Table the Big 12 Talk - Hit Refresh on ACC

It is currently ranked #38 by US News in their well known rankings. They mave an acceptance rate of around 35%

U of L on the other hand is ravked #164 with an acceptance rate of around 75%.

just as a reference UK is ranked #124 with an acceptance rate of 70%.

The ACC schools like Duke, Wake, UNC, Miami, etc. don’t want a communter school like us to muddy their waters.

it’s not that most people want the Big 12 over any other conference. It’s just they want it over the Big East. Obviously ACC or SEC is much better fit geographically.

We were not invited to the SEC during their last round of expansion for one reason and one reason only: Protectionism. SEC bylaws required that 75% (9 out of 12) members agree on any expansion candidates. Four schools banded together to ensure that their “territories” were not encroached upon because each shared a state with an out-of-conference rival they didn’t want included in the SEC gravy train.

Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky agreed to block Florida State, Georgia Tech, Clemson and Louisville from admission. (Incidentally, fear of an SEC raid is the only reason the ACC expanded; they wanted to be sure they still had 12 teams for a football title game if and when the SEC stole a team or two.)

With addition of Missouri and Texas A&M, those bylaws may well be changed. If not, those four states still have the clout to block any expansion candidate (10 our of 14 votes is only 71% — not enough to accept an expansion team). That said, Mike Slive was rumored to be very peeved at the “gentleman’s agreement” that kept the most compelling candidates — particularly Florida State — out of contention.

With the exception of Texas A&M getting the league into the talent- and audience-rich Lone Star State, the SEC doesn’t need new markets in the same way the Big 10 does, partly because the SEC doesn’t own a cable network and mostly because the SEC gets airtime in every market already. Six consecutive national titles will do that. What the SEC needs are marquee names that draw in casual viewers, because that’s what ups the value of their TV contract.

Florida State is a marquee football name, especially to casual viewers who don’t realize how much the Seminoles have dropped off recently. I expect Slive will move to change the bylaws that let the KY-SC-GA-FL quartet block Florida State from League entry.

If that bylaw changes, Louisville has a puncher’s chance of SEC membership, largely because we can up the value of a TV contract that no one else can — the SEC basketball contract. Georgia Tech and Clemson probably move the needle a little on the SEC football side, but Louisville pegs the needle on the basketball side, not least because Louisville-Kentucky gives the league a Duke-Carolina equivalent to sell. The question for the SEC becomes who gives them more of a money bump: Clemson-SC in football, Georgia-Georgia Tech in football, ot Louisville-Kentucky in basketball.

On it’s face, Louisville doesn’t stand a chance. But if the addition of Florida State has already maxed the football TV money, we have a maybe 20% chance of getting the nod, simply because we represent a new, underdeveloped revenue stream.

1) the NCAA will never enact another death penalty, because the TV networks won’t allow it. It damages TV inventory too much and also punishes every school already on the football schedule. Logistically, it’s just not feasible anymore. The NCAA can brutalize the Hurricanes with bowl bans and scholarship reductions and garnishment of TV revenue — which, incidentally, is worse than the death penalty, because Miami then has to pay the expense of fielding a football team but see very little of the associated revenue. It’s like making someone work a job for no pay — it;s worse than getting fired.

2) The ACC will never expel Miami. The TV market is too good. The brand value is too good. It would open up the ACC football TV contract for renegotiation, and I promise the league gets less money without Miami.