50 Million: The only number that matters to the ACC

Some bottom line stuff here for you folks. There is no other way to say this and you may disagree but this is a close to a fact as there is. If Maryland finds a way to reduce the ACC exit fee to anything other than 50 million, say 25 or 30 million, the ACC is done, over, turn out the lights the party is over. The problem the ACC has got is that the discrepancy in money between the SEC, B10, B12, Pac-12 and the ACC has just become too much.

November 19, 2012;College Par, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins coaches Randy Edsall (right) Brett Nelligan (center) and Missy Meharg (left) look on during the Big Ten Press Conference at Adele Stamp Union. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-US PRESSWIRE

If those leagues come calling colleges have no choice but to listen. Money is what makes the world go round and it is certainly the end goal of college sports currently. For this reason the ACC has almost become as unstable as the Big East because of money and the fact some ACC members are very attractive to other leagues. There are six to eight members of the ACC that other leagues would give up
members just to have. Maryland can be replaced in the ACC but without ND’s full membership the ACC will not be able to demand a TV contract that is lucrative enough to keep other members from leaving.

If the exit fee is lowered and the ACC can not quickly convince ND to become a full member here is what will happen folks. First off FSU and Clemson are B12 bound and they will likely take GT with them. All three of those schools have SEC brothers who would probably block their membership to the SEC but all would be great additions for the Big 12. The SEC would likely come calling on NC State and Virginia Tech. Because of politics those schools would not be able to leave without a guarantee that UNC and UVA would also end up in another league, not necessarily the same one. UNC and UVA’s likely destination would be the Big 10.

This leaves 7 other schools looking around for a home. Where those schools end up would be anyone’s guess at this point. Wake Forest and Boston College would likely be in huge trouble. Duke would be in big trouble as well. They would probably try to package themselves with UNC but that would be a stretch. Pitt and Syracuse would be in trouble as would Miami. Pitt, Syracuse and ND would probably end up in a major conference though the Big 10 would have to drop a member such as Minnesota to make room for ND.

Bottom line all this is very confusing and many people can speculate where schools will end up. What is no longer up for speculation is if Maryland is able to negotiate the exit fee down and ND doesn’t VERY quickly become a full member then the ACC is as good as dead. It will likely start falling apart before the start of the 2013 school year. It is sad that such a meddling member of the ACC such as Maryland may have actually set off the domino effect that spell the end of the league. Again it isn’t that Maryland can’t be replaced because they can it is the fact some schools are already looking around and the only thing keeping them in the ACC is that fat check they have to write to get out.