for home games this year.

On the revenue side there is optimism that an aggressive marketing campaign will help boost football ticket sales and booster contributions. While that sounds good on the surface, with five home games against Savannah State, Murray State, Wake Forest, Duke and Boston College it will be a minor miracle if FSU is able to match last year’s ticket sales. And it’s unlikely that the home schedule will be much better in 2013.

Complaints about being able to get people to come to games when it is a pathetic home schedule? Pitt will definitely fit right into the ACC.

The piece sets a lot of issues for FSU and their budget. Especially the capital improvements needed to their stadium and arena. Interestingly, the piece does not seem to take the idea of shifting conferences seriously. Instead it believes that FSU will more likely try to use the possible flirtations to shift to unbalanced revenue sharing in the ACC media contract.

While Pitt is not yet in the ACC, and I can’t claim to have a good sense of the real politics of the conference, my impulse is that this will not work for FSU. That the conference won’t buy the threat. They will bitch and moan and then deal with it.

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My plan to start the week was going to be a post on the ridiculousness of the “FSU and Clemson are going to bolt for the Big 12” rumors. Breaking down some of the origins. Pointing out how much of it was message board generated — and not even from FSU or Clemson sites. Noting that Oklahoma bloggers were dismissing it (and mocking a Hoopie to boot). Noting how most in ACC country weren’t buying it. The whole premise being based on TV money and football culture. The biggest problem, though, with the whole premise is that this is not a decision made by an AD or the athletic department as a whole. It is one made by the college president and board of trustees. It is a decision about the entire university, not where they play football. And the fact is, the ACC is a more prestigious and academically. That seems somewhat silly, I know, since so much of expansiopocolypse is all about the money. Yet there is one factor to consider.

All moves have an academic mobility component as well. The moves out of the Big 12 by Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Texas A&M had them going to conferences with higher overall academic ratings for the member schools. Same for WVU, Syracuse and Pitt out of the Big East. Same for the C-USA and MWC coming into the Big East. There is a factor of moving up in all things, not just athletic standards. A move from the ACC to the Big 12 is downward.

It would have been a much longer post. More links and a lot more coherence, but that was the planned gist. Then the Big East expelled Marinatto and the focus kind of shifted for a couple days. No big deal. Figured this could keep until today. Afterall, this was just a BS rumor.

Then, yesterday afternoon happened.

The Atlantic Coast Conference announced a long-term TV deal with ESPN Wednesday through the 2027 season that will mean a lucrative annual payout for Pitt once the Panthers leave the Big East.

The deal is worth $3.6 billion over 15 years according to The Associated Press which will equal some $17.1 million a season for member schools.

Yeah, this does a bit of a number on the whole Big 12 raiding the ACC thing.

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Things starting to accumulate. Oh, how I’ll wish for such a problem by mid-May.

Um, wow. Love to know the story behind this photo.

Let’s see, Savon Goodman still hasn’t made a decision but if you are a glass half-full person, you will like this from HoopScoop:

When I told our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin that I was going to put a gun to his head and he had to be right, he finally put it on the line and predicted that 6’6 Savon Goodman from Philadelphia (Constitution) PA will pick the University of Pittsburgh over schools like Missouri, St. John’s, UCLA, Kentucky, Connecticut, Kansas, and Temple.

For  what it is worth. Oh, and Savon Goodman was named to USA Basketball’s U17 team.

Things proceeding apace for Pitt and Cuse heading to the ACC in 2013. Everyone is attending meetings.

 Pitt and Syracuse representatives won’t be at the Big East meetings, but they will be at the ACC meetings in May. The respective coaches will be at the ACC meetings, too.

When will the two schools join the ACC? “Hopefully, we’ll get everything worked out here soon,” Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson said. “Their league is reconfigured and ready to move, and when you get to that point where everybody is on the next page, everybody should move on.”

Pederson wouldn’t commit to the fall of 2013, but that seems to be the goal. The ACC is ready to receive Pitt and Syracuse, and the Big East is ready to move on with its new members.

No sense at being at the Big East meetings. Pitt and Cuse don’t get votes on the league, and they would probably have to have left the room when it came to topics such as media rights and strategic plans. No votes in the ACC yet, but at least they will know what’s coming.

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In addition to the search for a car — now approaching a conclusion — I spent the weekend wondering what my doctor wanted. Got sick a couple weeks ago, and in addition to the medicine, I had to get some bloodwork done. Procrastinated on the blood work for a week. And then missed a couple calls from my doctor near the end of the week. By the time I called the office was closed and I got to stew over why they were calling me for the weekend. Cancer, rare disorder. Something horrible.

Turns out I have a Vitamin D deficiency. Have to take a prescription vitamin for a while. Seems generally stupid until I googled it, and holy shit, rickets! Getting old sucks. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Moving on to other things. Which comes first, the Big East invites Temple, Temple’s board authorizes Temple to accept an invite, or Temple reaches a settlement with the MAC to move to the Big East this year? Given how ass-backward the Big East portion of expansiopocolypse has been, my money is on settling with the MAC first.

If there was any doubt that taking Temple now is done for saving the Big East money vs. what it would cost to get Boise out of the MWC a year early. This should clinch it:

The Owls will have to pay exit fees. Sources have said it would cost them $3.5 million to leave the MAC immediately, and $2 million to get out of the A-10. Less if they move later. But this stuff can be negotiated.

Boise would have cost at least $10 million more — and Temple could possibly settle at lower. I’m sure Temple has a tight budget, but that is chump change simply based on the TV deal of the Big East (even just for football) vs. the MAC.

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The ACC today, announced the future set up for divisions and  scheduling.

As expected Pitt was placed in one of the present divisions and Syracuse was placed in the other. The idea of a North-South divisional set-up was never going to fly. First because putting Miami and FSU in the same division seems silly, but more importantly it would be bad for teams in the north to not have regular trips to Florida for recruiting.

Here’s how the divisions will look:

Coastal

Pitt

Virginia Tech

Duke

Virginia

Georgia Tech

North Carolina

Miami

Atlantic

Syracuse

Boston College

NC State

Wake Forest

Clemson

Florida St.

Maryland

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Lots of open tabs. Some with direct Pitt stuff. Others not so much.

Attendance, attendance, attendance. The Wednesday UConn non-attendance issue was a popular topic of angst. I’m not going to rehash the reasons/excuses. I didn’t make the trip, but I knew that even before I ordered season tickets. Chris Dokish looks at Pitt’s (paid) attendance relative to many factors to conclude, that things aren’t really that bad. I’m just not too worked up over it. Especially when I look at the conference to where Pitt is heading.

Miami tried to one-up Pitt on their Thursday night game. They at least had a beautiful evening. Then there was Maryland on a Saturday (click to see the picture).

Eric Prisbell wrote that there “appeared to be no more than 10,000 fans at Byrd Stadium.”

“Saturday’s abject eyesore, where lower-level tickets at Byrd Stadium were going for a penny on StubHub? That’s more than frigid, rotten weather. That’s unacceptable,” Mike Wise columnized.

At least Pitt’s tickets on StubHub were 99 cents. We will fit right into the ACC.

Honestly, I’m not too stressed on attendance. It’s frustrating at times, but the fact is there are a lot of Pitt fans hanging back right now. Frustrated by the past decade, maybe even the past 30 years. Happy to cheer and support the the team (and even buy tickets), but not quite willing to make that final action of going to the games. The only way it changes is with Pitt winning.

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Why couldn’t all of this conference stuff happened in June and July when I was scraping for content? I just cannot get over how much this stuff is dominating all week, after week, after week. Do you realize the Big East Media Day for basketball is in less than 2 weeks?

Time to clear some tabs just to make the room for the final push before the Rutgers game. A bit of emphasis on the ACC.

A little history from the 2003 ACC raid on the Big East. How close Syracuse was to going, but for the lawsuit that gave VT time to get the lobbying effort in full swing.

According to ACC bylaws, seven of nine schools needed to vote yes to admit another school. Duke and North Carolina were traditionally opposed to any expansion. Virginia and [UVa President] Casteen, in essence, were that seventh swing vote. But one thing is clear: The suit had some effect.

It gave [Virginia Governor Mark] Warner time.

“I do remember that we thought we were out (of luck) a number of times,” Leighty said. “But there was additional time, and I guess the lawsuit was why that happened.”

Eight times, Leighty recalls, he and Warner thought it was over. Eight times, the prospects of Syracuse joining the ACC would have been better had they given up.

ACC officials had visited the Syracuse campus on June 4, and the deal was all but official. Then the Connecticut Attorney General filed the lawsuit, ultimately joined by other Big East schools. That put things in flux and was the time that Virginia politicians and the University of Virginia’s president needed to get VT into the ACC. If you want to know why I don’t believe the Hokies would go to the ACC, just read this story to get an idea of how much political capitol, favors and support from UVa was expended to get VT to the ACC. Too many favors are owed by VT to bolt the ACC and UVa now.

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Pitt to the ACC is at least a year away. That doesn’t mean the jockeying and speculation of the division format for football hasn’t already started.

Like many, I have no real idea how the ACC divides their conference. I know that they have the Atlantic and Coastal divisions for names. I know that Miami and FSU are kept in separate divisions, because when the divisions were created everyone expected Miami and FSU to regularly battle it out in the ACC Championship game. But I have no idea which school is in which division.

So let’s start with a little basic education:

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At the earliest Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC will be in time for the 2012 season. We will see how negotiations go. As Troy Nunes points out, it is in Pitt and Syracuse’s interests that the Big East move quickly on their expansion — no matter how stupid or short-term their choices may be. Of course never underestimate the stupidity and false sense of importance of the basketball schools helping Pitt and Syracuse leave before the 27 month waiting period.

This could be a negotiating tactic, or he could be serious, but in either case several member schools just want the two schools gone.

There is a feeling in the basketball programs at some member schools that the eventual departure of Pitt and Syracuse will provide some breathing room, that the league had become too great for its own good.

There was room for a record 11 teams to earn NCAA Tournament bids last season, but the presence of Hall of Fame coaches Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun at the top of the league and the heavy concentration of elite teams has made it difficult for many league members to gain the necessary media attention to improve their programs through recruiting.

Oh, please, please, please, please, please be true. Hell if I’m in the Big East offices, after I peel myself off the ceiling, is to let my paranoia run wild that this is a planted story from the ACC or Pitt/Syracuse.

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I swear, some time soon I will get to the actual games. Maybe even talk about ND before Saturday. Yet I can’t turn away from Conference Expansiopocolypse stuff. I’m just too invested.

The Big East football programs had a little get together at a hotel in NYC. Henry Kissinger happened to be in the same hotel. You really can’t make this stuff up.

Speaking of stuff you can’t make up. This was the full text of the Big East Conference statement after the meeting.

Our membership met this evening and we are committed as a conference to recruit top level BCS caliber institutions with strong athletic and academic histories and traditions.  We have been approached by a number of such institutions and will pursue all of our options to make the BIG EAST Conference stronger than it has ever been in both basketball and football.

What a reaffirming and warm statement. But…

Curiously absent from the league statement is the specific wording that all of the schools were committed to the league.

Not really. (By the way, check out the story just for the punchdrunk picture of Marinatto. I want some photoshopped submissions based on that picture. Please!)

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Big East Commissioner John Marinatto finally staggered out of his darkened office. A paperweight was embedded in his computer, and empty bottles of wine lay strewn about the office. He spoke to the New York Times about some things.

Marinatto said in a telephone interview that he planned to hold Syracuse and Pittsburgh to their 27-month contractual exit obligations, meaning that they would not be able to leave the Big East until June 2014.

This was expected. There was no way the Big East was just going to tell Pitt and Syracuse to just go on their merry way. No hard feelings. Simply put, this was the opening of negotiations for Pitt and Syracuse to leave the Big East. You don’t concede your biggest piece of leverage in negotiations at the start. Not even John Marinatto and the Big East do that.

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Kind of fun being in the eye of this at the moment. It’s all swirling around Pitt, but at this point the only thing landing on Pitt is the name-calling. Here’s the thing Pitt fans: many of us decry when others — players, management, PR flacks,  others in the media have a thin-skin about things. Same rule applies for us. There has and will be crap flown towards Pitt. Not all of it particularly intelligent or well-thought out. Not much of it you will like.

Hard, though, it may be, deal with it. Don’t take it personally. You can offer the facts. You can point out the obvious evidence. Just don’t let yourself get too worked up over the silliness. Pitt is going to be painted as the bad guy. It’s the simple narrative. Some will go over the tops, others treating it like Pitt just part of the general problem.

Let me take you through the run down in case you missed some of it.

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