Gain some brain for some brawn?
The Athletic Floats Hypothetical ACC–Big 12 Team Swap The Athletic Floats Hypothetical ACC–Big 12 Team Swap
Already in the other thread on realignment. Just have to read past all the back and forth on the value of Stanford.
Personally, the athletic is stupid to propose this.
2 Likes
It’s not going to happen, but I’m not sure it would be a bad idea. The Big 12 would all be west of the Mississippi and the ACC all to the east of it. I realize the Big 12 wasn’t interested in Stanford and Cal before, but that was kind of after we had gotten the four corners schools and were sitting at 16. You’d trade the markets of West Virginia, Cincinnati, and Orlando, which is never going to really compete with UF and FSU, for the #10 market and strengthening the foothold in the #4 market. Plus SMU provides another rival for the Texas schools, and the former PAC 12 schools would again have a connection with California for recruiting purposes.
2 Likes
Hard pass. SMU does not add a market or presence for recruiting. Stanford and Cal are Bay Area and not representative of the state for recruiting. Cincinatti and UCF give some presence to Ohio and Florida for recruiting. West Virigina is West Virginia. For markets, it’s basically a 3 for 1 swap. Pass.
For a limited view on past performance of the schools in the theoretical:
| 2024 TV Viewership | Football | Basketball | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg Viewership | Rank | B10 / SEC / ND Games | +.500 season since 2010 | +.500 seasons since 15-16 | NCAA Tournament | |
| West Virginia | 796,000 | 44 | Penn State | 10 | 9 | 5 |
| UCF | 733,000 | 49 | Florida | 9 | 7 | 1 |
| Cincinnatti | 413,000 | 68 | ------ | 10 | 10 | 4 |
| Cal | 526,000 | 58 | Auburn | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Stanford | 478,000 | 62 | Notre Dame | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| SMU | 341,000 | 74 | ------ | 9 | 7 | 0 |
1 Like
Cal and Stanford put only slightly more institutional effort into Football than Rice and no P4 conference wants Rice. That is not a welcome scenario for a conference wanting to continuously build its football brand.
SMU, a small school with a big donor base doesn’t do a ton for conference that already has four schools in Texas, including one that is only 40 miles away.
Its the offseason. Talking points
Yeah, I just wouldn’t mind another in-state rival over one in Ohio, West Virginia, or Florida, but it’s not going to happen so no point in worrying about it.
1 Like
Please merge.
2 Likes
I have grown to despise anyone that writes an article, tweets, or facebook posts realignment ideas.
Yeah, merge this one. I’m only 4880 comments behind in the original stream.
2 Likes
F-that! I wouldnt have found out about this crap if the original poster hadn’t mentioned it here! Who the F wants to scroll through 5.2K post to get to the relevant shite?!?!
White helmets still suck and our “new uniforms” are MID at best!
CF is not the only board to say NO WAY
Not one to bring up politics but Cal & Stanford would never join the Big 12 for cultural differences…you couldn’t persuade fans to travel to Waco, Stillwater & Lubbock and vice versa…
Not to mention they don’t a give a damn about Football in Northern California unless in the 49ers…