re: SEC Shut Out

quote:

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My point about the 3 football championships in the last 6 years was to point out that the ACC has vastly improved in football in recent years.

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I will give credit where credit is due but consider the following.....

Before UNC vs Duke in basketball it was UNC vs NC State and it was Case who started Tobacco Road at NC State.

ACC lucked out when none of the old Big 3 wanted their rights (ABC / CBS / NBC) but a young upstart needed 24 / 7 content so bad they signed up the ACC. The upstart was ESPN and the ACC benefitted greatly from this.

Before UNC vs Duke the must see matchup every year from the 30's to the 80's was UK vs IU. Old Hoosier Dome was packed in an era where getting 10K to a game was a big deal.

Besides the luck of the ESPN deal the biggest gain for the ACC was the B1G and PAC messing up realignment advantages.

In the first round the B1G missed the boat by not getting Notre Dame with Penn State to go to 12 and a CCG. SEC took the lesser schools of Arkansas and South Carolina and got the SEC CCG. At least the ACC leadership was smart enough to use that to add some teams and stayed alive.

In the second round the B12 let itself get shaken by the B1G (getting Nebraska) and the PAC (getting Colorado) and both were smart enough to add CCG's. SEC was the biggest overall winner in realignment but I would say the ACC finished 2nd by taking the teams the B12 did not grab first (Boston College, Syracuse, and Louisville) but the big feather in their cap was landing Notre Dame an vastly improving their footprint and value.

Going into the last realignment the ACC and BE were DOA but yet here the ACC has not only survived but thrived.

Pre 2010 alignment (depth from top to bottom)
Power conferences = #1 SEC and #2 B12
Struggling conferences = B1G / PAC / ACC / BE

Post 2010 alignentt (depth from top to bottom)
Power conferences = #1 SEC and #2 ACC
Struggling conference = B12
Semi dead conferences = B1G and PAC (no depth past 1 or two teams)

In the modern world you need at least 1/2 dozen viable teams across the primary sports to fill airtime with viewable content. The SEC fills this in spades, while the ACC (including Notre Dame) has up their viewing content.

Going forward these seem to be the broadcast sports where at least 6 teams in a conference have to be good enough to fill the TV slots.

Football
M basketball
W basketball
Baseball
Softball
Gymnastics

Beneath that you have buildable audiences in
Soccer (M&W)
Lacrosse (M&W)
Hockey (in suitable markets)

After that the Natty's are nice but not high drivers to fill network content in either demand or space. Ie ESPN may show NCAA T&F but not much programming leading up to it.