(05-10-2013 01:29 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Maybe another key (for the grant of rights) is that the addition of Louisville was very well-received by the media and others in college sports -- I think there were a lot of people whose initial reaction to Louisville replacing Maryland was, "Hey, that's a big competitive upgrade for the ACC, in football and in basketball." Maybe that reaction in turn made some ACC teams feel better about the ACC and more willing to sign the GOR.

I know that after our addition to the ACC was announced, we went out and 1) beat Big Ten bound Rutgers to win the Big East, 2) dominated the Sugar Bowl in the biggest upset in BCS history, 3) return damn near the entire football team for next season, 4) won the Big East regular season and conference basketball championships, 5) won the NCAA men's basketball championship, 6) had our women's team beat Baylor in the biggest upset in the history of the NCAA women's tourney, and 7) sent our women's team to the national championship game, with the entire team back next season. 8) And our baseball team is still top ten.

If that didn't put people at ease about going into a GOR with Louisville, I don't know what will.

You know, that was really fun to type.