BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

The ACC recently increased the member buyouts to $20 million. Moreover, it was unianimously approved. Further proof that no one is leaving the ACC right now.

 

Except the original proposal was a $34 million buyout and Florida State and Maryland negotiated it down to $20 million. I bet FSU would jump to the SEC in a second if offered, but I don't think an offer is coming. Maryland, an AAU school, is one of the few real options for the Big Ten if that conference decides to go to 16.


As far as ECU goes, it will never be UNC or NC State in terms of interest, even if it goes to the Big East. But I have to imagine the likes of Georgetown, UConn, etc. coming to town for hoops would get a lot more attention than Tulane. Weirdly enough, a depleted Big East might not do anything for football interest. They already get Virginia Tech and West Virginia to come to town every so often. The big thing would be a possible path to a BCS game.

 

True. They schedule pretty well for a mid-major -- this year they have Virginia Tech and UNC at home and South Carolina in Charlotte. They've had West Virginia, Miami and the other North Carolina ACC schools come in too. The coming schedules are not complete yet but Virginia Tech returns in 2013. Basketball sucks, but is it really any worse than South Florida?

 

Jake, you're under the assumption that ECU actually cares about hoops. It pretends to, but won't unless on a bandwagon basis. Minges will not be full for the 10-18 annual campaign.

ECU has been in a death spiral of firing basketball coaches every 3-4 years. It wants a winner and obviously Terry Holland's background will make that more of a point of emphasis than he'll probably admit.

But football-wise, yes, ECU sees the Big East as a BCS in. Hard to blame the school.

If Tallahassee and College Park negotiated the buyout down to $20 million, that is interesting. But still ... was there some peer pressure to vote on it if they really didn't want to? I know ... all for one and one for all ... but Texas laughs at that notion ...

 

He now works for the Pac-12, which just signed the richest TV deal in history, shares revenue equally, and is starting its own TV network. And probably laughing as the Big 12 fades into oblivion.

 

Lebo got ECU a winning record for the first time since 1996-97. Long way to go, but they might be on the right track. But yeah, they've not been a great draw, even in their early CUSA days when Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis and Marquette were coming to town.

 

The schools you mentioned aren't even in the same ballpark as TCU in support right now. Rice drew 25,000 for the Purdue game. That may be their best home crowd of the year (unless Texas is coming again or if this is their year to host UH). SMU barely had 20k for its last home game and is averaging 23k coming off its best season in a quarter century. UH barely got over 30k to see it beat UCLA to improve to 3-0. UTEP routinely draws in the low-to-mid 20s. North Texas? Are you kidding? They may get outdrawn by Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State, although they'll probably have, by their standards, a good crowd for the Indiana game.

Look, things started picking up for TCU in about 2008. Let's see what happens as this season develops and they are (as they appear to be) more of a 9-3, 10-2 second-tier bowl team than the unbeaten Rose Bowl winner they were last year. They drew 32k for UL-Monroe, which is an awful opponent. If they don't do much better than that on a week-by-week basis, I might agree with you.

But to me, their support is what a lot of BCS conference teams would experience if they had their BCS lifeline taken away and probably a hell of a lot better than what a lot of BCS teams would have if they were out of the BCS "insider's club". Take Baylor or Northwestern or Iowa State or any number of BCS teams. Take away the annual games they host against top teams in their league and their ability to use those games as leverage to force sales to lesser games ("the only way we can guarantee a ticket to the Michigan game is through a season ticket or through a "multipack" that also includes tickets to the Eastern Michigan and Austin Peay games"), and what would their attendance numbers be? Some of them -- many of them, I'd bet -- would be jealous of TCU's current numbers.

 

Just because there is a buyout figure mentioned doesn't mean that will be what's paid. It's just a starting point for negotiations. I'm pretty sure Colorado and Nebraska bargained down their Big 12 buyout number.

 

Brian, your post raises many of the issues which an antitrust investigation of the BCS and the FBS would quickly reveal. They could soon all be called the Big Treble Damages Conference.

 

I agree with all the above. But while one season can help trigger a turnaround, it's not exactly resurrection, not even at East Carolina.

 

This is why I really believe the commissioners won't do anything that will result in any current BCS teams getting shutout. You don't want former allies deciding to testify against you in an antitrust investigation.

 

He also left the Big 12 to go start up the Big Ten Network.