Andy Staples Explains Why No Big 12 Team Would Leave for the ACC
The current wave of conference realignment has brought about significant change to every Power Conference in the country.
The SEC and Big Ten have significantly bolstered their membership by adding some of college football’s most powerful programs, while the Big 12 and ACC are positioning themselves in order to avoid the next Pac-12.
At this point in time, there’s not much debate against the Big 12 being in a better position than the ACC finds itself. Thanks to quick work from Commissioner Brett Yormark, the Big 12 landed a media rights deal with ESPN through 2030-31. What’s better is it will give Big 12 schools significantly more than what the ACC will distribute to its schools through the worst deal in college athletics, which runs through 2036.
In fact, the deal is so bad that Florida State, one of the ACC’s flagship programs, is suing the conference in an attempt to get out.
This turmoil and uncertainty, On3’s Andy Staples says, could lead to ACC schools joining the Big 12, not the other way around.
“What’s the incentive for the Big 12 school to move?” Staples asks. “There’s no more money. Which one seems more stable right now? Which one has somebody suing it right now?”
Staples also points out the stability and continuity that the Big 12 has thanks to similar values and relevance throughout the conference. The ACC, on the other hand, has a wide range of programs with vastly different priorities when it comes to athletics.
“(The Big 12 schools) are all alike,” Staples said. “The ACC schools are not all alike. Florida State and Boston College are very different. That is in itself a problem. The Big 12, there’s a definite ceiling on it. But you’re also not going to have a situation where somebody’s like, ‘We’re so much more desirable than everybody else. We’re getting the hell out of here.’ You don’t have to worry about that now.”
With the College Football Playoff coming closer to a resolution for the future, leagues and programs are doing their best to position themselves for success going forward. As of now, it appears that the Big 12 is in a much better position to claim itself as one of the top three leagues in the country, and that’s not a bad place to be considering where it found itself after this wave of realignment first kicked off.
