The Raleigh News and Observer has an interesting piece on the subject of athletic entities losing their economic vitality because they lost their roots. The case in point is NASCAR which developed deep roots in the rural South with races in places like Darlington, SC and North Wilkesboro, NC. That wasn't enough for NASCAR, however. They dumped their races in small towns in the South in order to expand to races in New Hampshire and California and elsewhere. Now, NASCAR is far less popular on TV than it once was.

College football is very popular on TV now but you cannot safely project its popularity 10 or 20 years from now, especially with unwieldy conferences lacking in traditional rivalries.

My opinion is that the ACC is already too large for long term stability and profitability. Further expansion would be nuts. The SEC and B10 may pass us for now but there's nothing we can do about it. Who knows what the future holds? The SEC and B10, especially the B10, are unnatural groupings lacking in traditional rivalries that make for good TV. I don't think they'll survive in the long term.

You older guys from the Carolinas can relate, but that is what ultimately broke Jim Crockett Promotion's professional wrestling division as well. They got away from their roots in Greensboro, Charlotte, Atlanta, Baltimore etc where they sold out every week to try and book shows out of their wheelhouse in Chicago, NY and Philadelphia. They ended up losing money because there were fewer butts in the seat in those big markets and folks in those markets weren't watching JCP on TV. Crockett lost his shirt and wound up selling to Ted Turner (who then re-branded the promotion WCW).

https://twitter.com/JonErlichman/status/...2894010368

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME FRIES WITH THAT

(07-18-2022 09:28 AM)green Wrote:  

https://twitter.com/JonErlichman/status/...2894010368

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME FRIES WITH THAT

Is that before or after he stole the company from the McDonald's family?

(07-18-2022 10:32 AM)ChrisLords Wrote:  

(07-18-2022 09:28 AM)green Wrote:  

https://twitter.com/JonErlichman/status/...2894010368

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME FRIES WITH THAT

Is that before or after he stole the company from the McDonald's family?

Are intraregional rivalries a key part of the burger business?

(07-18-2022 08:50 AM)Hallcity Wrote:  The Raleigh News and Observer has an interesting piece on the subject of athletic entities losing their economic vitality because they lost their roots. The case in point is NASCAR which developed deep roots in the rural South with races in places like Darlington, SC and North Wilkesboro, NC. That wasn't enough for NASCAR, however. They dumped their races in small towns in the South in order to expand to races in New Hampshire and California and elsewhere. Now, NASCAR is far less popular on TV than it once was.

College football is very popular on TV now but you cannot safely project its popularity 10 or 20 years from now, especially with unwieldy conferences lacking in traditional rivalries.

My opinion is that the ACC is already too large for long term stability and profitability. Further expansion would be nuts. The SEC and B10 may pass us for now but there's nothing we can do about it. Who knows what the future holds? The SEC and B10, especially the B10, are unnatural groupings lacking in traditional rivalries that make for good TV. I don't think they'll survive in the long term.

It isn't that the ACC is too large, it's that it's not cohesive and it lacked leadership. There are pretty obvious cultural and priority splits within the ACC. The ACC shares territory with the P2 which makes it a target for both.

Meanwhile the Pac-12 has a unitary culture, geographical buffers, and similar priorities throughout. And despite that it was raided by the P2.

Even Notre Dame will soon join a conference. It just won't be the ACC.

There was a path for the ACC to have been the B1G. It probably looked something like adding Penn State, Pittsburgh, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Florida State all in 1990.