[Wolfpack]

I have to believe that the ACC did not do this so much for generating lots of revenue, but to prevent loss. They spun it as a chance to increase revenues, but with TV deals coming to an end in football, they were probably getting told that they were going to be renegotiated downward, since FSU remained the only marquee draw in the conference for TV. Thus, they needed to expand to keep everyone at about $10 million. If they didn't, it could very well have been that ACC teams would have lost money.

So, they grabbed Miami and VT (by VT and state of VA's coercion) to make football more attractive, but a lot hinged on getting that title game with 11 teams. When the NCAA essentially said "No", they quickly acted to get a twelfth, and since ND refused to join as an "all-but-football" school, they went back to BC who was very willing to come previously. At 11 without a title game that would have added $1 million to each school to offset the reduction in further pie-splitting, the need for 12 was self-evident. Because of BC's location relative to the 11 other schools, I have to believe they at least contacted Pittsburgh, Penn State, Syracuse, and perhaps a couple of others, but got a negative reaction, so they came back to BC.

The lingering detail is now how BC gets out of the Big East, since the Big East supposedly recently made it harder to get out ($5 million or a 27-month notice), not to mention the admittance fees to get into the ACC, though I suspect the ACC will be willing to reduce or forego the fee to make up for bringing BC in after the change in terms by the Big East. If they pay the fees to both conferences quickly, they could be in by next year (2004-05), though ACC commish John Swofford has said that if they elect not to pay the exit fee, it could be as late as 2006-07, though I don't think this will happen simply because that means BC will have to face two-and-a-half years of lame duck status in the Big East. BC's president has already said that they'll do what's necessary to leave the Big East as quickly as possible and if that means ponying up $5 million, they'll do that.

At any rate, now that the dust is beginning to settle again (excluding the good folks who work for the State of Connecticut, who seem ready and willing to do the American thing and sue the pants off the individual ACC members if need be since the ACC as an organization was dropped from the lawsuit on Friday), the new ACC is thus:

Boston College, Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Miami.

Academically, no major conferences has so many private schools featured so prominently (four), in addition to two schools that like to think of themselves as "public Ivy" (UNC, UVa). There are also several large state universities that make up the rest of the conference, Georgia Tech being the smallest of that group.

Football-wise, Miami and VT are immediate upgrades and judging by the failure of the overhyped "new blood" at NC State, Virginia, and Maryland to maintain upward momentum this year, figure to be the only reliable year-in, year-out competitors for Florida State. Boston College brings a decent football program that figures to be average to above average in the conference in most years (on a level with NC State, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia Tech, and Clemson, basically). There has been concern that VT's national success would not survive the loss of Frank Beamer at some point in the future, but that I don't think will happen for several years at which point VT will be a desirable coaching position, so I do think VT's probably in the national picture for the long haul. Remember, FSU had nothing before Bobby Bowden came and I don't think that program will turn to dust after he leaves.

Basketball-wise, this is somewhat of a downgrade for the ACC, as VT is among the worst basketball schools in Division I and Miami, except for a brief stretch of success under Leonard Hamilton in the late 90s, hasn't been a stellar program, either. It remains to be seen whether Perry Clark can right the ship, especially now that he'll be in the ironic position of competing with Leonard Hamilton at Florida State. Boston College has always been one of those programs that is consistent, neither experiencing the highs of national success, but they don't go into the basement, either. Again, an average to above average program. Being a part of the ACC will keep them there. Tradition will be broken as home-and-home series become impossible to conduct, but with weaker members in the conference, other teams that were on the bubble in the ACC (NC State, Georgia Tech, Virginia) may benefit from fewer games against ACC goliaths UNC, Duke, and Maryland and getting more conference wins against Miami, VT, and Clemson, which might be enough to get six teams a year into the NCAA tournament in future years. It had been a growing concern that the ACC was only getting three or four bids anymore, which was somewhat indicative of the top-heavy nature of the league for several years in the late 90s and early 2000s.

As for other sports, the significant addition is Miami for baseball. The ACC had been a pretty solid conference before, but Miami adds another national championship contender to the mix. The SEC is probably still a little deeper, but the gap is narrower. BC's addition raises ACC membership in Rowing, Field Hockey, and Women's Lacrosse to 6 (if I've done my census right), which allows the conference champion to get an automatic berth into NCAA championships in those sports.

Obviously, the hard part for BC is that they'll be one of the most distant outposts of the conference, both geographically and culturally. It's a Catholic institution in New England, whereas the rest of the ACC is dominated by Southern state and private Protestant schools. Miami is in a similar state, even though they are in Florida. South Florida is culturally different from northern Florida. In fact, on average, Boston College and Miami are roughly similar distances to the rest of the ACC schools. However, Miami's travel budgets for non-revenue sports shrinks drastically (Maryland, until BC's admittance, was the furtherest ACC school from Miami and only Virginia Tech among Big East schools was closer), while BC's will expand greatly as they no longer have short trips to Syracuse, UConn, Seton Hall, St. John's and Providence, but instead have long trips to NC State, Georgia Tech, and Florida State.

All in all, it'll be an interesting mix.