“The Alliance” Press Conference
This sums up all you need to know. We all know how well verbal commitments hold up in college athletics. This all just seems like new commissioners feeling the need to do something, anything, in the wake of the SEC expanding.
August 24th, 2021 at 3:33 PM ^
Okay. . . I was expecting. . . substance?
August 24th, 2021 at 3:36 PM ^
So fucking out of touch
August 24th, 2021 at 3:37 PM ^
So, are we to assume that they just couldn't come to terms? Or do they think signing a contract would breach another existing agreement?
August 24th, 2021 at 3:43 PM ^
LMAO! These idiots had a chance to do something truly valuable, even if to lay out a timeline for a specific written contract and they failed miserably. A pox on all their houses.
August 24th, 2021 at 3:51 PM ^
the old 'double secret agreement'.... kept so far under wraps that the three parties that are in agreement don't even know exactly what it is they're agreeing to.....
Fuck you SEC..... top that!!!!
August 24th, 2021 at 3:53 PM ^
The 3 conferences are keeping their options open until the NIL and new TV contracts sort themselves out.
The Pac and ACC have the advantage of location & population growth, while the B1G has OSU, PSU, UM, and Wisconsin as football powerhouses.
In 3-5 years, if you are a 5* recruit, who can make money off NIL, would you rather be in this market (NYC, DC, Boston, Carolinas, Cali, Washington St, Oregon, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois) or the SEC market (all shitty states, aside from FL and Texas)?
August 24th, 2021 at 5:33 PM ^
Tuscaloosa, Oxford or Athens all day long my friend. Very big fish in those ponds.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:00 PM ^
This "Alliance" is going to fall apart once Clemson and FSU join the SEC.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:59 PM ^
That can't happen for another 10 years minimum.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^
So a big nothing burger? Cool...
August 24th, 2021 at 4:12 PM ^
They had to do something bedsides getting effed by the sec/espn. Unfortunately probably just a matter of time until espn/sec buy clemson and osu. In the next tv deal maybe the acc and big can land a massive non-espn deal. The acc is screwed with their deal, contract malpractice.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:21 PM ^
From the ESPN article about this:
A working group of athletic directors will oversee the scheduling component and strategy. The group includes ADs from the ACC (Clemson's Dan Radakovich, North Carolina's Bubba Cunningham, Syracuse's John Wildhack and Virginia's Carla Williams), the Big Ten (Iowa's Gary Barta, Ohio State's Gene Smith and Penn State's Sandy Barbour) and the Pac-12 (Cal's Jim Knowlton, Oregon's Rob Mullens, Washington State's Pat Chun and USC's Mike Bohn).
How is Warde not part of this group? The other conferences have 4 representatives and the B1G has 3. It's not like he was picked over for someone else.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:31 PM ^
Stealing it from The Newsroom:
If we're so fucking smart how come we lose so goddamn always?
August 24th, 2021 at 6:29 PM ^
Michigan loves hiring people for jobs that nobody else would consider. Remember, the guy he beat out for the gig was Jeff Long.
August 24th, 2021 at 7:57 PM ^
With as inbred as Michigan is, the choices tend be slim.
Goss, Brandon, Hackett, and Manuel were ex-players and Martin was an alum and major booster/donor.
August 24th, 2021 at 8:34 PM ^
You know Gene Smith will be on every possible scheduling committee. No one knows how to miss good teams better than Gene Smith. And of course we didn't find it important to be in the group that opens and closes the gates to a good season.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:24 PM ^
That's it? Nothing of substance at all?
August 24th, 2021 at 4:26 PM ^
This is so stupid, I feel like it is somehow WORSE than doing nothing.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:27 PM ^
I was hoping for something with a bit more teeth...
Unfortunately, due to the shifting nature of college athletics (let's face it, Football), this 'Gentlemen's Agreement' isn't worth the proverbial paper that it is written on.
Good idea - horrible execution... all sound and fury, signifying nothing....
August 24th, 2021 at 4:28 PM ^
Not sure what everyone was expecting. The SEC pulled a fast one and the rest of them had to respond. This was predictable pro-forma "doonsumnaboudit."
The B1G is the least affected or threatened by the SEC, among the other conferences. Walking out of there unencumbered by any new contracts is to our advantage.
Mutual consideration in scheduling can have an effect on TV audience and value to advertisers, though it will not be an immediate game-changer. But it gives these three some reasons to consult and spitball ideas in a way that may have seemed unnecessary before. Announcing the continued emphasis on academic excellence could be viewed as a heads-up to the Oregon States and Louisville's of the world. These conferences will evolve to their optimum configuration, which is most easily achieved by culling the herd.
Up until the very time that the TX/OK move was announced, the Big XII message board fans insisted that the conference was stable and financially robust to a degree that nobody would ever consider moving. They were unable to apply the obvious lessons of Neb, Col, A&M, and Missouri. It was a strange form of willful blindness. I see a lot of that in The ACC, tempered by a few realists.
Yes, I know, 2036. There are ever-increasing pressures against that calendar and I don't think it will hold.
August 24th, 2021 at 5:41 PM ^
How was it a fast one when Texas has been actively shopping itself around for the last decade? The SEC made a great move. But the B1G had every opportunity to do the same and chose to sit on the hands when Texas turned down the PAC12 but said they feel they aligned more with the programs in the PAC and the B1G. That was a giant call to action.
August 24th, 2021 at 6:49 PM ^
Oh I think people in ACC land know there's a big chance the league gets drawn and quartered, the issue is it's not happening for 10 years minimum and pretending there's anything imminent is preposterous. Until the ACC has 5 years or less left on that deal, nobody's going anywhere.
Clemson and FSU also have a history of crying wolf when it comes to leaving the league, so people are slightly skeptical of whether either school really wants all that SEC smoke or if they just want to wrest control of the league's direction away from Tobacco Road/UVA.
Clemson and FSU can scream about the SEC all they want, the SEC ain't adding them. ESPN isn't going to sign off on that unless UNC/UVA/Some Friends leave for the Big 10 first and it becomes about making sure Clemson/FSU stay with Disney.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:31 PM ^
At least they tried to not appear inept. Too bad their ineptness ruined that.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:33 PM ^
they should've written in down in the Notes app on their phone and posted a screenshot
"Please respect our decision. However, our recruitment remains 100% open"
August 24th, 2021 at 4:33 PM ^
Feels like the Big Ten made a deal with a girl where they don't get to date her or hook up, but if she calls needing help moving apartments maybe we will lend a hand.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:47 PM ^
This was doomed to failure as soon as they included the ACC into the talks - should have just kept it B1G and Pac-12 - they both have expiring broadcast contracts whereas the ACC just signed with ESPN through 2034.
August 25th, 2021 at 11:40 AM ^
Exactly my thoughts as well. The B1G and Pac are natural partners in so many ways. They could have easily gotten together and put something in writing that would have had far more meaning than this useless drivel.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:48 PM ^
This Alliance looks to be about as valuable and reliable as all those agreements we had with local warlords and leaders in Afghanistan not to team up with the Taliban in exchange for us helping with infrastructural improvements.
August 24th, 2021 at 4:51 PM ^
Man whoever could have seen this being useless coming, certainly not anyone paying attention with a little bit of common sense
August 24th, 2021 at 5:04 PM ^
What this tells me: Superleague is essentially a done deal and in the cards. That the other divisions won't let the SEC-driven initiative play them off against each other unless there is a lot of money involved, then all bets are [and will be] off. That the divisions are worried about individual teams leaving their own divisions, and that the teams themselves have communicated to their division offices that they don't want the "alliance" to be too restrictive.
As Michigan fans, we should be paying more attention to what the SEC is offering to Michigan to go to them than what the Big Ten is doing in response to the SEC clearly forming Superleague, as we're fortunate to be one of the programs that would be welcomed there.
This alliance demonstrates just how little resistance there actually is to Superleague, run by SEC or otherwise.
August 24th, 2021 at 5:24 PM ^
Much ado about nothing...
August 24th, 2021 at 5:34 PM ^
Translation: None of the 3 of us could decide who would be in charge of the super conference and who would get kicked to the curb. So we pretended like we have a plan and are doing something. We actually aren’t doing anything. We’re going to twiddle our thumbs, play fiddle and watch Rome burn.
Say what you want about comedian/masturbator Jim Delaney, but he was a shrewd businessman who wouldn’t sit around and watch this happen.
August 24th, 2021 at 6:11 PM ^
Won’t matter in a year or two anyway. The college FB landscape is going to be very fluid going forward. Not sure why people are freaking out about this.
August 24th, 2021 at 6:25 PM ^
Let's just call it what it was: these guys were totally blindsided by the SEC raiding the Big 12 and now want to seem important.
August 24th, 2021 at 7:54 PM ^
SEC playing chess while BiG playing…what?
August 24th, 2021 at 8:19 PM ^
A lot of hype but not much meat to this.
August 24th, 2021 at 9:28 PM ^
This is only about pulling back on the SEC's playoff advantage. Its an attempt to put the 3 power 5 conferences in a little better bargaining position. Let see they hold together on a hand shake.
August 24th, 2021 at 10:09 PM ^
I liked the answer given by the commissioners. We have seen that signed agreements mean really nothing. If some schools wants to get out, it will do it. At the end, the difference is that the remaining schools get a few million dollars. If a school does not want to be in a conference, I want to leave. No point in forcing them to stay. The same thing about a coach. If a coach does not want to stay, let them go. Paying a few millions is not going to make any difference.
August 25th, 2021 at 8:31 AM ^
Its a NOTHING BURGER will have ZERO Impact..Leave it up to the BIG 10 to lag behind