(08-07-2021 08:04 AM)ThunderDent Wrote: It’s sad to me that this is what CFB has become.
The greatest reason you had viewership in the past, as well as fan interest in the first place…
Is rivalry. Plain and simple. It’s what moves the needle.
Everyone is so analytical anymore about markets and advertising, we’ve lost what CFB is all about.
It’s sad.
The Midas touch of corporate America, take that which is loved in life and turn it into gold thus killing it.
There are no expansion candidates for the ACC which add significantly and Terry D is correct in that should ND be forced to join for playoff inclusion in some future system then they will do so where it pays them the most and that's not the ACC. Their relationship with the ACC is symbiotic only.
If you crunch numbers and filter through academic standards you will find that Washington, USC, Stanford and UCLA are the only PAC schools which could add any revenue to the current B1G payouts (when adjusted for media revenue disparity) and that the strongest, UW, would enter the current B10 in 7th earning position. So minus added travel this scenario is DOA and leaving an untampered PAC 12 is in the B1G's self interest. The B12 has nothing left that adds value as Kansas doesn't come close enough to paying their way in, under the NCAA hoops control, and the only SEC school that might consider them, Missouri, doesn't cover itself either.
In the ACC the candidates which add revenue are 4 with one revenue neutral:
Notre Dame, Florida State, Louisville, Clemson, and neutral Miami.
None of them are worth it without Notre Dame as gains would be minimal. The best pairing is Notre Dame / FSU. After the academic filter it's Notre Dame / Miami and Miami has a large Northern diaspora to assist, FSU not so much in the Panhandle.
If ND says no, the B1G is out of options.
The ACC can't poach the SEC, B1G or PAC because they either can't offer enough or what they could offer won't cover travel. Kansas and TCU can add a little but both would be outliers.
The SEC has everything it wants and wouldn't expand unless ND came knocking and right now why would they? Push for restrictive playoffs instead of expansion like the PAC has hinted and ND is forced and the most money and best recruiting access is in the SEC, not the B1G.
So the new SEC is now N.D.'s best ally to keep independence. Push them and they join us, likely with FSU. Do that and the gap grows. Leave them alone and give them access and the ACC remains as is, and so too do the PAC and B10. We wind up with a P4, likely with an 8 team playoff (4 champs and 4 at large). Yes we really have a P2+ and a P2 but that's preferable to a P1 and a Psub3. There's your upper tier. Maybe the PAC picks up Kansas and TCU but that's about it. I think unless networks just decide to toss money for an NFL model realignment is over now for quite some time.