http://www.tigernet.com/view/story.do?id=10631


"haven't been contacted by anybody";
"if were contacted" ... "would obviously listen";
"we would consider any viable option ... if we received any".
"we aren't seeking that and we aren't making any overtures"


I thought schools had to contact conferences; that a conference contacting a school might be liable for inducing the breaking of a contract (example: Baylor threats against A&M)??


I believe this is going to be all about FSU and their internal decision (President versus outgoing Board Chair and donors, fans and so on on either side).

Doubt GT or Miami leave with Clemson.

Would Clemson leave with a school like UL as #12 and an eastern bloc of WVU, UL, Clemson. That really would be an academic downgrade by association, leaving aside the geography.


So is this a request to be contacted?

Or perhaps a way to buy time and let the process play out until FSU gets the ball rolling?

(05-24-2012 10:33 PM)sufan Wrote:  I thought schools had to contact conferences; that a conference contacting a school might be liable for inducing the breaking of a contract (example: Baylor threats against A&M)??


I believe this is going to be all about FSU and their internal decision (President versus outgoing Board Chair and donors, fans and so on on either side).

Would Clemson leave with a school like UL as #12 and an eastern bloc of WVU, UL, Clemson. That really would be an academic downgrade by association, leaving aside the geography.

Clemson isn't going to go anywhere without at least one friend.

Quote:So is this a request to be contacted?

Not so much a request as an announcement that we would evaluate any options available to us.

Quote:Or perhaps a way to buy time and let the process play out until FSU gets the ball rolling?

More like buying time until the playoff situation is decided primarily, but also to give the ACC a chance to figure out how it is going to close the revenue gap that exists now and is only going to get bigger each and every year.

Be careful of who your "friends" are.

(05-24-2012 10:40 PM)catdaddy_2402 Wrote:  

(05-24-2012 10:33 PM)sufan Wrote:  I thought schools had to contact conferences; that a conference contacting a school might be liable for inducing the breaking of a contract (example: Baylor threats against A&M)??


I believe this is going to be all about FSU and their internal decision (President versus outgoing Board Chair and donors, fans and so on on either side).

Would Clemson leave with a school like UL as #12 and an eastern bloc of WVU, UL, Clemson. That really would be an academic downgrade by association, leaving aside the geography.

Clemson isn't going to go anywhere without at least one friend.

Quote:So is this a request to be contacted?

Not so much a request as an announcement that we would evaluate any options available to us.

Quote:Or perhaps a way to buy time and let the process play out until FSU gets the ball rolling?

More like buying time until the playoff situation is decided primarily, but also to give the ACC a chance to figure out how it is going to close the revenue gap that exists now and is only going to get bigger each and every year.

I agree, even FSU is not likely to go without at least one "friend" (ACC or another eastern school).

For any school to dismiss out of hand an offer from another respectable conference would be wrong. Every school has a duty to the entire school body (BOT, Fans, Students, Alumni, Donors, sponsor-state, church, etc) that they should perform due diligence and then evaluate the facts. I have no issue with any school doing this, including Clemson and FSU. I still want you guys to stay, though.

I think that the playoffs deal will be resolved in favor of the ACC. Notre Dame has made it clear they are not really interested in joining the Big 12. They also demand access to the playoffs and will protect the Big East to ensure that their other teams are protected. Playoffs will be open to everyone, not just four conferences, besides the legal/congressional issues would outweigh any advantage of not including everyone. I also think that too many people are undervaluing the ACC deal and overvaluing the Big 12 deal while minimizing issues within the Big 12, which at best is a dysfunctional conglomerate of schools forced together by a lack of options to rely on one school which has many options.

(05-25-2012 06:20 AM)XLance Wrote:  Be careful of who your "friends" are.

We learned that lesson in 1982, and several times since.

Many fans openly speculate how much the Big 12 revenue is going to grow if Clemson & FSU join...

I wonder if they are considering how much the price of gasoline (& jet fuel) is going to go up over the next 15 years? That $5 million/year travel expense could become $15 million/year. Will revenue grow by MORE than $10 million? A bus gets 10-20 MPG. An airplane gets around 0.5 MPG. That's a LOT of gas to fly to the Great Plains from Clemson.

(05-26-2012 06:50 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Many fans openly speculate how much the Big 12 revenue is going to grow if Clemson & FSU join...

I wonder if they are considering how much the price of gasoline (& jet fuel) is going to go up over the next 15 years? That $5 million/year travel expense could become $15 million/year. Will revenue grow by MORE than $10 million? A bus gets 10-20 MPG. An airplane gets around 0.5 MPG. That's a LOT of gas to fly to the Great Plains from Clemson.

HM, I read somewhere that if the Big 12 added teams, the contract would only grow enough to pay each new team an equal share, no other increases, no re-negotiation o re-evaluation.

I read this after the WVU board was lighting up stating that there was a built in automatic increase of #2MM/Team added for each Big 12 team. This was shot down pretty quick. I think ESPN learned their lesson from the SEC and ACC via the expansion clauses and is no longer including them in a contract.

The reasons there is no escalator clause in the contract are:

1. A clause which is automatically triggered when a new team joins the conference would mean that any team could join and trigger the clause. Essentially, they could add Rice and get an extra $2 million for that. This pretty much defeats any argument that there is a clause which just automatically bumps the contract up an extra $2 million per team with a new team joining. It's too big a risk.

2. If specific schools were named it could be a legal issue. I don't see any way this is the case. They may have a special clause for ND, though, since they are independent.