Syracuse Orange: Would an ACC/Big Ten merger work if SEC expands?

For all us Syracuse Orange fans out there, the recent rumor that Texas and Oklahoma might be interested in joining the SEC is certainly one to monitor. Many who follow college sports think at some point there will be super conferences as opposed to the current NCAA structure. If either of these apply any time soon, would it be in the best interest of the Big Ten Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference to consider a merger? I actually love this idea to counter a powerful SEC and I’ll share with you why…after the break.

"*cue musical interlude*"

Okay…breaks over so my theory is that if the SEC does decide to expand, they’ll likely try to convince others to join that they deem worthy (likely at least Clemson, possibly Miami, maybe even reach for a Penn State and/or Ohio State). So to counter that to maintain revenue, the ACC and Big Ten both will have to become active and make plays to save their deals they have now. Maybe even make an appeal to Notre Dame to join but only if they do so in football as well.

Here is how I see it. Keep the teams you have now as best you can, especially your top tier teams, keep the divisions mostly as they are (possibly with some little realignment here and there) and schedule games between each other regularly on a rotating schedule with the conference championship actually having a championship qualifier to play the other.

For instance, use what we now know as the ACC Championship game and leave it is as is and the winner of that faces the winner of the Big Ten Championship. Your regular-season schedule will get 1-2 out-of-conference games, 5 games within your division and 5 games against other teams within both conferences.

The possibility of further conference realignments could affect Syracuse Orange sports.

This will help both conferences in several ways. 1) you can sell a more powerful game day package for individual games to streaming companies/networks, 2) you now have enough strong teams to have more viable teams to make the playoffs, and 3) this allows you to keep rivalries going, contracted out games of conferences continue and adds more value/newer matchups for the teams and fans.

I mean realistically neither conference is likely to convince Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama or any other SEC team to join and if the SEC does expand, they will be lucky to hang on to their top teams they have now with the revenue the SEC generates. If you respond too late, you may lose teams and be forced to try to convince smaller schools to join just to keep relevant. If you are proactive, maybe those teams I mentioned they might pursue may be persuaded to stay.

A merger will maintain network relationships you currently have and add value when it’s time to renegotiate and you can convince recruits they’ll be playing more big-name programs regularly with more games on TV. I’ll even go one step further and say I’d try to get exclusively on a Netflix or HBO Max to air all games not on network TV if possible.

If there are other solutions, I’ll listen. As a Syracuse Orange fan in football, basketball and numerous other sports, I hated to see them leave the Big East and the teams they played there. However as time went on, money talked and the move to the ACC made sense.

Now we are possibly faced with a scenario where the SEC may be looking to be more powerful and to compete, they need to be proactive and at least talk about the possibility if these rumors come true or worse, this is only the beginning of a bigger plan to get a bigger cut and possibly even leave the NCAA behind (especially since these football programs generate enough money and attraction to likely operate alone and set their own guidelines).

Do you really want to wait until Thanos has all the infinity stones and can just snap his finger to rule them all with no time machine in sight to fix it or be proactive and grab your own stones now to maintain some control?