I'm going to be more brief here than my feelings truly are as I'll probably get put in time out if I use the words I want to.

I may have always hated the Terps, but I at least respected them. I frankly have lost all respect for them with this move. Rather than actually try to build a program and get out of the bottom of the barrel of the ACC, they move to the Big 10 where they'll likely sit in the middle of the pack in basketball and football(the two big money makers) and make no attempt at building the program anymore, not to mention lacrosse(they're third big sport) where they've been stuck in the shadow of UVA and/or Duke since the 90s and rather than recruit a program they'll either be a charter member of the Big 10 in lacrosse(theres now 5 Big 10 schools, OSU, PSU, Michigan, Rutgers joining too) or join a joke of a conference compared to the ACC(CAA most likely, they'd try to form a UDel-UMd rivalry) and instantly be the top of their conference, but still not even close to the quality of team any of the ACC programs will be.

tl;dr I'm flat out disgusted with this move.
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Read it yesterday and was also disheartened. I know little about MD sports aside from Lefty, Boomer and Len Bias.

I was more dumbfounded from the perspective of a life-long Big10 fan. I understood the Penn State addition. And I understood going after ND. Nebraska? At least they bring some FB credibility. But MD? Why?
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The Big 10 wanted to get up to 14 teams like everyone else, and since ND went the ACC route, they were down their best option. Of the ACC teams, UMd was the best option for going to the Big 10 of any of them, so it makes sense that if they wanted to get back at the ACC for ND they'd try to take UMd. Of the other major(and I use this word loosely by considering the Big East one) conferences, only Pitt and Syracuse would have really fit, and both had already committed to the ACC. BC may have worked for them too, but they were content in the ACC.

Nebraska has always felt like a Big 10 team to me, even back in the day I felt they were misplaced in the Big 12, so to me that was a smart move, it saved Nebraska from a Big 12 that was falling apart into the Texas And Others Conference(Longhorn Network anyone?), and gave the Big 10 the 12th member needed for a championship game.

Oh, and here's the UMd's SGAs response endorsing the move which made me chuckle.

Image

Blatantly reaching for anything to make this move make sense. There is no athletic benefit to this whatsoever, especially when you consider they're going to pay $50 million to leave the ACC, a number that will likely affect academics too, which the letter completely fails to even consider.
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Ha! But it bolsters UMD's 'academic reputation'. At least it doesn't mention the honor that will rub off from getting cozy with Penn State and Ohio State.
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I have to admit that I ave no idea what the ACC football television deal looks like, but I have to assume this is all about money, not where they can compete better. They are a .500 football school. They will compete well in basketball, but that didn't drive this IMO.
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The Big 10 has better paying TV deal, but that's not factoring in the overwhelming increase the ACCs deal will get when ND, Syracuse, and Pitt all join.

And lets not give them more credit than they're worth, they're a SUB-.500 football team
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IMO, the addition of Pitt and Syracuse will not change that deal to the point that it is on the same planet as the BIG 10 deal, which is a monster and reportedly going to be changed with the new teams/footprint.

I don't know how ND will factor in, as they are not a member of the ACC and will keep their deal with NBC....:-)
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Sounds like Maryland feels like they will make 100M more dollars in the next 8 years(by 2020) being in the BIG10 over the ACC....

....and there you have it, $$$$

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...ney/index.html


The University of Maryland stands to make nearly $100 million more in conference revenue by 2020 with its switch from the ACC to the Big Ten, according to projected revenue information presented to the school by Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany. SI.com obtained the information from a Maryland official on the condition of anonymity.

The projected information shows how Maryland could afford its $50 million buyout from the ACC, a fee the school is expected to attempt to reduce through legal action.

When Maryland joins the Big Ten in 2014, it projects to make more than $12 million more than it would have in the ACC. That projected difference jumps to $19 million annually in 2017 after the Big Ten renegotiates its television contract.

According to the official, Maryland projects to make $32 million when it joins the league for the 2014-15 season, well beyond the ACC's projected payout of $20 million.

The real jump in projected revenue comes in 2017, after the Big Ten negotiates its new television contract. The Big Ten payout that year projects to $43 million, dwarfing the $24 million the ACC projects to pay out that year. During his Monday press conference, Maryland president Wallace D. Loh said the school's motivation to realign is largely financial. Delany declined comments regarding finances in a telephone interview Monday.

Here's how the financial payout per school breaks down for upcoming years, according to the information Delany relayed to Maryland officials: The school will make $32 million in 2014, $33 million in 2015, $34.5 million in 2016 and then $43 million in 2017.

Those numbers continue to steadily climb, as the Big Ten payout projects to jump to $44 million in 2018 and $45 million in 2019.
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The Irish will be a full member of the ACC in hoops, but will retain semi-independence in football. They will play 5 games a season against ACC foes, and schedule whom they please to in the remainder of the season. Frankly, I'm not sure how this benefits them all that much. As a full ACC member, they become eligible for an automatic BCS bid for the conference, while as an independent they will have to EARN any shot at big bowl games on the field. Furthermore, they could still be free to schedule big-ticket games against the Michigans, Ohio States, and USCs of the world, if they so chose.

As for Maryland, if they want to abandon the ACC, thus leaving it with only 6 founding members from its 1953 creation (UVA, Clemson, and the four NC teams), that's their affair. I'm not sure how large an economic boon this will be to them, once you factor out a) what they already get from the ACC contracts, b) the $50M buyout they'll need to pony up, and c) the additional expenses incurred from longer road trips to places like Wisconsin and Minnesota. As for their ability to compete in the . . . "Big Fourteen"? . . . that remains to be seen. However, as they only occasionally compete in basketball, and rarely in football or other sports, in the ACC, and as I can't see this move helping their recruiting all that much (and maybe even hurting is some, at least in the short-term), I cannot see how they plan on competing in a different conference.

But as I said, it is their business, and more power to them. Goodbye, and good riddance. As a Tar Heel, I've hated the Terps since Lefty stole Tom McMillen from Dean Smith back in 1970. So, screw 'em. :-)
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One good thing for me, at least, is Big 10 games here inside the beltway.
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Yea, Thomas...I was just talking football, which is where the dollars are.

Notre Dame has an auto birth in the BCS if they are in the top 8.... But if they are in any way eligible, even below that....chances are they get selected. Though, I do understand what you are saying...
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Well, I'm glad SOMEBODY finally does! :-)
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ND only has an agreement with NBC for their football. There are two money making sports in college athletics, especially the ACC, football and basketball.

Not to mention the article you posted only mentions adjusted Big 10 revenue numbers while not mentioning any numbers for the ACC with the addition of the 3 new schools, nor the extreme likelihood of television contract renegotiation for the ACC. Oh, and lets not overlook the fact that the Big 10 gives new members a revenue cut for a certain number of years(5 in the case of Nebraska)(http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/...llion-to-teams)

That SI article was hastily written with shaky at best facts. I'd like to see the ACC numbers rerun with ND, Cuse, and Pitt all in the equation, and with the possibility(more than a possibility, its just a matter of time IMO) of a standalone ACC network much like the Big 10s.
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Also, Thomas, I believe you misspelled "Tarhole" in your big post. You may want to go get one of the ToE to change it. Wouldn't want to misrepresent Carolina. :-)
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And I believe you are mistaken there, Bear. But of course, such is to be expected from one "educated" (to use the term loosely) at Moo U. :-)

Nice showing against Oak State, BTW . . . by which I mean, they made it to the game, if not actually out of the lockerroom. :-)
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I haven't even been paying attention to basketball season yet. Wake me up when we play Michigan and again when the conference schedule starts. We were too highly ranked anyways, som I'm not all too bummed out.

On your education comment, I present to you http://ncstaterejects.com
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It's all about the money and I can't blame them, but it's sad to see one of the founding members of the ACC leave.

The ACC isn't a powerhouse in football, but they are a dominating force in basketball. I'm not a big college sports fan, but I assume Maryland is more interested in making money from football than basketball, being football is the true moneymaking sport right mow.
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What sucks about this (and it's not just Maryland) is that it's all about the tv deal and not about the kids. Maybe that's a big reason why I'm not a big NCAA fan and am a bigger fan of the NFL because it's not as big of a deal if the teams are all about the money in the NFL as they are a business rather than about academics.
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This about money, not acedemics. Another reason why I don't follow college sports. Universities should be more concerned about educating young Americams, not football or basketball.



I know I'm showing my ignorance, but this is what college sports should really be against. No outrage here when a university is all about the money, but Sports Illustrated and ESPN go nuts over some kids at Ohio State giving away uniforms for free tattoos. Ugh...
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