Sure. Still not granting rights.

It’s like saying OSU awarded rights to NBC when it signed a home & home with ND.

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It seems like it isn't.

No remember you confidently told me that Wisconsin would face OSU 2x each four year cycle. You were CONFIDENT in this.

I told you at the time you were wrong. And less than 8 months later we are on the path where Wisconsin is going to to see a visit from Michigan once every 6 years. Wisconsin isn’t playing in the Big 10 anymore.

Yes. That will happen. The only way it doesn't is if the conference goes to 24 teams.

With 18 teams, it is 3 teams you play every year. You then have either 6 or 7 games remaining. 14 teams left you play every other year in a 10 game schedule and almost every other year with a 9 game schedule.




The bold text is flat out wrong. Even at 24 teams it wouldn't be true.

It does depend how big the league gets but even at 20 teams you would have 3 protected rivals and 7 other games. 16 other teams left to play in those 7 games. 16/7 = 2.2.

Now, they could take it down to 2 protected rivals, which would work better.

What kind of scheduling model do you think they are going to adopt that has any team playing each other once every 6 years?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Actually, not every team has 3 protected rivals. Currently, only Iowa does. Wisconsin isn't likely to get one added with the addition of Washington or Oregon.

So, in an 18 team Big Ten, Wisconsin is playing 2 games a year against Minnesota and Iowa. There are 15 teams left to play. They will have 8 other games left in the likely 10 game schedule. So, it will actually be slightly less than every other year they will play every other Big Ten team. Bump it up to 20 teams, and it would be 17 teams left to play and slightly more than every other year.

24 teams is a different story but I would predict that a 24 team Big Ten adopts a geographic based scheduling model so the former Pac 12 teams play more often, and the former ACC teams play more often, and then the traditional Big Ten + PSU play more often given you have to add at a minimum 4 ACC and 2 former Pac 12 teams for it to make sense.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You might quite honestly be the only human being I have encountered that is in favor of all of this Big 10 expansion, other than people who are, you know, actually getting paid by the Big 10. More power to ya. You know that Purdue and the Big 10 isn’t going to send you any money right? I mean you know that? For all the water you carry for the shit sandwiches that keep getting served to us, you deserve at least something.

The Big 10 isn’t stopping at 18 teams dipshit. Just like they weren’t stopping at 16 five months ago when your assured me your wonderful scheduling propositions would be true. From 2011 through 2015 Wisconsin didn’t play Michigan at all, obviously there were fewer teams in the conference back then.

Again, I applaud your ability to be part of the propaganda machine that relies on rubes like you to laud all these business decisions that dilute the produce that you were invested in. It really is remarkable.

USC/UCLA was a great move. Washington/Oregon is probably fairly meaningless. I would have waited but it probably would have happened at some point.

You calling me a dipshit always happens at the time when you realize just how wrong you were. I showed you how you play every team every other year in an 18 team league which you thought was impossible. Even at 20, you play them almost every two years. You were factually incorrect about that complaint. If they go to 24, guess what, there will likely be a larger regional scheduling component so the former Pac 12 and former ACC teams play more often which means you get your traditional rivals more too as an original Big Ten team. That's the ironic part of all of this. If the Big Ten goes to 24 then it ends up basically being two divisions of the original Big Ten, one division of the former Pac 12, and one division of the former ACC.

You can continue to be an old man yelling at clouds about how awesome it was when the Big Ten had 10 teams if you want. If I could return to those days I would too. I'd rather return to the 12 team Big Ten with Nebraska and PSU. Those days are over. The Big East literally doesn't play football any more. The Pac 12 is 4 teams and none of them have a home that doesn't include Hawaii and Fresno State. You either eat or get eaten. I'll choose the path where OSU, Michigan, and PSU weren't poached by the SEC or the super conference while you can complain that Wisconsin doesn't get to play Michigan enough when the other option was scheduling a Wisconsin-Michigan game as an OOC game while Michigan plays at the highest level of college football in a 16 team super conference with Alabama and LSU and USC and Texas.

So, to sum it up. You'll still get your dream Wisconsin-Michigan matchup every other year, or almost every other year with 20 teams, which you thought was impossible. If it goes to 24, expect a regional scheduling model that actually gets us a little bit closer to what we had previously.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The Atlantic Coast Conference adding two schools from California and one from Texas.

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There is going to be a lot of regret for adding teams like SMU and Memphis in an attempt to stay as a major conference.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

SMU was built for the NIL era. Memphis may some day start a football program.

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Oregon State and Washington State are going to dominate the Big Sky at this rate... Guess no one is hunting for the Corvallis or Pullman TV market.

Administration in the college football world is a mess.

The only two real brands that will survive are the big 10 and sec.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

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I meant conference brands. I agree with you 100% that ND is like a conference unto itself.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Don't they have to end up in the Big 10 at some point with the way things are going?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

My understanding is that they signed their rights away to the Big Ten when they played OSU last year.

But…probably. Depends on how pervasive the anti-Catholic bigotry is still embedded within the Big Ten.

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People have been saying that for as long as I can remember, literally decades, yet somehow ND survives without being in the Big 10 and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Well, they virtually did join the ACC. Without the ACC bending over backwards for them they would be in the Big Ten now.

The ACC is slowly imploding and Notre Dame laughed at the suggestion that ND become a full member of the ACC and then they pushed Cal and Stanford to be added.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

ND advocated for two strong academic schools after the big ten took a cooler to their metaphorical faces.

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It will be interesting to see if that saves the conference.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Yet somehow they are still independent and not in the Big 10 or the ACC. Likely in 10 years they will still be independent and not in the Big 10 or any other conference and everyone will be talking about how they can't survive without being in a conference.

The point is they virtually are in the ACC already. 5 required games a year I believe. A full conference member in every other sport. The ACC gives them a very nice deal to let them still be a football independent otherwise they would have had to join some conference.

The people who said Notre Dame would have to join a conference were right because Notre Dame is currently in the ACC in every sport but football and they have requirements to play ACC teams every year. Why did they join the ACC in every other sport and give up 5/12 of the independent schedule if they could survive without being in a conference? Even men's basketball, a sport which can support itself, is a full ACC member.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

But the football team is not in a conference so the people who said they’d have to join a conference remain incorrect.

Non-football sports have had conference affiliations for a long time.

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That's not entirely fair. At least a few of the reasons why Notre Dame had to join a conference were because of things not having to do with football. Scheduling, travel expenses, and a lack of access to conference championships made it untenable to stay as an independent in college sports. That's why they joined in basketball too instead of staying independent. The cost was playing 5 ACC games a year instead of joining a conference and playing 8 or 9 ACC/Big Ten/SEC games a year and not having access to winning the conference title or playing in the conference title game.

So yes, Notre Dame can declare independence in football though it's a relatively small amount of independence when you really analyze the differences between being a full member of the ACC and being an independent member of the ACC.

Long term though, the ACC may very well have to tell Notre Dame to either join as a full member or leave. When FSU, North Carolina, and Clemson bolt and likely a few other teams the pretty much need Notre Dame as a full member to poach a few Big 12 teams. Otherwise, the Big 12 will take whoever they want.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Sure, those are all good reasons why the non-football sports have been in conferences for a few decades now.

Football has been able to remain independent. Maybe the ACC can unilaterally back out of their deal and try to force their hand, but seems unlikely.

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When you had someone saying "ND has to join a conference!" in the 90s or even the 2000s that was one of the primary reasons why. In fact, it was likely the #1 reason they needed to join a conference.

Can you at least acknowledge that they gave up at least some of that independence?

I don't know what you mean about the ACC backing out of the deal. The ACC is going to lose at least 3 teams. They already made that clear unless things drastically change. It's only a question of when. The strongest path to keeping those teams is ND choosing to join the ACC as a full member. If they leave regardless, the only path to keeping the ACC as anything but the conference that is way behind the Big Ten and the SEC but also way behind the Big 12 who will be poaching anyone with value that the Big Ten/SEC doesn't get is for ND to join.

ND may say no. They'd have every right to do so.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Most sports joined the Big East in the mid-90s. Hockey has been in a conference for almost the entire history of the program. I don’t know that anybody has ever argued for independence outside of football, where their brand means a lot more and the logistical challenges are far fewer.

I don’t view it as anything other than a long term scheduling agreement, so no, I don’t agree with your take.

Mine was a response to your suggestion the ACC may have to tell Notre Dame that either football joins or they’re out. I don’t find that likely.

The Big Ten and SEC are already miles ahead of everybody. ND to the ACC won’t change that, only a new media deal will.

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That sounds exactly they gave up at least some independence in regards to football.

You still don't seem to the concept here. It isn't about the ACC giving them an ultimatum. It's simply the only way that the ACC stays relevant. There is a very real scenario where the Big Ten and SEC take the top 5 or 6 brands from the ACC, and then the Big 12 takes a few more. Just look at what happened to the Big East, and then the Pac 12. The Big East doesn't play football. The Pac 12 has two teams right now.

The big danger for the ACC is getting raided by the Big 12 though after the top 4-6 teams in the ACC go to the SEC/Big Ten. Since this is only a money deal and none of these teams really want to leave the ACC anyways it would change the math significantly.

Theoretically, the Big 12 could offer Notre Dame the same deal the ACC did though.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It’s the wrong argument. Teams aren’t joining these conferences because of some perceived competitive relevance. They’re joining because of money. ND to the ACC wouldn’t change the ACC’s deal. It’s not like FSU wants out because they think they’re not playing enough quality teams.

The Big Ten has, on average, 1.5 competitive football teams yet they’re in the catbird seat given Kevin Warren’s brilliant business mind. It’s not universities banging down the door for a chance to play Minnesota every year.

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ND as a full member playing 8-10 conference games a year + the ACC title game significantly improves the tv deal for the ACC. It may or may not be enough to keep FSU, Clemson, and North Carolina in the league when they can get more from the Big Ten or SEC but it certainly stops the Big 12 selling a bigger tv payout.

It would not surprise me that if ND joined as a full member that FSU, Clemson, and North Carolina would stay in the ACC.

I haven't said anything about Notre Dame making the conference better at football. It makes the conference better at getting tv ratings and therefore more money.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!