From the recent article on Miami’s new investment model.
The article really hinted at a play for the ACC. So have subsequent tweets by important people
(“More than just being at the top of the MAC”)
I made this spreadsheet on the landscape.
A football exodus from the ACC would mean a drop to very high non-power FB, but still a full step+ above Big East in Basketball. Thoughts? (Be Nice.)
ACC would be a step up in leagues for sure. I’ve had the opinion for years that Miami (and all schools in similar leagues) have to make a decision either to invest heavily in sports or drop down and stop spending. You can’t just stand pat stay where you are and survive. The MAC is already left out of football contention for the playoffs, and when one MAC school does get in they will change the rules and make sure it never happens again. This year is a nightmare scenario for many people outside the MAC in basketball if Akron should say beat us in the MAC Champ game and the MAC gets 2 teams in the NCAA. Believe that the power schools are going to be pissed about that and find a way to make that not happen again. I’m sure they would love to exclude any team from the MAC anyway and get rid of letting conference tourney champs in.
Looking more like Miami is choosing to invest in sports and possibly make a move here in the next couple of years. If we stay in the MAC I fear our future is bleak and already spelled out. Sad to say but thats the way college athletics is headed.
Just did a quick google search and according to AI each school in the MAC gets $8 mil annually. Compared to the ACC getting $45 mil a piece annually. I know spending will increase if joining the ACC but also that extra revenue and exposure down in the southern regions would be nice.
I think our entire athletic department budget for the year is $40 mil
Wouldn’t the ACC be dramatically different if some of their folks get their way and bolt? Does it still stay attractive?
I’m conflicted. The MAC has always been the little engine that could it felt like. Sad to see it implode if it does.
An ACC remnants conference is probably aiming high, which we should do, but the realistic landing place for Miami after the next great realignment is probably a G6 Spenders Conference (name TBD). It would involve schools like Miami and Toledo from the MAC (and probably OU) and then the top spending schools from CUSA, Sun Belt and the American that don’t get poached by the ACC remnants.
There’s going to be a separation across all the G6 among schools wanting to spend on athletics and those wanting to stay about where they’ve been historically.
Book it…for now. Top target currently. Landscape can always change unexpectedly.
I assume Clemson and FSU to the SEC, and North Carolina and Virginia to B10. As for the others, we’ll see when it comes. Next contract is 2030, I think I read.
And when that happens, the ACC will raid the American hard, and probably cherry pick a few from other G6 conferences as well, but I’d bet on Tulane, Memphis and maybe the service academies all going, at the least.
Could Miami, Buffalo, and Western position themselves to a move to a biggerconference? I would think so. Those schools’ athletic departments have all shown a major commitment to fundraising the past few years. And I think Toledo and OU would also be looking into moving on, as they’ve both already flirted with other conferences recently.
At this point, the ACC feels like the dream, and perhaps we can position ourselves to be considered by then. But if not, I’d be surprised if the AAC doesn’t come calling after it gets gutted by the ACC.
MAC distributes a lot less than 8 million a year (like a quarter or half that).
And a future ACC that would accept Miami would be far far less than 45 million too.
I would propose this:
Miami
Toledo
OU
Liberty
La Tech
FIU
James Madison
App State
ODU (or Troy)
Tulane
USF
North Texas (or ECU)
I like that. My brother (UNC undergrad, VA grad) proposes a “second Ivy” league that would have reasonable minimum/maximum spending limits and still allow big-time basketball but with football at a tier lower than BIG/SEC:
UNC
Miami
UVA
Northwestern
Duke
Wake Forest
Vanderbilt
Georgia Tech
I would add Rice….. as a side dish.
I think Pitt and Va Tech would be good adds.
Under the current era of realignment, do conferences care about research output? I couldn’t help but notice that most schools on that list are classified as R1s while Miami and Wake are the only R2 schools on that list.
Also if I’m not mistaken, SMU is receiving no media rights distribution for a decade+ while cal and Stanford have taken significant cuts. Those schools can absorb it much easier than we would be able to. I think the ACC also distributes money proportional to viewership figures for football/basketball so we may be dragging on investment for awhile.
Now that’s not to say I oppose the move. Ultimately we either move up or become completely out competed dude to lack of resources in the MAC, but I’m not convinced we are as compelling an addition (yet) as some here seem to believe.
EDIT: if Travis stays and football makes noise this year those viewership numbers could change very quickly
Sounds to me that a 6000 seat bb arena may be too small, and a 20000 seat fb stadium would be too small.
6K isn’t too small for the Zags
They’re not in the ACC
But they are a major program
I once had a conversation with David Hodge at the end of his Presidency when he said a couple of interesting things. He said that the school Miami saw as most analogous and a peer institution was William & Mary. Fair enough, I suppose. But he said that he thought athletically there was going to be a schism and schools like Notre Dame and such would not buy into the semi-professional model and that there would be a conference with ND, Stanford, Vandy, Northwestern, Duke, Rice, perhaps the service academies, and some others I don’t recall that he would like to see Miami slotted in to. That clearly has not come to pass with ND spending big money on sports, Stanford and Cal in the ACC, and Vanderbilt and Northwestern getting B1G and SEC money. That struck me as completely delusional then and now. Aspirational, but delusional.
Hodge was a very aspirational guy. I just think the ACC is going to have a football exodus at the top- I think they are going to look at replacement in markets on the outside of the footprint. I think they will look for like-minded academic reputation. Yes, I think the entry will be much less money than the primary membership, but will definitely be greater than the MAC. It would also raise Miami’s national profile in all things.
Let’s not forget, there are less kids going to college - and there are less overall kids being born, period.
Two D1 coaches told me yesterday (texted me, sorry) - Steele will leave. But maybe they are just jaded. Maybe he will identify with Oxford. But it’s more than money - it’s being left behind the majors.
