What the…
This immediately flags two things in my mind:
- The ACC is about to die, if this is true. I’m guessing with the Big 12 gaining four members, this could signal that the SEC could add a few more teams and become and we’re about to have three mega conference between the BIGs and the SEC. Maybe the Carolinas and Virginias join, idk.
- If you ever wondered if there’s substantially more money involved in the conference realignment craze, the fact that Notre Dame is considering joining from their long stint with independence should tell you all you need to know.
I get “private equity” can supply lots of money, but what would its interest be? How do the investors get a ROI? External ownership/interest in the money flow seems pretty unusual to me. If a tv deal is in the cards why would the need for infusion/interference? Why agree to share the proceeds? Would the idea be to provide start up money to flood the recruiting market and use that to cash in on a tv deal tbd that maintains the money flow? Don’t they know “it means more” and the sec will find a way?
My guess is that private equity would take a 49% interest to maintain the last shred of the the walking corpse that is the “collegiate” model. But no doubt, they and their allies will control the board. And they will boost ROI, no doubt, because they will take negotiating out of the hands of conference commissioners and AD’s, who aren’t getting full value when negotiating media contracts and advertising rates. Look forward to the Delta Airlines logo emblazoned on the UGA jersey by 2028.
the way to get ROI is to cut all the useless folks that are in the AAs. No more Assistant ADs for useless departments like academic achievement now all will be focused on winning cause that brings the monetary value…
uva, va tech, wolfpack, heels…c’mon down
ga tech…gulf south conf is on line 1
I guess we could use uva as another homecoming toad.
suddenly, there is some thought the SEC doesn’t want FSU or Clemson, because they really add nothing from a tv value standpoint. The big 10 doesn’t want them because they aren’t AAU members and won’t fit academically.
while I suppose they make sense from a cultural standpoint, it’s mostly about the money. I read the SEC would take UNC and UVA. I would happily reject FSU and Clemson. Also some thought TAMU and maybe Missouri would bolt to the big 10 (the former as a FTMF at Texas move, the latter as a We may be too genteel for the SEC thing). I’d wave goodbye and beg them to take Texas and OU.
”The ACC is about to die …”
Wouldn’t that be ironic that both conferences who decided to enable Kevin Warren and the B1G’s temper tantrum may be gone? One at the hand of Kevin Warren and one at the hand of the league that decided they weren’t going to go quietly.
Say what you want about Brett Yormark, but if he pulls this off, he is truly the Harry Houdini of sports executives. Can you imagine what the Big 12 would be if Bob Bowlsby were still in charge?
I honestly believed Yormark was on the verge of PAC’ing himself out of a job. But look at this….nice run to salvage the conference, and now possibly turning it into a seasonal contender
Yes, future business school case studies will feature the strategic plans of Brett Yormark vs. Larry Scott.
Until the check comes due to PE, this sounds lovely. I don’t think this will end well.
I think this is crazy with PE being involved. My point is more about the fact that the Pac 12 and ACC hooked their fortunes to the B1G and now it’s possible that decision may be the cause of death for both conferences.
If everyone had agreed to the expanded playoff, both conferences would have probably survived. Maybe not, but I would tend to think USC and UCLA probably don’t leave the Pac 12 as a result if they knew they had a playoff path for their conference champion.
Definitely would have taken more time to evolve/unravel.
This has to be a Twitter joke. No way Notre Dame does this.
If Notre Dame, after years as a staunch proud independent and its public messaging about the importance of its academics, decides to join a conference with Oklahoma State, UCF (fucking UCF!), and West Virginia, this roast is cooked. The sport now is based on nothing but the never-ending chase for money with everything else that has made college football great now just memory fuel to take our money to pretend it is the before-times. I hope the Big-12 enjoys getting inevitably fucked over by the Patagonia-vest private equity crowd.
It has always been about money … ND got the best of both worlds. They got a share of the ACC TV money for their other sports and were able to keep the NBC money for themselves. Now they don’t have another solution … the ACC media rights deal sucks for them to join for football, but they want a path to a potential CFP bye.
On private equity, I have no idea what’s in it for name your firm.
Could there be a power play/plan at $take, with these four telling the world, come one, come all, “We are open for bidness”….#ASTHECONFERENCETURNS!!
UNC, NC State, Virginia Tech & …. Duke
The first 3 for their state TV footprints … Duke for NYC, New Jersey and hoops. All the while, this keeps the SEC geographically contiguous.
Makes a lot more sense than OU and Tex. (also, TA&M & Missouri)
There are a lot of eyes between Washington DC and New York.
Much less travel time and it just makes more sense.
I can see all but ND doing this but ND is crazy to do it. The B1G would take them in a minute if they wanted to join. I see this as a short term solution for FSU, Miami and Clemson to get out of the ACC but in the long term it will bite them in the butt. Venture capitalists are not in it for the long term, they will have an exit strategy before they even get in. These College AD’s are like sheep being led to the slaughter.
this was a made up tweet.
Possibly the Notre Dame element, but there’s been several reports floating around that the ACC schools are looking to jump ship.
If ND can make the move for their other sports revenue-neutral, get a large piece of the PE cash infusion, get access to a CFP bye and have some form of an NBC contract, they’ll join a conference in a minute.
not possibly. If you read the thread the guy says he made it up. If you read all his responses to others in the thread you can tell he is just ducking around because he is bored.
Remove ND and maybe. Including them makes this sound just made up talking season click bait. Like others here I see no value to the league adding the mistake by the lake or Free Shoes U. If this possibility somehow hurts GT I support that. I’ll add Auburn still sucks and for RR FTMF at FU.
Clemson lost its appeal to dismiss the ACC’s lawsuit against them yesterday. Things will get interesting.
I heard somewhere that the owner of Nike told Coach Lanning to not worry about money. He would cover any cost. He said he was 85 years old and wanted to win another national championship in his life time.
That would take a lot of pressure off Lanning or put a lot more pressure on him, I am not sure which.
I guess that is one way of doing it.
Another?