I’m hoping the Board of Regents kills this. I think only desperate schools should join conferences that don’t fit geographically (WVU, the new members of the Big East). Maryland is running deficits in the athletic department, but I believe they are less than the ACC’s exit fee. No need to be desperate with the large playoff payouts ahead.
Here’s an illustration (assuming Rutgers would join with Maryland)
Schools within about a 6 hour drive of UMD (a reasonable road trip distance):
ACC - UVA, Pitt, VT, NC State, Duke, UNC, Wake, Syracuse (8/14 conference mates)
Big Ten - Penn State, Rutgers (2/13 conference mates)
This would kill fan support and recruiting. And all the travel to multiple time zones will wear down the teams (see West Virginia football this year).
Maryland is a charter member of the ACC, but they’ve always viewed themselves as outsiders. It’s ironic that now that the ACC expanded to place them closer to the center of the conference, adding two schools that they compete against not necessarily for athletes but definitely for regular undergrads, their President (who came from the University of Iowa) is looking to drag them away in the middle of the night (the Regents reportedly heard about this the same way we did).
Also, the Big Ten’s revenue model is entirely based on the status quo of cable tv pricing not changing. It really is a good deal for Big Ten members if the way people watch and pay to watch sports does not change at all for the next twenty years. Maryland would be joining the Big Ten schools going all in against ala carte cable or live streaming over the internet. If they lose, revenue is a wash at best.
There were rumors on Penn State fan message boards in the last few weeks that they were looking at the ACC. Could this offer just be the Big Ten’s reaction to those rumors?
The ACC is in a good position for the future, and I really hope for Maryland’s sake this gets shot down quickly.