Country Roads Confidential

Here is a good layout of "important points" from the Clemson blog Cemetery Hill

FSU Board of Trustees Chairman blasts ACC & wants to "see what the Big12 has to offer"

This is huge!!!

Florida State Board of Trustees Chairman Andy Haggard Warchant.com interview

On the ACC new deal
"It's mind-boggling and shocking," said Haggard. "How can the ACC give up third tier rights for football but keep them for basketball?"
"It continues the perception that the ACC favors the North Carolina schools," noted Haggard.

On big12
"How do you not look into that option," asked Haggard. "On behalf of the Board of Trustees I can say that unanimously we would be in favor of seeing what the Big 12 might have to offer. We have to do what is in Florida State's best interest."

On keeping up with TV deals
"With the SEC making the kind of money it does it's time to act," said Haggard. "You can't sit back and be content in the ACC. This is a different time financially. This isn't 10-15 years ago when money was rolling in."

On role of Academics
"No FSU graduate puts on his resume or interviews for a job saying they are in the same conference as Duke and Virginia," he said. "Conference affiliation really has no impact on academics."

Does this not sound EERily like Texas A&M last year?

I think all of those will come into play if this goes through no way those football schools stand pat and get left out IMO. We may be in a fight with the BIG before its over.

Tier 3 seems to be the sticking point, any chance the ACC can rework the deal to get FSU to pipe down?

More Reasons-

Dan Wetzel ‏ @DanWetzel
ACC TV deal so backloaded, sources say schools only get $1 mill bump next year. Won't be $4 mill until 2021 http://yhoo.it/KUAozW

Big 12 expansion could lead to consolidation of power in top four conferences

This may be a stupid question but why would the faculty care so much about what conference their sports teams play in? Do they think that just because they teach at FSU, who happens to play sports with Duke and UNC, that their school is magically better by association? Maybe they should worry about their own school.

FSU could do what WVU did - take reduced B12 TV payouts to pay off their exit fee.....and I'm sure some of their big time boosters would pitch in.

Bill,

I'm sure someone else can speak more intelligently on the matter than I can...

but as I understand and as it was explained to me....certain schools wiyhin particular conferences often join forces in research grant proposals etc. There was a link posted a long time ago that explained some of the power that UNC, Duke, et al when it comes to academic money...it was pretty mind boggling the amount of money that was associated with it.

While I still do not believe academics drives the expansion bus, I don't poo poo it as much as I once did. When faculty can go to the decion makers and say "look at the hundreds of millions this affiliation has provided us"....it may not always fall on deaf ears?

Bottom line is money...whether it comes from tv, tickets, academics, or whatever ....the more a school has....the better positioned they will be. You know the Golden Rule: he who has the gold, makes the rules.

It's not a common practice for schools to share research and/or Grants money outside of conference. I totally agree with what you're saying, but it's all about the "Academic Prestige" that can be affiliated with the conference. To put it bluntly, it's not that they can't share, they won't share.

The ACC does not share research dollars with the entire conference so the argument of joint research grants is a mute point.

Also as the FSU Board of Trustees Chairman Andy Haggard said, "No FSU graduate puts on his resume or interviews for a job says the are in the same conference as Duke and Virginia. Conference affiliation has no impact on academics."

The President has to put on the good fight for the academic side of the house, but truth is he works FOR the Board of Trustees. He pushes back too hard, he just might be looking for employment elsewhere.