Basketball = Achilles Heel

[Cow Pie]

It all boils down to geography... the only 2 geographic fits for us would be the SEC or the ACC... the ACC has 2 Florida schools and does not want another one. The SEC has 1 big ***** Florida school that does not want the Bulls in the SEC because we would eventually over take them, they would prefer FSU but since the ACC raised the buy out clause to $20 Million that is a bridge too far.

I'm not sure if geography is really a motivating factor in all of this. If it was then the latest ACC additions (Boston College, Pitt, Syracuse) were outside of the then ACC's footprint and made no sense. Even still, those 3 have to get on a plane to get to any of the 11 other schools.

We could feasibly get lucky if the Big Ten or Big XII wants to get into the FL market.

Also, the buyout from the ACC isn't insurmountable if a conference like the SEC comes knocking. I don't see FSU turning down the SEC.

???

The footprint of the ACC is the Atlantic Coast... they own the Southern portion of the Atlantic Coast and only lacked the Yankee portion... the ACC press release stated that they wanted Cuse and Pitt to bring the huge gap between Virginia and Mass.

[The Great 8]

It all boils down to geography... the only 2 geographic fits for us would be the SEC or the ACC... the ACC has 2 Florida schools and does not want another one. The SEC has 1 big ***** Florida school that does not want the Bulls in the SEC because we would eventually over take them, they would prefer FSU but since the ACC raised the buy out clause to $20 Million that is a bridge too far.

I'm not sure if geography is really a motivating factor in all of this. If it was then the latest ACC additions (Boston College, Pitt, Syracuse) were outside of the then ACC's footprint and made no sense. Even still, those 3 have to get on a plane to get to any of the 11 other schools.

We could feasibly get lucky if the Big Ten or Big XII wants to get into the FL market.

Also, the buyout from the ACC isn't insurmountable if a conference like the SEC comes knocking. I don't see FSU turning down the SEC.

???

The footprint of the ACC is the Atlantic Coast... they own the Southern portion of the Atlantic Coast and only lacked the Yankee portion... the ACC press release stated that they wanted Cuse and Pitt to bring the huge gap between Virginia and Mass.

It was the "Atlantic Coast" in name only. Before it added Boston College it was "South Atlantic Coast" conference in reality. What's the northern most team? Maryland? Almost the entire conference is included in, and south of, North Carolina.

Just as without Miami/USF the "Big East" really means the "Big Northeast". Combine them both and you have a true "Atlantic Coast Conference."

We don't truly geographically fit in the BE despite being "east." Pitt/Cuse aren't wonderful fits for the ACC either.

[Markeymark]

Football + TV markets are what's driving all of this...USF will be fine.

[The Great 8]

Football + TV markets are what's driving all of this...USF will be fine.

We have good football and a good TV market. I agree.

The trouble is, the only conferences that make some semblance of sense are either gasping for breath (Big 12, Big East) or are saturated with our market (SEC, ACC).