The Conference Realignment Vigil- Update: Terps to Big10?

[Duvall]

Unsurprisingly, an ESPN columnist suggest that it would make sense for Notre Dame to join a league with a long-term deal with ESPN.

So now the ACC is just waiting for the paperwork from Notre Dame and we're good to go, right?

Not exactly. But the ACC, which is getting a major blood transfusion from Big East defectors, remains the leader in the Notre Dame clubhouse -- if the Irish decide to give up their precious indie status.

The ACC will continue to do its expansion dance with UConn and Rutgers as the conference's 15th and 16th teams, but Notre Dame is its obvious prime target. Then UConn and Rutgers would have a death-cage match for the remaining ACC spot.

Don't know if you noticed, but the new athletic director at North Carolina is Bubba Cunningham, a Notre Dame grad and former ND associate AD.

Wake Forest president Nathan Hatch is a former Notre Dame provost and history professor. All three of his kids are ND grads.

Duke athletic director Kevin White came to Durham from -- wait for it -- Notre Dame.

Gene Corrigan, a former Notre Dame AD and former ACC commissioner, lives in ACC country (Charlottesville, Va.) and remains a valuable resource.

Those are a lot of dots to connect, but the point is this: Notre Dame will have a safe, comfortable academic and sports haven if it joins the ACC, especially if you divide the 16-team conference into something like this:

North: Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, UConn, Maryland, Boston College, Virginia and Virgina Tech.
South: Duke, Carolina, Miami, Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Wake Forest and Florida State.

Truth is, ND's division is more Big East than ACC, which is what the Irish would prefer anyway. Major parts of their alumni base and recruiting are located in the Northeast markets.

Meanwhile, the Big East is doomed. Notre Dame, which is a member of the league in all sports but football, won't stick around for the wake. Combine that with a possible future change in the postseason football dynamic, and the Irish could be in options mode.

[A-Tex Devil]

Unsurprisingly, an ESPN columnist suggest that it would make sense for Notre Dame to join a league with a long-term deal with ESPN.

Chip Brown reported that there is a serious offer on the table where the Big XII would bring in ND as a non-football member and ND would agree to schedule 5-6 Big XII teams in football per year.

Notre Dame will likely decide what to do within 60 days according same report.

[Duvall]

Chip Brown reported that there is a serious offer on the table where the Big XII would bring in ND as a non-football member and ND would agree to schedule 5-6 Big XII teams in football per year.

Notre Dame will likely decide what to do within 60 days according same report.

5-6 games a year? With 7 games they could have saved the Big East.

Too late now.

[ForkFondler]

5-6 games a year? With 7 games they could have saved the Big East.

Too late now.

They can still save most if it under a new name, the ACC North.

[A-Tex Devil]

5-6 games a year? With 7 games they could have saved the Big East.

Too late now.

I don't think I completely buy Chip Brown's report. I think one of the reasons ND doesn't want to go to a conference in football, which is a byproduct of their "fierce independence," is that they don't want to be permanently locked into annual games with low-profile teams or at low-profile locations. In the ACC (for football), that's MD, Duke, NC State, Wake. It's worse in the Big XII where Ames, Manhattan, Lawrence (for football), Lubbock, Stillwater, and Waco are not exactly hot tourist spots, nor are they must see football venues like you see in the SEC and the ACC.

Why commit yourself to playing anyone besides OU and Texas on an annual basis. I highly doubt ND's fans would buy that. On the other hand, a similar deal in the ACC might be attractive. Yeah, you don't want to play MD every year, but a trip to DC is nice. Same with the triangle teams. Clemson and FSU are great places to go on football road trips, etc. etc.

[OldPhiKap]

5-6 games a year? With 7 games they could have saved the Big East.

Too late now.

Geno, is that you? ;>)

[OldPhiKap]

DeCoursey says the smart folks in the ND admin know that indie status is a dead end, but they don't want to upset the donors:

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-bas...g-a-conference

(sorry if this is posted earlier)

[budwom]

I agree with this. My sense is that the ACC is patient and willing to sit at 14 teams for a bit, in part because ND is still out there. UConn, despite the gut dislike from many Duke fans, would increase the level of play in several sports and bring part of the NYC/CT/New England market.

Not sure where people get the info that MD and Duke back UCONN's bid...

[Class of '94]

Chip Brown reported that there is a serious offer on the table where the Big XII would bring in ND as a non-football member and ND would agree to schedule 5-6 Big XII teams in football per year.

Notre Dame will likely decide what to do within 60 days according same report.

Going to the Big 12 however would hurt their ability to play in the Northeast where they have a strong alumni and recruiting base. I doubt Brey would trade going to the NY area for playing in Lawrence and Austin on a regular basis.

I hope the ND alumni base will wake up and stop living in the past; they need to realize ND is not the football power it once was. It's a good program but not a great program as evidenced by loss to USC this past weekend and whispers that the ND players quit in that game. As I said before, I would love it if ND could work with the ACC to develop a transistion plan in which ND would join the ACC in all sports over the next 3-5 yrs. That way ND could ease their alumini and fan base into the idea no longer being a football independent while secruing a home for all their olympic sports within a stable conference like the ACC.

[TexHawk]

I don't think I completely buy Chip Brown's report. I think one of the reasons ND doesn't want to go to a conference in football, which is a byproduct of their "fierce independence," is that they don't want to be permanently locked into annual games with low-profile teams or at low-profile locations. In the ACC (for football), that's MD, Duke, NC State, Wake. It's worse in the Big XII where Ames, Manhattan, Lawrence (for football), Lubbock, Stillwater, and Waco are not exactly hot tourist spots, nor are they must see football venues like you see in the SEC and the ACC.

Why commit yourself to playing anyone besides OU and Texas on an annual basis. I highly doubt ND's fans would buy that. On the other hand, a similar deal in the ACC might be attractive. Yeah, you don't want to play MD every year, but a trip to DC is nice. Same with the triangle teams. Clemson and FSU are great places to go on football road trips, etc. etc.

ND to the B12 will never happen. But in this dream world, KU/KSU would have to play ND at Arrowhead. And Stillwater is not that bad (and improving).

But yea, agreed on Lubbock, Ames, and Waco.

[OldPhiKap]

Not sure where people get the info that MD and Duke back UCONN's bid...

I don't know whether they do or not. I know BC is kinda hostile to it for several reasons.

[BD80]

I don't think I completely buy Chip Brown's report. I think one of the reasons ND doesn't want to go to a conference in football, which is a byproduct of their "fierce independence," is that they don't want to be permanently locked into annual games with low-profile teams or at low-profile locations. In the ACC (for football), that's MD, Duke, NC State, Wake. It's worse in the Big XII where Ames, Manhattan, Lawrence (for football), Lubbock, Stillwater, and Waco are not exactly hot tourist spots, nor are they must see football venues like you see in the SEC and the ACC.

Why commit yourself to playing anyone besides OU and Texas on an annual basis. I highly doubt ND's fans would buy that. On the other hand, a similar deal in the ACC might be attractive. Yeah, you don't want to play MD every year, but a trip to DC is nice. Same with the triangle teams. Clemson and FSU are great places to go on football road trips, etc. etc.

ND currently plays Air Force, Navy, Army, Pitt, Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State each year. USC is the only "hot tourist spot." ND does not have the same cache in the south, andI believe the ND alum would prefer East Coast competition to Southwest.


Looks like the Big East is losing WVU to the Big 12 - big hit in football and bball. I think it is a good fit for WVU and the Big 12.

As the dominos fall, the Big East is being gutted.

[rthomas]

The Big 12 visits Morgantown, WV tomorrow for a news conference.

The Big 12′s Board of Directors had meeting Tuesday to detail the transition from Missouri to WVU, according to a Big 12 source. Officials from that conference will be on WVU’s campus Wednesday for a press conference to make an official announcement.

http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/WVUSports/201110250055

[OldPhiKap]

ND currently plays Air Force, Navy, Army, Pitt, Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State each year. USC is the only "hot tourist spot."

Not to mention at Wake this year, followed by Maryland and BC going to South Bend.

They also play Stanford.

[senkiri]

Chip Brown reported that there is a serious offer on the table where the Big XII would bring in ND as a non-football member and ND would agree to schedule 5-6 Big XII teams in football per year.

Notre Dame will likely decide what to do within 60 days according same report.

This strikes me as the same stalking horse kind of leak that the Texas-to-the-ACC rumors were, especially given the number of Big12 games being discussed... Hopefully this means the ND administration is no longer comfortable remaining in the now-decimated Big East for its non-football sports. If the ND alumni/boosters realize that keeping independence means 6 games in the Big12 and a lot less on the East Coast they might be more amenable to giving it up. A bluff/leak along these lines could also be an effort to make the ACC think it has other options in a last-ditch effort to retain its football independence by again trying to get the ACC to allow them to join in all sports but football. Hopefully this is just the prelude to ND feeling forced into joining the ACC fully...

Or at least that is the way my realignment-addled and ACC-biased brain is seeing it...

[A-Tex Devil]

ND to the B12 will never happen. But in this dream world, KU/KSU would have to play ND at Arrowhead. And Stillwater is not that bad (and improving).

But yea, agreed on Lubbock, Ames, and Waco.

I didn't think about this. You may be on to something. I think ND to Big XII *could* happen in all sports besides football (but never for full membership in football). In fact, I think the Big XII is more likely to sell themselves out for something like that than the ACC who may stand firm and require football too like it did in 2003. But I think it's just as likely ND stays with the "catholic" Big East schools in some kind of new conference.

But if part of that deal was ND playing 5-6 Big XII teams per year on top of the Army/Navy/Air Force/Mich/Mich St./Purdue/USC/Stanford (the last of which is a rivalry that could be ended), big stadiums might be the way to go.

Iowa St/ND in Chicago
KSU/KU in KC
OSU/TCU/Baylor in Jerry World

Edited to add -- if ND could be guaranteed 2 games in Texas every year at an NFL stadium, they'd have to be enticed, right?

[A-Tex Devil]

ND currently plays Air Force, Navy, Army, Pitt, Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State each year. USC is the only "hot tourist spot." ND does not have the same cache in the south, andI believe the ND alum would prefer East Coast competition to Southwest.

I don't disagree with any of this. And the "locked into to crappy away games" is something I've only heard ND fans complain about, but they've done so loudly. Notre Dame does NOT want to have to be tied down to travelling to Ames and Manhattan every other year.

That said, it's not just tourist hot spots. It's also football meccas and game experiences. That's why away games against the service academies, Michigan, USC, etc. are appealing. Say what you want about quality of football, I've seen games at all 3 service academies, and it's awesome.

Same with away games to SEC schools.

[Duvall]

Mark Blaudschun - for entertainment purposes only.

The ACC has already said that while it has no current plans to go beyond 14 schools, it would not be adverse to increasing to 16 if Notre Dame (in all sports) is part of the package.

The sticking point in that discussion is the lucrative television contract which Notre Dame has with NBC, which runs through the 2015 season and pays the Irish between $15 and $16 million dollars per year. Preliminary talks of extending that pact have begun, while Notre Dame officials are talking to the ACC about allowing Notre Dame to maintain its contract for home games with NBC and still join the ACC in all the other sports.

If ACC officials bend sufficiently on that issue, Notre Dame could seriously consider giving up its independent status in football. If Notre Dame does agree, the ACC would then need a 16th school which would include the University of Connecticut as the probable leader in the clubhouse. Such a move would solidify the ACC's quest to become the best conference in college basketball.

[OldPhiKap]

Mark Blaudschun - for entertainment purposes only.

Wow. If true, that is a deal that could get done.

[Duvall]

Wow. If true, that is a deal that could get done.

I'm sure it's mostly speculation at this point.