Yesterday got totally disrupted with the Notre Dame-ACC news. I just have one (or two) final thoughts for now on the deal. Then, I swear I’ll get back to the stuff regarding the VT game. Really. I mean it.

I’m surprised it took place this quickly. For the ACC there was no real urgency to do this. It seems that the ACC could have waited a year or two to let ND twist in the new Big East. It wouldn’t have resulted in full membership, but they probably could have had ND playing 6 games against the ACC rather than 5.

The exception to that thought would be if getting the ND deal done was the only way to make sure the ACC could pass the new exit fee structure. That was really the bigger deal and puts the ACC on the Big 12 level stability with such painful exit fees that it becomes almost impossible to leave.

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Anyone remember this?

“I don’t understand it,” Jack Swarbrick said as a new round of conference hopping in college athletics moved into high gear Sunday. “How do you vote as a collegiate president on something that has the potential to provide some benefit for your institution and the conference you’re affiliated with but has a very negative consequence for a host of other members of the academy, as presidents like to call it?

“I’d like to know how much of these discussions are: What’s right? What is the best thing for the larger enterprise, and how many other schools would be adversely impacted?

“I just don’t know that that’s happening.”

Yes, the ND AD complaining about the selfish behavior of Pitt and Syracuse moving to the ACC. He and his institution are so far above such crass things. They would never make a move out of no where without giving their present partners a fair notice. Notre Dame’s president put his money-where-Swarbrick’s-mouth was. Why, Rev. Jenkins even headed up the Big East expansion committee. So you know they wouldn’t act against the best interests of the Big East while helping to make big decisions.

Oh, what’s that?

The University of Notre Dame accepted an invitation today (Sept. 12) to become a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in all sports except football.

That exception for football was even in the sub-headline of the press release, “Football to stay independent but will bring five games annually to ACC.”

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Ever since the silliness of Notre Dame associating/aligning themselves with the Big 12 died, there have been intermittent reports of a possible alignment of Notre Dame with the ACC.

The ACC members have been vehemently opposed to partial memberships in the past and have had the attitude of “all in” or “not in” but Swofford said today he’s not sure if that is still the case and of course, he wouldn’t say it but others already have – that subject is indeed being considered with respect to Notre Dame. So don’t be shocked if in the near future Notre Dame is an ACC member in all sports except football and has some sort of scheduling agreement to play X-number of ACC schools in football each year.

Now this one.

Speaking of ND. The Irish and the ACC continue to focus on a deal which would allow ND to play 6 games a year against ACC teams in exchange for getting full membership in the ACC in all other sports.

The sticking point would be in basketball. Putting together a schedule for a 15 team league is much tougher than doing it for a 16 team league. Talks will continue.

I’ll give you reason to panic a bit further down, but for now, take a breath.

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Yes, I know. I said expansiopocolypse is done for the summer. It’s not done for good, and some other materials in my tabs that I just need to get out. Not essential stuff, but things that might be interesting when it all comes back in another year.

Strangely, while Florida State seems to have settled down to some degree over leaving the ACC — at least until they get a clear signal from the Big 12 that they want them — Clemson still seems to be discussing it. Now, maybe it’s because Clemson has been a founding member of the ACC, so this is not nearly as simple as it is for FSU about the willingness to leave the ACC. Clemson seems much more divided.

So you see articles like this pushing back on any move because of travel costs.

Geography impacts travel costs, recruiting and historical rivalries. All of those aspects favor Clemson remaining in its conference home of the last 59 years.

Based on Clemson’s actual travel expenses for football and projected costs had the Tigers played in the Big 12 last season, the team would have spent $750,000 more in the Big 12.

Those travel costs would negate a significant portion of the Big 12’s greatest draw — television revenue. The Big 12’s deal with ESPN will pay its programs about $3 million more per year than what the ACC’s deal with ESPN pays out.

Unlike the Boise St. move of the football program to the Big East, a move by Clemson would obviously be for all sports. Which means increased travel costs for all programs. I’m not convinced the number would really be as high as $750K, but it would be more significant that most Clemson pro-move people suggest.

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Not sure why a bunch of stuff chose to break just before Juy 4. It means more stuff piling up in the browser window. The expansiopocolypse stuff, once more, has been a big summer filler. And like so many big summer movies, much more hype than any substance.

The Big 12 expansion stuff ended up a lot like the Green Lantern movie.

Hyped blockbuster, but the story dragged.

Actors that just didn’t have the fit or energy for the movie.  Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively headlining a summer blockbuster=FSU and Clemson in the Big 12.

Bad storyline with motivations muddled and abandoned. The Big 12 wants back to 12. No, wait, they’re happy at 10 teams. They want FSU and are willing to take Clemson. No wait, it is ND they  want. FSU athletic department is broke, not broke, wants to move, internal disagreements, who knows.  Clemson coaches pooh-poohing the move while Clemson fans clamor to go… While in the Green Lantern movie, they tossed in and abandoned little storylines and characters so that you didn’t know the reasons for anything culminating with Sinestro abruptly putting on the yellow “fear” ring at the very end of the movie. This after seeing Parallelax defeated by green willpower and hope.

I’ll stop there because I’m heading off on a major digression before even beginning.

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I believe there are people in the University of Pittsburgh Athletic Department, and in the school’s administration that read this site regularly. I try not to give too much advice, but…

Next July, when Pitt makes the move into the ACC. No videos. No “cute” gimmicks. Just a simple, understated splash page on the website to say, “Pitt is in the ACC.”

Why? No one is ever as clever as they think they are. Texas A&M drove that point home with this… this… thing.

This surfaced last night, and was immediate subject to such derision, that A&M pulled it around midnight central time. But it was too late. Having learned from the loss of TCU’s “Call Me, Maybe” video, it was quickly copied and survives to the everlasting shame of Texas A&M.

I’m trying to imagine what WVU has done for their move to the Big 12. Presumably it involves burning something.

Over the weekend, it was conference moving day. Teams officially switched conferences.

Temple is halfway there. In for Big East football in 2012. Everything else in 2013. VCU is in the A-10. Mizzou and Texas A&M to the SEC. And of course, TCU and WVU to the Big 12. Hoopies are happy to be in the Big 12. Especially instead of the ACC. They’re happy, dammit!

That’s a reminder that in one year, it will be another big moving day. Sure Boise State waited until the very last minute to formally tell the Mountain West that they would be splitting time in the Big West and Big East next year. You have the assorted C-USA teams moving from their place on Oriental Avenue to slightly more expensive property on St. Charles Place.

And of course, Pitt and Syracuse will make their move to the ACC.

Whether there will be any other new expansiopocolypse moves by this time next year remains to be seen. Lately, the only surprise is if there isn’t a move made.

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God bless, open records laws and states with decent FOIA-esque laws.

I reviewed the ND moving its non-football sports to the Big 12  fan fiction at the beginning of the week. Now we have the source for the “facts” in the story.

In a January memo to the Big 12 expansion committee, interim commissioner Chuck Neinas said Notre Dame is the only school the Big 12 could add that would “enhance the Big 12 value for television.”

The memo, obtained by The Oklahoman through an Open Records request, was sent to the committee as an agenda for a late January teleconference.

The expansion committee is made up of Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and Kansas State president Kirk Shulz.

Reading through the article, you can see where the Orangebloods story got each nugget.

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Ah, what is expansiopocolypse without the idea of Notre Dame making a move?

Last week, my favorite Big 12-based “throw-shit-against-the-wall” expansiopocolypse outlet, Chip Brown of Rivals.com’s Orangebloods had his latest. It was the big card: Notre Dame.

Two sources in the Big 12 said Wednesday the possibility of Notre Dame moving its Olympic sports out of the Big East and into the Big 12 is becoming more and more likely.

Speculation is growing among those sources that an announcement could come from South Bend before the end of the summer.

As part of such a move, Notre Dame, which has a contract with NBC to televise its home football games through the 2015 season, would agree to play up to six football games against Big 12 competition (but most likely three or so to start with), sources tell Orangebloods.com.

Notre Dame would maintain its independence in football … for now.

As far as speculative fiction goes, it was something of a doozy.  Reading the piece as a whole you can see it a couple ways.

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Frank the Tank has a very good post on ways the ACC can work to appease/keep FSU (and Clemson) in the fold. Some are simple fixes like the schedule issues and making sure to engage the faculties/academic side at both schools. The ND tie-in to the Orange Bowl also makes sense, and I’ve heard mentioned elsewhere. The divisional realignment to North-South (and designating Miami as “north”) makes a lot of sense, though, I suspect VT would be leading the fight against it as there is a reduced access to Georgia and the Carolinas for the North schools as a result. The ESPN part would be very important for the overall integrity of the conference, and would also reduce the risk of other schools running for lifeboats if there is a raid from the Big 12.

This is pretty simple: agree with ESPN that even if Florida State and Clemson leave, ESPN won’t reduce the value of the recently signed ACC TV contract (which averages a bit over $17 million per school per year).  There’s pretty clear precedent for this scenario with ESPN agreeing to do the same with the Big 12 in 2010 and then coming to an understanding with the Big 12 again in 2011 to have a new contract extension.  As I’ve noted in a previous post, the ACC is actually the single largest content provider to ESPN of any sports entity (whether college or pro), so there’s even less incentive for ESPN to see the ACC break apart compared to the Big 12 (with whom ESPN has a much more limited package) the last couple of years.  Contrary to what many fans seem to believe, ESPN has a significant interest in not seeing the formation of superconferences because they do not want to deal with concentrated power entities that have NFL-type negotiating leverage.  Dispersal of power is how ESPN is able to keep college sports rights fees somewhat in check.  (To put rights fees in perspective, the Big Ten, which is the wealthiest conference, currently receives about $100 million per year from ESPN/ABC for first tier rights.  By comparison, ESPN pays over $100 million per game to the NFL for Monday Night Football.)

The irony of this scenario is that would kick in over $2 million in TV money per year extra to each of the remaining 12 ACC schools, which would raise their total annual per school payouts to close to the $20 million level that the Big 12 is reportedly negotiating with ESPN and Fox.  So, Florida State and Clemson could end up leaving for more TV money in the Big 12, which would actually result in an increase in TV money for the rest of the ACC that would match what the Big 12 schools receive.  That would certainly be enough to take TV rights fees off the table as an issue for the remaining ACC members.

On the matter of the divisional changes, the opposition would be strongest from Virginia Tech and probably Maryland. VT loves the recruiting inroads it has made to the south and Maryland likely would not like to be further isolated from its original member schools. From a Pitt side of things, a shift would be fine. Having Maryland as an annual football game simply makes the most sense. Maryland will be the school closest to Pitt in the ACC and the ACC is setting things up for a Pitt-Maryland basketball rivalry. They just aren’t doing it from a football side as well.

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At the end of last week, Florida State had a regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meeting. Given all the rumors and everything that has been said, whispered, denied, backtracked, and so on; well, the meeting was going to get more scrutiny than usual.

And the news is not much. There is enough for both sides of the FSU and the Big 12 situation to maintain their own position. Most of the meeting is on-the-record, so for those insisting that FSU is definitely not heading to the Big 12 will point to the lack of discussions. Part of the meeting, though, was a closed-door session and it has been reported that expansiopocolypse was discussed.

A lot of credit on what follows should go to the FSU Rivals.com site, Warchant.com (which you would probably figure out based on the links). They really covered this thing. Ultimately, nothing appears any clearer. Personally, the implications coming from this meeting suggest there is little chance that FSU is going to give notice of bolting to the Big 12 this year. It doesn’t appear that all parties are going in the same direction at this point.

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Hey, I gave you nearly a week without an expansiopocolypse post.

Those who believe that FSU and Clemson/Miami/Georgia Tech/[random other team] are definitely going to the Big 12 aren’t phased by the sudden quiet of expansiopocolypse. This is merely the calm before all hell breaks loose by the end of July/beginning of August when the moves happen. That everyone is getting their ducks in a row. Things are being put in place. No one wants a lawsuit from the ACC against the Big 12 for tortious interference. That the other reason for the wait is finalizing the details of the TV deals is still ongoing.

Those don’t believe it is happening are pointing to the quiet as evidence that the whole thing was overblown. A creation of ignorance, simmering resentments and loud-mouthed boosters and trustees. That the abrupt silence after the Big 12 meetings have been dissected show that everyone is repositioning and rethinking things.

I have no idea. My working theory is that exapnsiopocolypse and the ACC/Big 12 isn’t going away, but it is a long-game. Not to be resolved this summer or even next. I, personally, believe the Big 12 is going to wait a year or two before doing anything. I actually believe part of what the Big 12 is saying, at least as far as catching their breath, simply because it makes the most sense. Their conference has radically changed in the last couple of years. The voting blocks, personalities, interests — and a new commissioner all need to see where things stand. That all suggests needing at least a year to work things out with one another. I also think there is a strong enough infatuation in the conference (beyond simply Texas) over the possibilities of Notre Dame that they will wait and see how that goes, especially with the coming playoffs.

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Please don’t read too much into this. The Big East filed a motion in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court to have the case removed to U.S. Federal District Court. Contrary to the very ill-informed headline, the case has not been transferred at this time.

In the lawsuit, filed May 11, Pitt seeks damages for several transactions it has had to make in its effort to leave the Big East. It seeks repayment of $250,000, for instance, that it had to pay another school to buy out their contract to play a home football game, when it had to cancel that game to make room for new conference member Texas Christian University.

The Big East’s court filing Monday said that since the conference and the school are in different states, and the amount in dispute is substantial, the case should be heard in federal court.

It is really such a minor legal motion considering this case will never get to trial. We all know this suit was filed to force the Big East to get the matter settled.

Still, to misunderstand that it is a motion is stupid. Not to mention it does not mention which District Court they want the case removed to. Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)?  Rhode Island? The lack of any actual information is annoying, but I don’t care enough to dig. The only thing that a move to U.S. District Court would allow is to make it easier to join or for Syracuse to join the case.

I may do some more on other aspects of the Big 12 meetings, TV deals and such, but I just want to get this portion out there.

The Big 12 has continued to claim that they have no interest in expanding. It has also been noted that the SEC claimed they had no interest in any other teams after taking Texas A&M as the 13th member. Then 3 weeks later Mizzou became the very obvious 14th team they were going to add. So, just because they say it, doesn’t mean it will stay that way beyond the moment they make the claim.

I wonder, though, if the Big 12’s denial of any planned expansion to 12 is driven much the same way that the Big 10 did not expand to 12 teams for 20-some years after taking Penn State as the 11th member: Waiting for Notre Dame.

We mock. We laugh at the thought. It seems like such a bad fit — academically, geography, reputation, and so on. It smacks of more Texas-driven arrogance that they believe they could land Notre Dame. It also smacks of a Texas long-term plan of at least luring ND to park all but football in the Big 12, to eventually become a full member. Or to be the wedge to let Texas go independent in football as well.

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With Big 12 and SEC meetings this week, expansiopocolypse talk picked up in the lead-in to the meetings. The meetings themselves were not supposed to result in any changes, but the chance for the media to talk to coaches and ADs would keep the story going.

That story has been a dud. The SEC has nothing to say on the matter. They just expanded to 14, so there really was no way that they were going to be doing anymore expansion. The Big 12, ah, now that should be where the story was.

Or not so much. Texas AD DeLoss Dodds said last week that he felt that there was no need for any expansion right now (unless Notre Dame came calling). Outgoing temp Big 12 Commissioner Chuck Neinas also suggested strongly that the Big 12 would be best served to stay settled and stabilized for a while after all the upheaval to the conference over the last couple years. Even the newbies at TCU want to wait. Heck,the incoming Big 12 Commissioner has been on record for over 2 weeks as saying he is no hurry to expand.

Now that the meetings are underway, any cracks?

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