Could Conference Expansion End with Virginia Tech in the SEC?
by furrer4heisman on Jun 8, 2010 2:24 AM EDT
6 comments
Sunday I reviewed the latest expansion rumblings and detailed how potential moves by the Pac 10 and Big Ten could affect Virginia Tech. One of the topics I discussed was the possibility of Virginia Tech winding up in the SEC. I dismissed the notion entirely and still do mostly.
However, as commenter Your Father suggested, it does look like I've undersold Virginia Tech's value to God's Conference. We do bring in a share of the Washington, DC, market thanks in part to the new radio deal by ISP and because of how many alumni are in the area.
Several comments made in recent days have indicated the Hokies could be a distinct possibility if the SEC expanded to 16 teams. Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated suggested Monday in one of his 16 expansion scenarios that the SEC could invite Miami, Florida State, Clemson and Virginia Tech.
But the quote that really caught my eye came from Chris Low, ESPN's SEC blogger. Low had this to report from the SEC meetings last week:
Two of the possibilities that popped up the most during casual conversation with coaches, athletic directors and other league officials were Texas and Virginia Tech. Both are tailor-made for the SEC in football, and it would be two brand new markets you'd be adding to the league.
Just to hear people in the SEC are mentioning Virginia Tech is eye-opening to me. And the decision makers aren't the only one's receptive to the idea of Virginia Tech in the league. Fans, including SB Nation's Alabama and Georgia bloggers, mention the Hokies when reviewing the conference's expansion options.
While Low does call Virginia Tech tailor-made for the SEC, he also brings up the reason I still don't the Hokies will wind up in the conference, Texas. I personally don't think the SEC will expand unless Texas is included. And if the Longhorns are forced to turn down the Pac 10 because of those meddling Bears, the SEC would be forced to take Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor in order to get the Longhorns, which would put them at 16. At minimum it would require them to take Texas A&M and either stay at 14 or take only two ACC teams to get to 16.
So while the Hokies now appear to be a possibility if the SEC decides to expand to 16 and take four teams from the ACC, that scenario still remains very unlikely. I still don't see Tech being a part of the SEC when these wheels stop turning.
Of course, the way things are going all of this will change by morning. I'm really just ready for one of these conferences to do SOMETHING so we at least have something tangible to go off of instead of rumor and innuendo.
0 recs |
6 comments
|
Email
Print
Comments
i am not Your Father
but common sense tells me the SEC will look at VT due to DC, Norfolk/Va Beach and Richmond.
what a friend in the know tells me … is the exact same thing.
not that VT will be offered or would even go, so much has to happen but if the SEC were to expand, Tech does get a look. I am not just making this up on twitter.
VT to SEC not gonna happen
Sure the SEC would LOVE to have the Hokies but it wont happen for 1 reason…UVA. The SEC has NO interest in the Hoos and theonly way Tech goes is if UVA goes. The Hokies became handcuffed to UVA when the ACC expanded & raided the Big East. the rest of the ACC wanted the Orangemen, but UVa balked and actually threatened to leave the league if VT was left out.The boys in Richmond got involved and that was that. Now, just like Texas and Texas A&M, Tech and UVA are a package deal. Also, you can forget Miami gettin invited to the SEC. Florida will NOT allow Miami to join, yes they want FSU, but the UF has NO love for Miami and will do all they have to to block the Canes inclusion. Look for the SEC to raid the ACC and leave with Ga tech, Clemson and FSU…then they’ll either go after WVU, Maryland, ECU, TCU or Houston…dont laugh at the last 3, there are very sound reasons for each. ECU would give the SEC something its coveted for years—-a foothold in talent rich North Carolina. Same for Houston and TCU in Texas. Also, all 3 are at least at the level that So.Carolina & Arkansas were when they joined. ECU is very interesting considering their fooball program has REALLY come a long way in recent years. They have a top AD in Terry Holland who is highly respected and extreamly effective. And, they have seriously upgraded their overall athletic program and its paying off more each season.
SEC Expansion, ECU and a big payoff
Football Folly… I thought I was the only person who thought that ECU would be a perfect SEC fit. I’m not an East Carolina fan, but I do respect what they’ve done with very limited resources 90 minutes from the heart of the ACC. Think about that. Here’s a school that has to battle four in-state rivals that are all part of the ACC and they do it well, competing with BCS conference opponents and winning more than their fair share of those games if my memory is right. They had to literally lobby for an act of the state legislature that would force their ACC neighbors to play them in football every 4 years or so.
I live in Charlotte and I don’t have any hardcore NCAA team allegiances, but I follow SEC football like the gospel. As the day has unfolded and I’ve read the speculation and hyperbole swirling around the blogosphere, the thought has occurred to me that there just may be a place for the Pirates in the SEC with the newly evolving conference landscape.
It wasn’t that many years ago that the Southeastern Conference expanded one state northward and picked up a “red headed stepchild” that was having trouble growing in the shadows of the ACC. The Gamecocks were a Division I Independent (along with Va Tech, WVU, ECU and others) that had burned their bridge with the ACC (rightly or wrongly…no judgement on Frank McGuire’s actions). South Carolina was floundering pre-SEC and wasn’t nearly as ready to make the jump at that time as ECU is now.
When you’re competing in business (let’s don’t kid ourselves and say that this isn’t business)you have to think market share and the state of NC is owned by the ACC. The SEC has some house money to play with now that the CBS deal is inked, so why not take a gamble? If it works, which I think it would, you have an SEC Football program that immediately becomes THE STORY in NC. Currently the ECU program is as good as any of the four ACC schools in NC, but can you imagine what would happen if they were given access to SEC revenue sharing, increased media exposure AND the ability to walk into every living room in the state and tell a kid they’ll line up against the DAWGS or BAMA or the GATORS week in and week out? Mercy…
I know people will say I’m crazy or worse, but I sincerely think that strategic move would be a dagger to the heart of the ACC. Expand to the west with a sure winning bet in Texas A&M, but push a bit further north at the same time with ECU and you just may end up with a long shot that pays big.
How funny would that be???
Now, that being said, I found this thread by googling “Va Tech SEC Expansion”, which I did b/c I think the Hokies would make a great fit for inclusion in our little conference, but can we make your ugly sister (uva) stay in the ACC? I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that :)
by Football_andBBQ on Jun 11, 2010 11:57 PM EDT up reply actions
thanks for the mention.
1st step is to get the invite, but I have to disagree with football folly. UVA wants no part of the SEC, and will never smell an invite anyway. If the ACC is already getting raided for it’s top teams, it’s probably in the state’s best interest to allow VT to be included in that. UVA can then maintain their olympic sports and academic integrity as they see it. The remains of the ACC and Big East can form a reasonable BCS conference. Hopefully without WVU of course.
The longer this goes on the more I think nothing or very little really happens
First, Texas controls it’s destiny here. Their preference would be to keep the Big 12 together and start a Big 12 network similar to the Big 10+1 network. They would in turn dominate the network and probably the revenues.
The SEC and ACC preference is to not do anything. The big one here is that the Big 12 doesn’t want to add additional teams to share their current contract. That’s money in the bank. I particularly don’t think they want to add four teams from Texas to the mix. Texas would bring a lot to the table but Baylor, Texas Tech and A&M don’t.
The PAC-10 expansion is really kind of a pre-emptive media strike by their commissioner. They want to try and cherry pick the Big 12 before someone else can. It’s kind of pathetic really. The PAC-10 has the lowest TV revenues of all the major conferences. That’s worse than what Texas has now so I can’t imagine them doing that.
The Big 10+1 may add a team if that team is Notre Dame. I think the whole expansion strategem from Delany is the end game of getting Notre Dame in the conference. However, one thing that he didn’t count on is that Notre Dame is content to wait and see what Texas does. Because Texas is the linchpin in this whole thing and as I said before, I think they prefer to do nothing. Now, to save face, Delaney may push to get one team added to go to 12 and that would probably have to be Pitt do mostly to geography and getting Penn State’s support. If they tried to add anyone else, Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri, Nebraska, I think they lose Penn State’s support and the rest of the schools will be inclined to do nothing. The big 3 in the conference are Michigan, OSU and Penn State. Michigan and Ohio State probably want a championship game but they probably don’t want to have to fly their olympic sports teams out to NJ or Nebraska. But Pitt isn’t that far away from either.
So very little will happen except for Pitt joining the Big 10+2 and the PAC-10 adding a couple of schools from the Mountain Time Zone (BYU, Boise State, Utah). They could make overtures to Colorado which I think the Big 12 would kind of celebrate getting rid of. They could easily add TCU to compensate.
Respectfully, pfhokie
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
Related FanPosts on Gobbler Country
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
