(05-28-2015 10:20 AM)Marge Schott Wrote: 1. The ACC being the #2 football conference is realistic? Really? That's the ACC's ceiling. It's floor is #5. What's realistic is somewhere in between. It's hard for me to imagine the ACC consistently being better than a Michigan/Ohio State/Michigan State/Penn State/Wisconsin/Nebraska group.
Right. That's why I said it's a realistic GOAL. To be where the PAC was this year. No conference is going to permanently hold that 2nd position, but that should be the ACC's goal. They can be that good. They can't be consistently better than the SEC...setting that as the benchmark will be perennial disappointment.
(05-28-2015 10:20 AM)Marge Schott Wrote: 2. This whole "the ACC is ok if we're within 85%" mantra is nonsense. What is 15% of $30-35M? It's being able to build a new $15M IPF every 3 years. It's a whole boatload of support staff and personnel and "quality control" coaches. It's probably more than the average ACC school currently spends on their entire football coaching staff.
So, that's $4.5M. Does it matter, sure. But NO conference affiliation is going to put FSU within $5M revenue of UF, UGA, Bama, LSU, Texas, Ok, etc. If the ACC signed a deal to pay $10M more per year than the SEC, FSU would still trail those schools in revenue. We will ALWAYS be at a disadvantage, and always have been. FSU will ALWAYS be able to hire fewer support staff, build lesser facilities, etc in the arms race. There is nothing conference wise that can change that.
They have to be smart, hire great coaches, recruit the state, leverage the brand, etc, because we will NEVER make as much money as those guys.
I would be fine joining the SEC, but that doesn't appear in the cards or on the horizon. Any scenario in which the ACC disbands and FSU is NOT in the SEC is going to leave FSU in a worse place in terms of brand and finances versus those SEC teams anyway. There's no scenario where the B1G gets UNC and UVA, the SEC gets NCSU and VT, and FSU ends up in a conference making anywhere close to 85%.
Even worse...if in pulling apart the ACC, they also dip into the Big 12 and grab Texas and/or Oklahoma, FSU is in even a WORSE position. As long as they don't hold an SEC invite, FSU needs the ACC to remain, even if the ACC is only at 75% of media contracts.