(07-08-2018 01:53 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(07-07-2018 04:41 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  

(07-07-2018 03:03 PM)JRsec Wrote:  It may or may not come as a surprise to you but Maryland had been in talks with the SEC on more than a few occasions over the course of several decades. We always thought they were too remote for the move to be practical. The only time I'd say it even got warm was in 2008-10. I'm sure that's when they were in talks with the B1G as well. Then their markets and their debt were the synergy that made them slightly more serious as a prospective member, but the SEC had better prospects.

It does occur to me though that the ACC was put in a precarious position when Maryland left town.

Perhaps it wasn't in our best interest to be proactive in such a manner, but snagging Florida State and Maryland as a pair around that time would have made things very interesting.

Well we are talking circa 2010. So one impediment for the SEC would have been ESPN had we been serious. What I'm about to say is not known to me so it is conjecture. But let's say that Maryland and the SEC had some legs. If ESPN who was worried about the health of the ACC and had said no, it would explain why the Big 10 negotiations had to have been conducted in stealth and it means that they might have been Maryland's only escape.

Had the SEC taken Maryland and F.S.U. it would have killed the ACC. One core member and their best sports draw would have been gone. We would have used up two slots without gaining a Virginia or N.C. school and there was no way ESPN was going to let that happen.

I kind of thought the same thing.

If Maryland couldn't get out because ESPN wouldn't work with them then the best approach is just to take an end around. The B1G doesn't care what ESPN thinks so it was easy to get a deal done.

I would imagine as well that taking Maryland was the first volley in a plan to wreck the ACC and make some of the other schools vulnerable.