(05-29-2023 02:09 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(05-29-2023 10:35 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(05-28-2023 07:53 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(05-28-2023 07:32 PM)ken d Wrote:  There were lots of rumors, but Notre Dame and Texas to the ACC wasn't exactly a credible one. For ESPN to "offer" to put those two in the ACC suggests that they actually had the ability to do that. Then, as now, Notre Dame has consistently held to the position that they were committed to independence. And it would not have been the first time that Texas flashed some leg to seduce someone into thinking they had an offer just to wring some concession out of them. I don't believe either of those moves were ever going to happen. And I suspect ACC members didn't believe it either.

No Ken. There was a whole process going on around it from 2010 until 2011 when it suddenly died on the ACC end of things. It would likely have died of complications from too many moving parts even if it hadn't been rejected way into the process. It Involved 4 schools coming in, 2 schools leaving, and two networks launching within a year of each other. The SEC had spent the better part of a year soft soaping the expectations of SEC fans. It was real, there was no mention of partial memberships at the time for anyone, but it died, and as all things in realignment if it fails, it never happened.

Dodds at Texas had referenced it to a booster luncheon when he told the donors that Texas was looking East and at the time he wasn't talking about the SEC. A&M and Missouri were the two pieces that came through for the SECN.

Then if you'll remember Clemson and FSU to the SEC appeared on the ESPN crawler and it stayed that way for about 3 days until N.D. pitched the partial deal and keeping the football first schools were part of their precondition for the partial membership. When ESPN pulled that they promised Slive full carriage for the SECN at the open and delivered it.

I guess what I am saying is that this wasn't so much a bonafide offer that the ACC foolishly rejected as it was a trial balloon floated by ESPN. In the end, the two whales got what they wanted (for ND a great home for their Olympic sports and for UT a lucrative side hustle (the LHN) they didn't have to share with anybody.

Nah it was a real thing. ESPN's concept was two major conferences of relatively equal branding to pit against one another as rivals. That would fuel the ACCN and SECN and help ESPN corner the most competitive product in the most productive markets. When that was rejected the emphasis was to still find a way to shelter Texas and Oklahoma in an ESPN held property, which is why I think ESPN was willing to buy all of the SEC's rights, beat out CBS, and land that pair under their full rights umbrella. It is also why I wouldn't be surprised if Kansas and Notre Dame found a way into the SEC whether completely in Kansas's case or partially if not completely in Notre Dame's case. ESPN still wants what it wants. And it has other wants as well, but those are the next two top value prizes, worth more than any ACC full member including FSU.

I'm not sure it was ever real to ND and UT. I suspect both of them used ESPN and the SEC . Notre Dame has always wanted to keep its football program independent, and I can't see Texas really wanting to leave all its natural (regional) rivals for a conference in which they didn't have a single rival and for which they wouldn't be the Queen Bee.