So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye Maryland.
For those naïve enough to believe that conference realignment had ended — and let me be clear, I am one of you — the news that Maryland and Rutgers were leaving their respective conferences for the Big Ten likely jolted you Monday morning. Even Virginia coach Mike London in his press conference Monday said the news “came as a shock.”
As a lifelong Terps fan I hate the move away from the ACC, but the Maryland Board of Regents seems set on the decision. All ACC fans can do now is analyze its impact on the constantly shifting landscape of college athletics.
Winner: Maryland
Maryland is the clear winner in this situation. Terrapins great Len Elmore blasted his alma mater for forsaking tradition and being swayed by dollar signs, but I think it’s time for Len to snap back to reality. Maryland’s athletic department had to cut seven sports because of a projected budget deficit of $4 million for this year, on top of a debt that exceeded $83 million as of July 2011. I consequently think this is less of a “get-rich-quick” scheme than it is a “return-to-financial-solvency-sometime-this-decade” scheme.
The Big Ten will provide Maryland with security that the ACC could not. It pays considerably more shared revenue to its member schools — a major factor in Maryland’s decision — and the conference’s prestige and stability should benefit football recruiting. The Big Ten’s impending television rights renegotiation in 2017 only sweetens the deal.
The $50 million ACC exit fee will pose a financial challenge to Maryland, but some reports indicate the fee could be negotiated down to a smaller sum. Forbes.com has speculated that Kevin Plank, Under Armour founder and Maryland alumnus, might foot the bill for the buyout fee to lessen the financial burden on the school. Plank — the man behind Maryland’s cool/ridiculous football uniforms — was heavily involved behind the scenes and completely supported the move to the Big Ten, according to ESPN. Plank is worth $1.35 billion and sold 1.3 million shares of Under Armour stock last week “for asset diversification, tax and estate planning and charitable giving purposes,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The sale will reportedly net him a cash windfall in the neighborhood of $56 million. He denies that he will pay any of the exit fee.
As for the loss of tradition, I’ll always miss the Duke-Maryland games and watching Gary Williams and Coach K go head-to-head, but those days are long gone. In reality, North Carolina and Duke are rivals, and Maryland is the odd man out. Maryland and Virginia were designated permanent cross-division rivals in ACC football and primary partners in basketball, but who among us believes Virginia considers Maryland a bigger rival than the despicable birds from Blacksburg?
In short, Maryland’s traditional rivalries are fading, and with the additions of Pitt, Syracuse, and Notre Dame to the ACC, these rivalries would only become more distant. My inner sports fan despises the past two years of conference realignment, but I also cannot criticize Maryland for knowing when it’s time to say goodbye.
Loser: ACC
As a Virginia fan, this move alarms me. Rumors that Florida State was trying to join the Big 12 — which FSU President Eric Barron denied — plagued the ACC in May. In the same month, Clemson’s Board of Trustees said it would consider an offer from another conference to leave the ACC.
We may be on the verge of a classic bank run in college sports. Maryland’s defection and the possible departures of FSU and Clemson create undeniable uncertainty around the ACC. Although the conference may try to restore faith by adding UConn — a basketball-oriented quick fix for the loss of Maryland — every ACC institution must assess its long-term prospects behind the scene.
Nobody wants the conference to collapse, but schools are going to act in their best interests, which may mean being the first to withdraw. If Clemson and Florida State leave, the ACC could go the way of the Big East and watch its status as a major football conference — somewhat laughable even now — evaporate before its eyes.
The tables have turned drastically from last September, when the ACC raided the Big East of arguably two of its best all-around athletic institutions, Pitt and Syracuse.
The $50 million buyout in the ACC is one of the primary deterrents to leaving the conference, but you can bet that every ACC president and governing board will be watching what happens with Maryland’s buyout. Reducing the buyout could set a dangerous precedent for the conference.
Undetermined: Big Ten
Beyond its undeniably ironic name, I’ll consider the Big Ten’s expansion to 14 teams a wash until we see the results on television revenue.
It gains the D.C.-metro area and New Jersey media markets. But those markets are first and foremost Redskins/Ravens and Giants/Jets before Maryland and Rutgers. It may gain a foothold in the basketball market, especially with the Nets’ move to Brooklyn, but football is the golden goose for college sports.
It’s hard to claim any significant history exists between Maryland and other Big Ten teams. The conference will attempt to manufacture rivalries, but I don’t believe Maryland will develop a rivalry anywhere close to Michigan-Ohio State or the likes for decades, if ever. You’ve added two mediocre teams to a conference that boasts storied football rivalries, which could affect scheduling between traditional rivals in a similar fashion as the restructuring of the ACC.
Maybe this is just the beginning for the Big Ten, and it may one day expand to 16 teams. Pundits and fans have long speculated about the formation of four 16-team super-conferences. Or maybe this marks the end of conference realignment. But I remember thinking that once before, too.
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