An Inside View: The conference shell game

The one that has me tickled to no end is the series of who’s going where as the ACC attempts to dismantle the Big East. The thing that has me rolling, not one peep out of the SEC, not a one. I have to assume the boys in the league office just know this expansion game well enough to realize that laying low has its advantages. There may be some prime scraps to sweep up from the royal rumble and the less said the better until the courtrooms clear. I mean why pay for lawyers and the suffer the negative press when you can waltz in late and look the good guy? If three or four teams leave for the ACC, watch one or two former Big East members who are crying foul and treachery now, shut their mouths and hop into bed with the SEC. It will only take a quick glance around to see that what is left of their conference is not the place a sound athletic program wants to be. Count on West Virginia to move given a chance. The only question will be is whether Virginia Tech decides to go now or later. Agreeing to the ACC offer adds Virginia as a yes vote and puts the total at seven for with Carolina and Duke against. If the Hokies stay in the filed lawsuit, they will jump slightly slower but just as solidly at an SEC offer after the smoke settles. But while the ACC league office is focusing on expansion, unsettled members might just be willing to jump themselves in this developing free for all. While not likely, it is possible that resentment over all the deal-making going on despite their opposition could leave Duke feeling lonely as the sole intellectual in the crowd. Why not get Vandy to give them a feel good call. If the ACC gets Miami, Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia Tech for a thirteen team conference, why not subtract Duke to the SEC with a West Virginia jump. Duke moves to the basketball conference on the rise, plus has Vandy to hold hands with on academic standards and serving as football’s whipping boy. The SEC has fourteen, the ACC 12, nice round numbers for super conferences that would dominate the media market. The addition of West Virginia and either Tech or Duke would of course require a realignment of the SEC divisions. Shifting into a north/south alignment not only puts the new teams in good geographically, it also balances out a major kink in the bowl revenues by eliminating the annual knock in the polls for Florida or Tennessee when they match up. It’s just better ratings and revenue if they don’t play until the conference championship game. Of course it unbalances basketball a bit, but the league has a conference tournament and at-large bids for the NCAA that straighten out the post season revenues nicely. Bottom-line is the name of the game; this is all about empire building. Super conferences bring in more dollars from television contracts and post season pay-offs. But what if the boys in the SEC office really are asleep and don’t have some deals in mind? Well there’s always MTSU right? That’s just as good isn’t it? They contend in the Sun Belt Conference. There is only one letter difference between SEC and SBC. They beat Vandy and play something like half the league for homecoming games already. What’s the difference, just a few million here and there, and that’s the difference that got this mess started in the first place.