Talks have broken off. There weren’t good options evident.
Kirk Herbstreit is predicting we’ll wind up with a Power 3. He isn’t predicting which league will be #3.
A couple of weeks ago I though maybe we were done with realignment for the year, but now I’m wondering if some of the recent developments indicate we may have some more movement in the last few weeks before the season starts.
Notre Dame supposedly wants $75M a year in a new media deal to stay independent, and NBC is trying to figure out if they want to do that in connection with a slice of Big Ten games to give the network a bigger college football profile on Saturdays. If ND can’t get that kind of dough to stay independent…
The Big XII probably came to the conclusion that it did not need to merge with the PAC to get any teams it wants out west. That also means they probably have a pretty good idea what kind of money the PAC XII can manage in a new deal. Now they sit back and wait to see if the more desirable PAC teams are willing to stay in a damaged conference for less money, and they keep an eye on the ACC.
The ACC either has to get ND or hope it stays independent. It probably has to offer to tear up the grant of rights and cut a new media deal to lure ND.
The Big Ten of course is going to offer ND a lot more the $75M a year. It also still needs one or two more west coast schools long term to make scheduling/travel easier. If ND joins, Stanford probably gets an invite. If not maybe both it’s Washington, Oregon or both northern California schools.
I don’t see that ACC as having any good options. Either they enforce the grant of rights and its schools watch the SEC and B1G disappear into the distance financially for 14 years, or they shelve the grant of rights and risk 6-8 schools disappearing immediately, and maybe they still couldn’t lure ND even if they do.
I had not heard that $75M figure for ND but it kinda makes sense. How is NBC going to respond?
I think the Orphan Eight decided that merging with the P-10 doesn’t bring enough value and the other options are even less beneficial.
Dennis Dodd reported the ND stuff.
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