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The Magnificent 7 does not have any truly magnificent choices.

The media has been calling them “Group of 7” – Clemson, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. State, Virginia and Virginia Tech. These are the ACC schools apparently talking amongst themselves to consider their future options.

Cynics are sarcastically calling them the “Magnificent 7” because they are selling possible realignment that doesn’t come close to the value established by the SEC and Big Ten through their football powers. Here are the problems all 14 full members of the ACC are facing:

After Maryland bolted for the Big Ten, like the Colts left Baltimore for Indy in the middle of the night in 1984, former ACC commissioner John Swofford wanted to make sure no other schools could defect without a severe penalty. He had all remaining members agree to sign a grant of rights through the year 2036.

It meant any member thinking about leaving would have to cede its media rights distribution back to the ACC, tantamount to that harsh financial penalty. And that contract with 13 more years to run has become an embarrassing decision.

The SEC and Big Ten never signed long-term TV deals because the landscape of rights fees was changing so quickly that neither conference wanted to get locked in and lose future flexibility. The SEC and Big Ten have since expanded to 14 schools, with two more in each conference coming (big brands of Texas and Oklahoma and the TV markets of Southern Cal and UCLA.)

Those two leagues have effectively secured so many dollars from the major TV networks like FOX and CBS and NBC that, even if the ACC wrangled its way out of the grant of rights commitment, their own football brands and/or TV markets would not attract enough additional TV money to increase the $100 million distribution per school per year projected by the SEC and Big Ten by 2029.

And if the Magnificent 7 renegotiated its partnership with ESPN for games and the ACC Network, an increased rights fee would continue to yield half of what SEC and Big Ten schools get. The result is a decided advantage in recruiting budgets, coaching salaries and lavish facilities.

The overriding question is if all these schools and conferences keep chasing the money to stay competitive in football, what happens to college basketball and all Olympic programs including Title IX-protected women’s sports? College athletics as we know it would be replaced by an NFL-type college football system.

ACC realignment of any kind won’t happen for several years or until everything settles and schools know for sure whatever moves being discussed today are worth it tomorrow.

 

Featured image via USA Today Sports/Joshua S. Kelly

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