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Which conference will be the first to expand to 16 teams?

Which conference expands to 16 first?

  • ACC

    Votes: 8 21.6%

  • Big 10

    Votes: 15 40.5%

  • Big 12

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Pac-12

    Votes: 1 2.7%

  • SEC

    Votes: 13 35.1%
  • Total voters
    37
Buffnik

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
ACC, SEC, B1G are all at 14.

ACC has a deal with Notre Dame that if the Irish drop independence for football between now and 2027 that they will go ACC. Any move for them would hinge on that possibility. If ND wants to join, the ACC quickly adds someone else (UConn?) to get to 16. Texas would look to join with ND if certain things shake out since the ACC is the one conference that is cool with independent media deals.

SEC makes no secret that it would go to 16, but is in no hurry. What would drive them would be if Oklahoma, North Carolina or Texas wanted in.

B1G might want to expand its footprint. Another raid of the ACC by taking Boston College to get that media market? No doubt that most ACC folks would welcome that. Also some chatter about Oklahoma/Kansas.

Pac-12 would have to add 4 teams all at once. Chancellors rejected Oklahoma/Oklahoma State. They would have probably said yes if it had been Oklahoma/Kansas. No doubt the league would take Texas if it was on the table (academic standing, media market, recruiting grounds, athletic excellence), but there would seem to be too many obstacles.

Big 12 is only at 10 teams and no one outside of AAC, MWC and C-USA level programs has any interest in joining that conference. That makes it damn difficult to add a program that increases prestige or revenue. More likely that this is the conference that gets poached and then survives as something almost unrecognizable as compared to the Big 12 of 2009.
 
During the summer doldrums when various fan bases get all jacked up about that latest internet expansion rumor I recall seeing something that seemed to imply that if the Acc didn't have their own network up and running by 2017 that there would be a legal out regarding the Gor. If true our boy Larry needs to get creative, think outside the box, be aggressive and strike first. Seeing as their is absolutely no one out west who move's the $20+ million dollar meter the Pac should add Fsu, Um, Gt and Uh to get to 16. Offer them Fb only or Fb and Mbb/Wbb. They can park their olympic sports in another conference closer to home. If the Pac sits on it's heels the B10 will probably add Uva and Unc, the Sec would add NCst and Vt, while the B12 would add Fsu, Um, Gt, Clemson and a couple of others leaving the Pac in the dust and at such a finical disadvantage that we would be in some sort of college football nether world between being P5(P3) and G5.

Plus this would give the Pac schools in almost all the major growing markets. The Pac would be at a distinct advantage vs other conferences in this regard. This bs of where cable companies can charge you for content you don't want is not going to last forever.
 
A lot of the expansion will be on hold until the cable networks get interested in paying out big bucks for sports with the threat of unbundling out there. I do not see the networks offering big contracts at the moment and that is what drove expansion before. Cord cutting is accelerating and in 2015 MVPD subscribers — "multichannel video programming distributor," the year over year growth went negative. Many people already believe that sports programming is too expensive.
 
B1G makes a move to grab for UNC and UVA. ACC responds with Notre Dame signing up for full membership. WVU and UConn make a strong push to come along, the ACC flirts with Texas and ultimately pulls the coup de grace, getting Penn State to defect.
 
UNC and UVA linking up with the B1G would be so weird. It feels entirely out of place despite the rumor that floats every now and then. Maryland's AD was in a dire situation and needed to make the gamble. Culture of UMD developed into something very different as well since the early ACC days. Big, big difference between UVA/UNC and UMD.
 
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hokiehead said:
B1G makes a move to grab for UNC and UVA. ACC responds with Notre Dame signing up for full membership. WVU and UConn make a strong push to come along, the ACC flirts with Texas and ultimately pulls the coup de grace, getting Penn State to defect.
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Why would Penn State leave the B1G for the ACC. It would be a step down in prestige and likely in money.
 
MtnBuff said:
Why would Penn State leave the B1G for the ACC. It would be a step down in prestige and likely in money.
Click to expand...

Besides that, they'd never be in the same conference as Pitt. They prefer to pretend that school doesn't exist.
 
MtnBuff said:
Why would Penn State leave the B1G for the ACC. It would be a step down in prestige and likely in money.
Click to expand...

Worth noting that in the 90s, the ACC was simply beaten to it by the B1G. The ACC wanted Penn State but did not expect the B1G to move so quickly and grab them first (it was contentious: the B1G barely accepted PSU. Razor thin. Michigan was among the anti-PSU ringleaders. It came down to within 1 vote of accepting them, IIRC). PSU fits in with the B1G culture pretty nicely now, but they were a weird outlier for a while and still aren't fully accepted by many B1G old timers. PSU would have fit in the ACC decently and it would have been a counterweight to FSU that the ACC so desperately needed. Could make a case PSU would have a fuller trophy case had they gone the ACC route, as well.
 
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ACC: +Notre Dame +UCONN +WVU
B1G: +Kansas +KSU
Big 12: +Houston +Memphis +CSU +UCF +USF
SEC:+Louisville +Clemson
Pac 12: +New Mexico +UNLV +SDSU +BYU
 
Personally, I'd be fine with WVU. Eers have great support - actually exceptional for a state of 1.85 million. Louisville has been added so the academic line is now BS. WVU already rivals with Pitt, VT, UVA. I could see there being some strong resistance from certain corners, though.

As for UConn, please, god no. Sure, hoops would be fun, but there's only so many Northeastern schools that don't give a **** about football that one conference can take.
 
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