(09-15-2018 12:45 PM)Pervis_Griffith Wrote: I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish.
But it feels like you think that the student athletes for those premier private schools are somehow different from the student athletes at public schools.
I can assure you, personally knowing 3 people that attended Notre Dame, Stanford, and Duke to play football .. those kids are just like the kids that play for Kentucky, Alabama, or Ohio State. They would have zero shot at getting into the schools they got into, had they applied as regular students. Even taking into account their minority status.
I agree about the student athletes, but the culture and missions of the schools themselves and the alumni are certainly different. Not good or bad, better or worse... just different. The hybrid model proposed allows these 6 premier private schools to access their best possible culture, which is their existing conferences as well as with each other.
As far as what is trying to be accomplished, it is the exact reason why Notre Dame negotiated the deal in the first place:
1. Continued, uninhibited access as a P5 conference partner in all non-football sports, all academic connections, and all other benefits of a super-regional affiliation with major academic institutions.
2. Flexibility for the front porch of many major universities, which is football. As you probably know, football games are like a homecoming weekend between schools, and major institutional players build relationships, make alliances, and enhance the recruitment opportunities for every facet of their universities. A scheduled opportunity for USC, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and Duke power players to meet benefits the university's strategic goals, financial bottom line, and sharing of human and academic resources that serve the communities with the ultimate research outcomes of these schools.
3. The hybrid alliance puts these leading institutions in a power position where they are not beholden to the same level of influence as their bottom rung P5 conference members. Would anyone contend that Notre Dame is missing out on any advantages of the ACC with their deal? No, and if anything, they are the top dog because they have the ability to control most of their football decisions and have clear cut contracts on when they can walk if the relationship ever sours.
I could go on, but the 5 schools I listed along with Notre Dame should realize that they do not need to stay entrenched with the often petty and short sighted aims of their conferences when it comes to rights deals and football related decisions. The PAC, SEC, BIG, and ACC will bend over backwards to stay in association with these 6 schools; they should get together and play this card to their benefit.