In case you weren’t already aware of this, there won’t be an ACC Network for at least 3 or 4 years. There are some issues to overcome. There is a whole infrastructure to set up. Even the SEC Network that has been announced was more than two years in the works.

For the ACC, there are some added layers that complicate thing. Such as their deal with Raycom.

The Sports Business Daily did a fine — if somewhat pessimistic piece — detailing the hurdles to a ACC Network.

The main roadblock is rights. When it signed its ACC deal in 2010, ESPN and Charlotte-based Raycom Sports cut a deal that grants Raycom the ACC’s digital and corporate sponsorship rights, plus a heavy dose of live football and basketball games. Through a sublicensing agreement, Raycom owns the rights to 31 live football games and 60 live men’s basketball games.

Even if the conference is able to buy back those rights from Raycom, a second roadblock remains. Raycom sublicensed 17 of those football games and 25 of those basketball games to Fox, which carries the games on its regional sports networks throughout the ACC footprint. Live local sports programming is important to Fox’s RSNs, and they are not likely to give up those games cheaply.

The games that stay with Raycom make up the ACC’s long-running syndicated package that is distributed to more than 50 million households on over-the-air networks, and reaches 25 of the top 50 U.S. TV markets.

Those deals extend through 2027.

It’s unlikely that ESPN will try to launch a channel without those rights. ESPN brought all of those rights — TV, digital, sponsorship — together as it formed the SEC Network, which launches in August 2014.

That’s because a syndicated model that the ACC follows (and the SEC had been operating) really doesn’t work when you want your own channel.

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Hope you weren’t thinking that you will see FSU visit Heinz Field more frequently than once a decade or so. The ACC released the football home and away crossover match-ups for the next ten years on a nice color coded PDF.

Pitt will face division opponents in the Coastal every year. Those teams are Virginia Tech, Miami, UNC, GT, Duke and Virginia. In addition, Syracuse will be Pitt’s cross-division annual opponent. Or “rival” I suppose. That covers seven games. After that it’s a rotation through the other six teams in the Atlantic division.

With Notre Dame rotating through five games against ACC teams per year, there is no way that the ACC will be moving to a 9-game schedule. That’s what makes the decision to stick with a permanent cross-division opponent so questionable. It is clear that it was done for the benefit of keeping FSU-Miami as an annual match-up. Not to mention placating NC State for not being in the same division as UNC and Duke with an annual UNC game. Otherwise there makes little sense in having permanent cross-over games.

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37 days until Pitt is officially a member of the ACC (July 1).

72 days until the day training camp opens for Pitt (August 5).

100 days until FSU-Pitt kicks off (September 2).

I may have to go out and buy a preview guide.

Lindy’s comes out this Tuesday (May 28).

Phil Steele on Tuesday, June 18.

Coach Jamie Dixon did not seem optimistic that the ACC would ever pull the trigger on moving the ACC Tournament to NYC. Even though, he made it clear that it absolutely should happen.

“Obviously, coach Boeheim and I are excited about New York, but I also know that Greensboro has a strong, strong presence here at these meetings,” Dixon said. “I think [Madison Square Garden] would be the best thing for the conference. I hope that’s the way they’re headed, but I don’t know that it is.”

One item that apparently has been ruled out is having New York City as part of a rotation with other cities, including Greensboro. Dixon said both major New York venues, Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, would require long-term commitments.

“They’ve got to lock in an event on an annual basis,” Dixon said. “They can’t open it up for five days once every five years or something.”

Dixon also said that his bid to have Pittsburgh as host of the tournament, at least occasionally, was shot down.

“I think Greensboro has the home-field advantage,” Dixon said. “They’ve got a lot of things tied in there. There’s a lot of tradition. …

“I think in the best interest of all the universities involved, for the conference, I think being in Madison Square Garden would be best. But I think it’s going to be very difficult to pull away.”

But then, Jamie Dixon has not had dealings with Ninja Swofford.

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For all the chaos and angst regarding the football and basketball teams with players coming and going, it somehow makes sense that for the first time in more than ten years there is a calm — nay, giddiness — over how positive things are for Pitt athletics as a whole now that the membership in the ACC is weeks away. There’s no worrying over rumors of new expansiopocolypse. There’s no concerns about being insanely behind every other conference in terms of money and media exposure. There’s actual confidence in the conference structure and the commissioner actually knowing what he is doing and not trying to serve two masters.

The ACC meetings are taking place, and the buzzword is stability.

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Okay, so as the match-ups for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge were being leaked this morning, it became clear that Pitt wasn’t going to land one of the heavyweights from the B1G. That’s not surprising. Pitt will not be considered in the preseason as one of the top 5 or 6 teams in the ACC. So, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan St., Ohio St. and Indiana weren’t going to be likely opponents. Among the best of the rest there would have been Iowa, Illinois and Purdue. But Iowa and Purdue got leaked and their opponents were not Pitt.

So, more and more likely it was going to be a Pennsylvania battle.

And indeed it will be. Penn State comes to the Pete on Tuesday, December 3.

Now the Nits will be better than they were this past year. They have a bunch of decent players coming back from injury, including Tim Frazier.

But, from helping the overall strength of Pitt’s non-con schedule it won’t do much.  So that’s the bad news. Also John Johnson won’t be eligible to play for Penn State for that game.

I’m still relatively happy with the game. There really was no reason for Pitt and Penn State to stop playing basketball. Other than the fact that Penn State was really tired of being embarrassed. Hopefully this will be the spark to renew this as an annual game.

The Grant of Rights put in place by the ACC does not stop expansiopocolypse. It does, however, severely slow it down and minimize it. The movement in the next five to ten years will almost entirely be by conferences and programs below the Big Five.

Oh, sure, it’s possible at some point that the Big 12 feels it has no choice but to actually go to 12, at which time it goes for Cinci and BYU or some other team from the Mountain West (Boise St.). And it is conceivable that the Big Ten could go to Mizzou and say, yeah, come into our playground — since the SEC does not have any exit fees or penalties.

And, yes, there is always a chance that some program locked into a Grant of Rights might mount a legal challenge. But unlike a challenge to an exit fee like Maryland is engaged, losing the challenge to a Grant of Rights contract is much bigger. Even if a challenge to the ACC Grant of Rights came with five years left (2023), the potential loss by the school challenging is $100 million. Not many schools are going to make that gamble.

But that is about it. Things are relatively locked in right now. There will be no easy way for the major conferences to poach teams from each other while the Grant of Rights (GoR) are in place. The Big 12 is at 10. The Big Ten will be 14.

As usual there is more to the story than mere stability.

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That’s been a big part of my summer posting for the last few years. How? How? How do they expect me to fill that gap if this is happening? What’s left?

The ACC is expected to announce a Grant of Rights agreement among its 15 members as early to today, CBSSports.com has learned.

ACC presidents are in the process of clearing this with their departments. The agreement will go to 2026-27, the duration of the league’s contract with ESPN. The deal is not official just yet but, barring an unforseen snag, will be completed.

Unless a league member decides to go to litigation to escape this down the road, the ACC believes a Grant of Rights will protect it from conference realignment poachers.

The North Carolina-based David Glenn Show reported the news Monday afternoon.

And all news outlets are saying their sources are saying the same thing. And unlike the raised exit fee issue from last year — where FSU and Maryland voted against it — this one is unanimous in the ACC.

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by Lilburn Nole for Chantrant.com

No matter if you’re looking at advanced statistics like the ones found at www.footballoutsiders.com or traditional statistics like scoring defense and total defense you’ll find the Seminoles as a Top 5 defense the last two seasons. However, if there has been one complaint about that Mark Stoops-led defense it would be a lack of turnovers and less aggressive strategy.

While Florida State has been near the top in most defensive categories, you have to scroll down the page a bit to find the Seminoles when it comes to turnovers created. FSU fans will be eager to see if new Defensive Coordinator Jeremy Pruitt (formerly on the Alabama staff) will install a more aggressive style defense with more blitzes and man to man looks mixed in with the zone heavy looks that have been the norm the last couple of seasons.

Pruitt has spent the last three seasons working under Nick Saban, so it is likely he will have been influenced working under arguably the top defensive mind in the game today. While I don’t expect FSU to switch to the 3-4 defense of Saban, I do expect to see greater variance in coverages and more blitz packages. Stoops relied much more heavily on a zone scheme mixing in man to man on passing downs. Saban’s philosophy is to run zone on running downs and man to man in passing downs with zone mixed in. There is no guarantee that Pruitt will continue to incorporate the schemes that he has worked with the last 3 seasons, but as this is his first time coordinating at the college level, and knowing Jimbo Fisher’s respect for Saban and his philosophies, I feel it’s a safe assumption.

Unfortunately, it may be difficult to get a good read on a defensive strategy in the spring as practices are closed and the spring game will most likely feature more vanilla calls both offensively and defensively. However, pay close attention to the player interviews and you may be able to gain an insight into what is being worked on and discussed in practices.

It shouldn’t be a surprise. As soon as the Big East remaindermen leaked that they would let Notre Dame join the ACC for the 2013 season with Pitt and Syracuse for as little as $2.5 million. But in the impeccable timing of the Big East, they are going to approve that the Domers are free — right before the start of the Big East Tournament.

Notre Dame’s basketball teams will play in the ACC next year, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation. The Big East presidents will vote on the issue Tuesday morning, and an announcement is expected sometime after their conference call ends.

“It’s everyone’s intention that this will happen tomorrow,” said the source.

Way to lock in the direction of the conversation. Look, I know it is hard to generate enthusiasm for the first two games of USF-Seton Hall and DePaul-Rutgers, but this isn’t the way to do it.

About the only way I can figure the America 12/Remaining Big East is doing, is that they are fully committing to the “this is a sad week for college basketball with the demise of the Big East as we knew it because the Big East Tournament will never be the same again” storyline. Trying to poison the well for the basketball only Big East’s future BET.

Want to know why the Big Ten is actively discussing 9 or even 10 conference games? Why the ACC may have reversed course for now on 9 games, but may revisit in the future? Why the Pac-12 and Big 12 are already at 9 conference games?

It simply is not cheap to rent-a-patsy any longer.

Pitt will pay ODU $375,000 to play at Heinz Field next season, but that’s not as much as both North Carolina ($450,000) and ECU ($430,000) are paying. ECU’s is paying out $250,000 in cash and giving ODU 4,000 tickets with a face value of $180,000.

Maryland is paying ODU $350,000.

Idaho will pay ODU $150,000, but the Monarchs are scheduled to give that same amount back in 2019 when the Vandals play a return game to Norfolk.

In all, ODU is raking in almost $1.8 million in guarantees, which [ODU AD Wood] Selig said would go toward paying FCS opponents to come to Norfolk and for travel expenses.

It’s getting expensive just to buy a 1-AA team. Now imagine how much it costs for a guarantee game from the MAC or Sun Belt. Those are seven-figure games if you don’t make it a 2-for-1 (Hello, Akron road trip in 2015). Sure most of the SEC and Big 10 can afford it, and have stadiums they fill that more than cover the cost. Still, there are reasons 106 out of 125 1-A programs  have a 1-AA team on their schedule. And only 9 schools in a BCS conference don’t have a 1-AA opponent.

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One way or another Villanova was going to get paid. Ultimately it looks like they will go for the double-dip.

The way has been cleared for Pitt to play its first ACC football game Labor Day night Sept. 2 against Florida State at Heinz Field, and the conference will make an official announcement Monday, a high-ranking college football source said Saturday.

The game will be televised by ESPN.

Pitt was scheduled to play Villanova on Aug. 31, but that game has been canceled.

Villanova has scheduled another game against an FBS opponent to replace Pitt this season. Florida State and Pitt officials declined comment, and an ACC official did not respond to phone calls and an email for comment.

Army looks like the likely team for Villanova.

As for Pitt, it will almost certainly be another 1-AA patsy, given that Pitt would have had to buy their way out of the Nova game. Not to mention Pitt will need to find a team that has an opening in their schedule, and willing to go on the road somewhere midway in the season (apparently Stony Brook is available).

Still, for those who want Pitt to make every effort to enter the ACC with a splash, this is a no-brainer.

Oh, lord the expansiopocolypse just keeps rolling. Let’s start with the latest and work backwards to Tulane.

There was a sense of inevitability that the ACC was going to take another team after Maryland decided to depart. In theory, the ACC could have stayed at 13 for football and 14 everywhere else with ND. But, that just isn’t how expansiopocolypse works.

It seemed that UConn would be the obvious choice. Actually on the East Coast. With BC’s obstinate AD Gene DiFillipo retired, that barrier was done. Including Hartford, Connecticut actually gives UConn a bigger TV market than Louisville. Better academic ranking. All the things that go into present-day conference realignment.

Plus, when you put UConn in there with Syracuse and BC, there’s a strong argument that the ACC would have some real market penetration in both NYC and Boston — at least insofar as there is interest in college sports in those markets. Cable outlets like SNY might be much more inclined to align with ACC interests with both Cuse and UConn part of the package — especially since they will have to worry about YES becoming aligned with Rutgers and the Big Ten.

But…

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I am starting to think that expansiopocolypse won’t end until we have a “conference” of 64 teams, divided into 5 divisions and each division bifurcated into two sections.

The latest shots fired come from the Big 10, in what can only be considered to be their biggest “all about the money” move in this never-ending program shifting.

The University of Maryland is in serious negotiations to join the Big Ten Conference, sources told ESPN on Saturday.

If Maryland goes from the ACC to the Big Ten, Rutgers of the Big East is expected to follow suit. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers would give the Big Ten 14 members as the league gears toward negotiations on a new media rights deal when its first-tier rights expire in 2017.

No date has been set for a potential announcement, though it could come as soon as Monday. The Maryland board of regents will meet at 9 a.m. Monday morning to decide on the move, a source with direct knowledge told ESPN.com Sunday morning.

But there is not a consensus among athletic department officials. The source said the school is leaning toward the move but there is still time for the school to decide to stay in the ACC.

Except the biggest homers for Maryland and Rutgers — no one is pretending that this possibility is about anything other than money. Specifically, the Big Ten Network (BTN).

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The ACC is having some meetings up in Boston. Interesting tidbits:

Because of scheduling agreement w/Notre Dame, ACC will only play 8-game conference schedule, sources told @espn

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) October 3, 2012

Cue outrage from Clemson and FSU fans over this decision, because, well at this point it seems that whatever the ACC does they feel they are being screwed by it. They complained about the ACC schedule and the non-con scheduling headaches. Then when they went to 9, it was about how they were losing money from not having the extra home game. So, I’m sure they will still find reason to complain.

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