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I was curious about the whole lawyer thing myself. But as far as some of the ESPN/Fox info, I am hearing some of the same. Big12 was hoping to wait until finished analyzing the data, but the networks are pushing it hard to have an answer before start of next season (June/July). BYU has a big hurdle with their network. Cincy may not carry a huge market, but are decent in football and basketball to give year round ratings. UConn and Memphis were spotted for their basketball ratings (though UConn more than Memphis because of market size). UCF for their football ratings and the Florida market.I could have sat down and made every bit of that stuff up myself. The last week of February, he is asking for someone to file foia requests on UNC and the B10, then the first week of March he says friends of his did submit the foia and in that short amount of time he claims he has been threatened by a lawyer retained by the B10 (what, they don't have their own?) and he has to shut it down for 30 days.
Seems credible to me...
I could have sat down and made every bit of that stuff up myself. The last week of February, he is asking for someone to file foia requests on UNC and the B10, then the first week of March he says friends of his did submit the foia and in that short amount of time he claims he has been threatened by a lawyer retained by the B10 (what, they don't have their own?) and he has to shut it down for 30 days.
Seems credible to me...
I've always said it would be Cincy, UConn, Memphis, and UCF. The first two gets them a conference championship game and and breaks the discrimination they faced in getting a team in the playoffs. Memphis is needed to join up their northern division with UWV, UConn, Cincy, ISU, and Kansas/KSt. UCF gets them the Florida market for TV cable and football recruiting.
To get back on track... looks like things are leaning more and more to dissolving the ACC. The P4 are looking to make more money by networks having to share less with a 5th conference (not to mention infrastructure). It is actually a B1G decision soon will decide the fate of the ACC and whether the Big12 goes to plan B (UConn/Cincy) or B+ (UC's + U?F).
That is assuming all conferences go to 16 AND all selected teams are from current P5. B12 and Pac could go to or stay at 12/14. Hearing UConn/Loserville is a better pick up than Wake Forest or BC, so some of those teams will likely be left out.
To comments: ACC protections clauses make it virtually impossible to eject a school. Thus, the ACC may have brought this on themselves to blocking further raids on its members.
I hope the Big12 is aware that UCF fans are too low paid to purchase Big12 TV cable plans. We've been getting all our games free unlike the Big Ten, SEC, etc. If and when we ever step up to a P5 conference, you'll see a lot more folks at our games because fans won't be able to sponge off free cable broadcasts (unless they want to live in sports bars -- and beer and nacho tabs add up).
That was my point. If it's the acc, I think UCF is more valuable than Wake Forest for example.
A big factor is how popular UCF is in the Orlando metro area. I think UCF is now the most popular college team based on polling. This is ammunition that the Big12 can take to ESPN (and ESPN to Orlando cable providers) when negotiating a contract for a Big12 network.
Every football school in the nation was better than us last year. Does that mean Marshall should be picked ahead of us? Ummmm, NO. One year does not make or break a school. USF has accomplished absolutely nothing in football (or basketball for that matter). Zero conference championships (basketball or football). Zero BCS (or NY6) appearances. And as for TV market, it is shown that USF isn't even Top 3 in their own county. Whereas UCF is #1 in Orlando and surrounding counties. Top 3 outside of those. Statewide polling last year has UCF as the #3 most popular team in the state (ahead of Miami) and closing in on FSU. UCF's attendance is higher than USF and we travel better. USF's endowment and national ranking (which involves endowment) is better than UCF, but that has little meaning as both are still Tier 1 schools. There is literally no reason USF should even be considered.
Right. And younger program, lack of facilities, lower game attendance. USF is a big Medical School with a commuter college attached. Their metro area has a bigger population still, but it is much older (i.e., lacks the demographics advertisers demand). It's where Midwestern snowbirds go to retire, not where families go for a good time, like Orlando. It's time to leave them behind and step up. They aren't even a regional rival game anymore when we play each other! USF did everything it could to block UCF from the Big East a decade ago, so it's payback time.
There used to be lots of students and alum from each school traveling the short distance to these football and basketball games. The media played it up. There was lots of emotion by the players, even if the game itself was meaningless. Now that we're in the same conference, where the stakes should be even higher, it's just the reverse.
That's been one of our problems. Haven't had a rival in A-Sun, MAC, C-USA, or AAC. In football, it's UConn or East Carolina. Out of conference, FIU has played us regularly and things get intense among players recruited from the Miami area. On the other hand, rivalry is not nearly as important in sports anymore, and increasingly, conferences refuse to admit a regional rival to their conference since one get them the media and recruiting access already! Thus, OOC rivalries are the thing today.
