Conference Realignment

[RonJohn]

It disturbs you to think that some believe the FSU general counsel and one of the largest lawfirms in the country (Greenberg Traurig) may not be lying when they make a claim in a lawsuit? This isn't pushing the bounds of credibility. It would be a flat lie if the option either doesn't exist or only exists for the ACC network. It's fine if you think FSU and their lawyers are choosing to be untruthful in their lawsuit. It's not really the big stretch you claim it is for others to believe they are probably telling the truth.

Yes, it does disturb me. Also, take into account that the vast majority of people who post about it on forums, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, etc. haven't even read the lawsuit for themselves. It disturbs me that people simply believe what they hear instead of researching and being skeptical.

You are completely onboard with FSU and believe that the ACC is an evil entity. If that is the way you feel, then fine. You seem to think that I am a complete backer of the ACC and think that FSU is evil. That is part of the problem in society today. There is a mentaility that if you don't agree with me copletely, then you believe the exact opposite and are my enemy. I simply try to look for facts and decide what I believe based on those facts and my own experience. Just because something is claimed in a lawsuit is not proof to me that it is in fact true.

If every single claim in the FSU lawsuit is in fact 100% truthful, and all of their interpretations of law are 100% correct, then why is there even a need for a lawsuit? Has Greenberg Traurig ever lost a case? If so, then the court or jury must have not believed them 100%. Why do we even have lawsuits if every lawyer files 100% truthful and 100% correct interpretations of the law?

 

[GTrob21]

My new predictions when the dust settles.

B1G
Texas AM
UM
GATech
UNC

Holding spots for Notre Dame and Virginia

SEC (loses Texas AM)
FSU
Clemson


This is the end game folks

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Is this thread dealing with anything real yet?

Other than the possibility that FSU just wants to get everyone rolling around in the mud so that allowing them a favorable exit limits the PR damage for everyone, I just don’t see anything that’s come to light that tells us anything.

Maybe I’ll check back with this thread next year and see if it’s made progress.

 

[Techster]

My new predictions when the dust settles.

B1G
Texas AM
UM
GATech
UNC

Holding spots for Notre Dame and Virginia

SEC (loses Texas AM)
FSU
Clemson


This is the end game folks

I've always said TX A&M should seek to join the B1G. Would be crazy for B1G to not even ask TAMU. IMO, win-win for both sides given TAMU has wanted to differentiate itself from UTexas and the academic prestige of the B1G. On B1G's side, the Texas market is a MASSIVE hole in their portfolio that TAMU would address. SEC has no GOR, so it would be an easy transition.

 

[cpf2001]

A&M in the SEC and UT in the Big 10 seems like better fits all around but I’d be surprised if either move again.

 

[UgaBlows]

There’s a lot of talk on SecRant about A&M going to the BIG, those folks are super butt-hurt about TX coming in

 

[Techster]

A&M in the SEC and UT in the Big 10 seems like better fits all around but I’d be surprised if either move again.

B1G reached out to UTexas a while back. I believe around the same time B1G reached out to GT. UTexas obviously declined (as did GT ).

TAMU is a top 20 public school, with a top 15 engineering school, and they are AAU. In terms of sports, they would automatically vault up near the top, if not the top, of the B1G in terms of revenue and donor money. They have not been happy with the SEC since Texas was announced as a new member as, according to them, TAMU would be the only school from Texas the SEC would invite.

IMO, either one would be a coup for the B1G.

 

[DvilleJacket]

Can someone show me some proof Tech was invited to the B1G? My Ugag buddy refuses to believe it and I'd love to prove him wrong!

 

[Techster]

Can someone show me some proof Tech was invited to the B1G? My Ugag buddy refuses to believe it and I'd love to prove him wrong!

ESPN and Sports Illustrated articles talking about it have been posted several times on here. You won't get the main parties (B1G and GT/Peterson) to say anything because they are still bound to a non disclosure. Here's one a few articles that mention it:

A flag on every house: Atlanta is the capital of college football

It's the perfect spot for the College Football Playoff National Championship, home to coveted recruits, a storied history, businesses that fuel the sport and 7 million residents who love college football more than any of the city's six pro teams.

www.espn.com

Not only does Atlanta sit at the geographic heart of the SEC and the ACC, two of the conferences that make up the Power 5, but five years ago, when the Big Ten expanded to 14 teams, the league didn't take Rutgers until it had been turned down by Georgia Tech. Atlanta has brought in so many transplants that nearly half of the Power 5 schools have alumni watch parties on autumn Saturdays.

There was an SI writer that also wrote about it a while back, but I'm too lazy to dig around the internet for the article. If you have Twitter, just do a search for Georgia Tech and Big Ten and you find many tweets from 2012 and 2013 that talk about it.

EDIT: OK, I wasn't as lazy as I thought...

Dear Andy: Which ACC schools do Big Ten/SEC covet? And who's to blame for grant of rights?

Don't expect college football to use the concepts of promotion and relegation, or underperformers like Illinois and Vandy to be uninvited.

theathletic.com

I can't quote it because it's behind a paywall, but this Athletic article about expansion also mentions it. The same guy that wrote that article, Andy Staples, wrote one for Sports Illustrated a while back that also mentioned B1G inviting GT.

 

[UgaBlows]

ESPN and Sports Illustrated articles talking about it have been posted several times on here. You won't get the main parties (B1G and GT/Peterson) to say anything because they are still bound to a non disclosure. Here's one a few articles that mention it:

A flag on every house: Atlanta is the capital of college football

It's the perfect spot for the College Football Playoff National Championship, home to coveted recruits, a storied history, businesses that fuel the sport and 7 million residents who love college football more than any of the city's six pro teams.

www.espn.com

Not only does Atlanta sit at the geographic heart of the SEC and the ACC, two of the conferences that make up the Power 5, but five years ago, when the Big Ten expanded to 14 teams, the league didn't take Rutgers until it had been turned down by Georgia Tech. Atlanta has brought in so many transplants that nearly half of the Power 5 schools have alumni watch parties on autumn Saturdays.

There was an SI writer that also wrote about it a while back, but I'm too lazy to dig around the internet for the article. If you have Twitter, just do a search for Georgia Tech and Big Ten and you find many tweets from 2012 and 2013 that talk about it.

EDIT: OK, I wasn't as lazy as I thought...

Dear Andy: Which ACC schools do Big Ten/SEC covet? And who's to blame for grant of rights?

Don't expect college football to use the concepts of promotion and relegation, or underperformers like Illinois and Vandy to be uninvited.

theathletic.com

I can't quote it because it's behind a paywall, but this Athletic article about expansion also mentions it. The same guy that wrote that article, Andy Staples, wrote one for Sports Illustrated a while back that also mentioned B1G inviting GT.

GD, why is our leadership so shortsighted?

 

[LT 1967]

GD, why is our leadership so shortsighted?

.
Ivan Maisel who wrote the article that you attached was also on the ESPN E-60 special concerning the History of College football. He firmly said that GT said NO to the B1G.

Maisel was born in Mobile, AL and graduated from Stanford. His first job was with the Atlanta Constitution in 1981. He later was with Dallas Morning News and later with ESPN and Sports Illustrated. I have attached a page from the Tiger Net that also shows his comment concerning GT and The B1G. See first Paragraph.

 

[Techster]

GD, why is our leadership so shortsighted?

If you read the AJC interview with Peterson (it was published within the last couple of years) regarding that time, it will infuriate you even more.

Ex-President Bud Peterson revisits Georgia Tech’s role in last realignment frenzy

Former Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson continues to watch with interest and an informed perspective as this summer’s events seem to have increased the possibility of the SEC and Big Ten forming super conferences capable of breaking away from the rest of Division I.

www.ajc.com

 

[awbuzz]

My new predictions when the dust settles.

B1G
Texas AM
UM
GATech
UNC

Holding spots for Notre Dame and Virginia

SEC (loses Texas AM)
FSU
Clemson


This is the end game folks

I could live with that.

 

[Techster]

.
Ivan Maisel who wrote the article that you attached was also on the ESPN E-60 special concerning the History of College football. He firmly said that GT said NO to the B1G.

Maisel was born in Mobile, AL and graduated from Stanford. His first job was with the Atlanta Constitution in 1981. He later was with Dallas Morning News and later with ESPN and Sports Illustrated. I have attached a page from the Tiger Net that also shows his comment concerning GT and The B1G. See first Paragraph.

Here's the article in the link you attached. It's one of the articles I've linked to in the past. It's funny, the rest of college football fans on Twitter think B1G never invited GT even though there's PLENTY of mentions from nationally renowned and respected writers that bring it up from time to time.

Florida State in the SEC, Notre Dame in the Big Ten and more realignment 'What ifs'

College Football's biggest "What ifs": Would Notre Dame fit in the Big Ten? How about Florida State in the SEC? What about super-conferences? These topics and more are tackled by the ESPN staff.

www.espn.com

Ivan Maisel: The poaching of Maryland and Rutgers allowed the Big Ten to establish a beachhead on the East Coast, but what if Jim Delany had succeeded in his sales pitch to Georgia Tech and convinced the Yellow Jackets to leave the ACC? The Big Ten would have set anchor in Atlanta, the national capital of college football. The league would be able to recruit more in the biggest treasure chest of talent in the country. And Ohio State fans would have learned the pleasures of a chili dog at The Varsity.

 

[RonJohn]

GD, why is our leadership so shortsighted?

It was widely reported that DRad was pushing for GT to make the move. I have see a couple of different people say that they were told that the decision to not move was made above DRad's head and that he had no control over it. I have some faith in the sources for that information, but I can't say for certain that it is true. Whether that was Peterson on his own, or if boosters on the BOT were pushing against it I have never heard.

 

[Flajacket]

My new predictions when the dust settles.

B1G
Texas AM
UM
GATech
UNC

Holding spots for Notre Dame and Virginia

SEC (loses Texas AM)
FSU
Clemson


This is the end game folks

I agree expect for Texas AM.

What would be the upside for moving?

 

[slugboy]

I agree expect for Texas AM.

What would be the upside for moving?

There have been stories about mutual interest between A&M and the B1G, from SI and others, with about the same level of corroboration as some of the other rumors in this thread (not nearly at the level that it used to take to get printed)

 

[Techster]

It was widely reported that DRad was pushing for GT to make the move. I have see a couple of different people say that they were told that the decision to not move was made above DRad's head and that he had no control over it. I have some faith in the sources for that information, but I can't say for certain that it is true. Whether that was Peterson on his own, or if boosters on the BOT were pushing against it I have never heard.

From what I was told (from a high level donor that's a business client/friend), it was mainly Peterson, but certain high level donors pushed him over the line to remain in the ACC. If you read the AJC article I linked above, you can gather that Peterson's academic principles and ties to the ACC steeled his decision to stay. That interview is actually a very fascinating argument on why "academic types" should not make business decisions for sports.

 

[Techster]

I agree expect for Texas AM.

What would be the upside for moving?

Same money, more academic prestige, easier path to playoffs, and less of a cannibalistic environment that occurs in the SEC...oh, and they can get away from UTexas like they thought they did when they went to the SEC.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

From what I was told (from a high level donor that's a business client/friend), it was mainly Peterson, but certain high level donors pushed him over the line to remain in the ACC. If you read the AJC article I linked above, you can gather that Peterson's academic principles and ties to the ACC steeled his decision to stay. That interview is actually a very fascinating argument on why "academic types" should not make business decisions for sports.

It is also annoying, if one likes logical arguments, to state an abstract principle but not have the facts on the ground fit the principle. Committed to academics? Joining the B1G does not violate that principle in the least but having Louisville join the ACC probably does.

I would have liked a better explanation from Peterson because the one he gave left me with more questions.