re: SEC allegedly working to add Clemson and North Carolina

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Why not target the Miami, FL market and bring in the Hurricanes right ? Location Location Location.

Also with their success and in the 80s, late 90s and early 2000s ?

Demographics Demographics Demographics

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We're not buying a house. And cable boxes don't matter nearly as much as they did 15 years ago. The biggest factors now are: (1) generating compelling match-ups that will drive viewership; (2) generating paid app subscribers. How many must-see games has Miami generated in the past 20 years? And how many Miami fans/neutral fans will be added to the ESPN subscriber pool if they join the SEC? I'd wager that Mississippi State adds about the same number, despite being the smallest SEC program in rural Mississippi.

Clemson in the SEC immediately adds compelling match-ups against South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Auburn. Those games will all generate huge viewership most seasons. They're all at least somewhat established, regional games that the fanbases will want to watch. Same can be said for Florida State. What does Miami add on that front? A quarter-filled professional football stadium 45 minutes from campus? Their own fans don't care, even if they are showing signs of life in recent seasons. How many of them are going to pay for an SEC app to watch Miami football if (and when) we inevitably transition to that. Outside of Florida, does any SEC fanbase really give a shite about playing Miami?

At least North Carolina taps a truly new market and a passionate basketball fanbase. I'm not convinced that adding Miami really adds much from a market perspective when the SEC is already home to the Florida Gators. And unlike Miami, UNC is a school that resembles the majority of the SEC (public flagship in a charming college town with its own on-campus football stadium).