Cemetery Hill

If you heard the MP show this morning, he basically thinks the ACC is the best option of CU in the long run because of this article.

[quote]Lies & Ignorance Continue to Fuel Desire of Many FSU & Clemson Fans to Ditch ACC
June 4, 2012 | 7:11 AM
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By Chadd Scott

Lies and ignorance continue to fuel the desires of those interested in seeing Florida State University and Clemson University leave the ACC for supposed greener pastures in the Big 12. Let’s investigate.

LIE 1

Remember the comments which turned this rumor into a story? The chairman of the FSU board of trustees, Andy Haggard, bombed the ACC for allowing member institutions to retain possession of some men’s basketball games to sell individually to television networks while not allowing schools to do the same with any football games. This seemed to prove that the long-suspected ACC boogeyman was, in fact, real: the conference was biased toward its North Carolina-based basketball powers.

The chairman’s statement was 100% inaccurate, a complete fabrication. I exposed it as such as well as his implication that FSU – or any ACC school – stood to reap a financial windfall if it were allowed to hold on to one football game and sell as a part of “third tier rights,” which the Big 12 allows.

Despite Haggard’s ignorance of the ACC’s television contract and the value of third tier rights, his sensational comments had – and continue to have – great influence upon a large number of interested parties who don’t have the luxury of following this story closely. As the old saying goes, “you can’t un-ring a bell;” Haggard’s comments, despite being false, continue to resonate loudly in the minds of many.

LIE 2

The next nail in the ACC’s coffin was driven home by a Yahoo Sports report which found that the ACC’s new $17 million per year television contract with ESPN was considerably back-loaded and that ACC schools would not be receiving that amount of money until well into the contract. The implication was that the ACC got screwed by ESPN in its TV deal and that the $17M figure was merely an attempt at face-saving by a league which was clearly on the decline.

This story going public mere hours after Haggard’s comments contributed to an avalanche of negative momentum and forecasts of the ACC’s certain death. That momentum has hardly slowed since the story was published.

While the Yahoo report was not wrong, it was misleading. ESPN would issue a statement explaining that back-loaded TV contracts for conferences with escalator clauses like the one it signed with the ACC were the industry standard.

Again, however, the bell had been rung and the damage done. In the minds of fans, the ACC had perceptually become a laughing stock, beholden to a second-class television contract.

LIE 3

The commonly held belief by many FSU and Clemson fans that the ACC values basketball – and therefore its member schools based in North Carolina – to the exclusion of football interests – and its football-focused schools like Clemson and Florida State – continues to be a pest infesting many brains.

I think David Teel in the Hampton Roads Daily Press does as good of a job here as anyone can in attempting to eradicate this mental disorder. Superstitions and conspiracy theories, once fixed, are incredibly difficult to combat, however, and if FSU and Clemson remain in the ACC for another 20 years I’m sure their fans will continue to recite this mantra.

LIE 4

On Twitter and in blogs I read many claiming that the financial disparity between the ACC and the Big 12 would only grow should the Big 12 expand, especially if it expanded to add the prominent brands of FSU and Clemson. That seems to make sense. The ACC will average a $17M per school payout when its new contract with ESPN kicks in and the Big 12, by all accounts, will receive an average per school payout of $20M when its new TV contracts with ESPN and Fox are finalized. It would figure that the Big 12 would renegotiate those contracts up if it were to add additional power teams.

That, however, does not seem to be the case after reading this article from CBSSports.com’s Dennis Dodd. Here is the critical passage from the story published 5/30/2012:

The new Big 12 TV deal is expected to be announced any day, perhaps here this week as a celebration of the league's new-found strength. Within that deal is a clause that will give any new expansion candidates the same money as the current members (estimated to be at least $20 million per year).

One industry source said that number applies whether the Big 12 invites, "Appalachian State or Florida State." And according to another industry source, ESPN wouldn't stand in the way of Big 12 expansion even after negotiating a new deal with the ACC.

I read that to say, according to Dodd’s source, with or without expanding, and be that expansion to include Florida State, Clemson, Louisville, Cincinnati, BYU or any other school, the per team payout in the new Big 12 TV contract will be roughly $20M. That payout WILL NOT jump should the Big 12 add FSU if the story and source are accurate. Twenty million dollars is a handsome figure, a figure the Big 12 should be proud of, but from what many people seem to believe the Big 12 stood to garner upwards of $25M per school from TV with the addition of Florida State and Clemson or Louisville or whoever. It seems counter-intuitive to believe the Big 12 TV deal would not skyrocket in value with Florida State in the league, but that’s what Dodd’s story seems to claim and if we’ve learned anything it’s that we are not experts when it comes to television contracts.

I don’t doubt for a minute that an ACC school fleeing to the Big 12 could stand to gain more money, but what I do doubt is that the difference is anywhere near the $10M annually many of the promoters of such a move would like you to believe. I’ve seen no accurate reporting or accounting which leads to such a large figure and once exit fees and additional travel costs are figured in, the difference shrinks further.

Some point to the Big 12’s recent announcement of a $19M per-school distribution for this past year which swamps the current $12M or so ACC teams receive in TV revenue as proof of the Big 12’s superior financial might. The @ACCsports Twitter account did a great job pointing out that the Big 12 distribution included ALL conference generated revenue including TV money, but also bowl payouts, and NCAA basketball tournament payouts. That figure is additionally bloated by the inclusion of Texas A&M and Missouri’s exit fees and is further spiked by the total being divided among only eight conferences members – two situations which will not exist next year, or ever again.

LIE 5

Due to its decade of football ineptitude, many people believe the ACC will be somehow shut out of college football’s coming four team playoff. That is a preposterous statement to make considering the nature of that playoff has yet to be determined. It further falls apart when you read this story from the Tallahassee Democrat which quotes Big 12 sources as saying they have no interest in seeing the ACC squeezed out of relevance. You shouldn’t, and I don’t, have any reason to take what these Big 12 administrators are saying as the truth, but their comments go far beyond the typical tongue-in-cheek denials or affirmations made regularly by college athletic directors and conference commissioners who are seeking to throw reporters off the trail of a juicy story. The fact remains, though, that if Florida State, Clemson and Miami got their act together on the football field their access to any playoff would be no different than Alabama's, Oklahoma's or Ohio State's.

The boosters, bloggers and fans driving the “ditch the ACC” agenda could not have orchestrated a more effective misinformation campaign. Their bluster and volume have drowned out the more reserved voices which have called for a deeper inspection of this issue. Any one of these myths taking hold would be powerful, all five taking hold has had extraordinary influence.

The situation reminds me of the run-up to the Iraqi War. On the heels of 9/11 America was wounded, pissed, itching for a fight and looking for someone to blame. Saddam Hussein, the brutal Iraqi dictator, fit the bill perfectly. All that was needed to wipe him and his regime off the map was justification. George W. Bush gave us “weapons of mass destruction.” This would be our reasoning for squashing Saddam.

I think a perfectly justifiable case for invading Iraq could have been made without a need to find and prevent Saddam from using his “weapons of mass destruction,” but that’s what the administration gave us. And they’re still looking. And they were made to look like fools as a result of being unable to find them.

The huge financial disparity between what FSU and Clemson are experiencing as members of the ACC and what they’d stand to gain as members of the Big 12 represents a college football equivalent of “weapons of mass destruction.” It’s phony justification to rally support around an agenda they may not otherwise be able to convince people is a smart decision.

If FSU and Clemson want to leave the ACC for the Big 12 or any other conference that’s their business, I only hope a decision of such far-reaching magnitude will be based on facts and not the lies and ignorance which is currently shaping the conversation.[/quote]