CatsClaw Wrote:Exactly! People who think that the ACC was expanding to match the Pac-10 model are crazy. The ACC had their sites set on being another SEC. That's why they added a championship game and they wanted an SEC-style television contract. And they are, for the most part, a southern conference so they compete head-to-head against the SEC in many parts. And the SEC was getting stronger and the ACC was getting weaker. So they tried to copy the SEC. If they wanted to be the Pac-10 they wouldn't have added a championship game. They would have just scooped up Miami and stayed at 10. No, they wanted to be a juggernaut and they knew that the SEC had the south locked up so they wanted to be a force in the South AND the Northeast and figured, if they can't beat the SEC head-to-head they can surround them. That failed miserably. They got a great T.V. contract but the SEC is still the big dog in the South...
I do not believe the Championship Game has any real baring on the difference between the two models the ACC struggled with as they expanded.
As I see it, the struggle was more of a cultural one for the conference. The SEC is a true southern conference with very little regard for academics and its focus almost exclusively on football and the fans are beer-and-bbq. The Pac-10 is a 'wine-and-cheese' conference with a heavy emphasis on academics and excellence throughout all of its sports and a more sprawling geographical outreach.
The original concept of ACC expansion was to make it the Pac-10 of the Atlantic Coast. They didn't want to be like the SEC because no matter how good they were they were never going to truly control the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina where the two leagues overlap simply because the bulk of their fans are more like the wine-and-cheese crowd of the Pac-10 then true southern fans. And look at the original targets - Miami, BC, and SU - again, mostly "wine-and-cheese" type fans.
However, some presidents within the ACC actually preferred the SEC model (FSU, Clemson, and GT) and therefore when Virginia, UNC, and Duke threw up roadblocks to expansion, they helped VT (another SEC type school) get in to the league. They even stopped at 11 to try and look at other possible entries such as Florida and Georgia, though both rebuffed the ACC rather quickly.
And yes, Notre Dame was the most notable #12 target, but the Irish were more a leftover of the Pac-10 on steroids original vision who they were in talks with prior to the plans even switching.
Ultimately what the ACC got was a hybrid of the two visions, SEC-lite with a northern satellite in Boston. It's still too soon to say if the compromise is a success or a failure, but the early returns have not been good on the field and if that continues, the early success in terms of revenue will likely drop.
Quote:...and the Big East is still the big dog in the Northeast. And with the Big East locking down all of these Northeast television deals with MSG and SNY and other Northeast and Midwest regional areas (places that the ACC thought they could get) then the ACC is back to square one in that regard. Swofford wanted the South and Northeast, that's why he wanted Syracuse. Syracuse was the key in this, they knew if they could get New York they could get the Northeast. The Big East kept Syracuse and, with the rest of the Big East, we kept the Northeast. Not only that, thanks to the ACC's raid, the Big East now has a presence in the Midwest (Big Ten territory) and a presence in the south (SEC territory), and we're having no problem co-existing with the Big Ten and SEC and we're blossoming because of it. Funny how things work out huh?
Well, the ACC hasn't been totally blocked out of the Northeast. Thanks to BC they have a similar deal with NESN as the Big East has with SNY, and they also have some programming on MASN as well, just like the Big East.
However, I do agree with your last statement. I especially think that the adding of South Florida has done more for the Big East keeping a similar presence in Florida as the Big East had with the Hurricanes than the addition of Miami to the ACC has had in narrowing the gap between the ACC and the SEC in terms of fan support in that state. Also the addition of Cincinnati has opened up new recruiting territory in the state of Ohio that will benefit the league in the long run.
Cheers,
Neil