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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
What's the next big conference realignment move that would ruin college football as we know it?
SOUTH BEND — Every step toward the seemingly inevitable creation of a college football super league is a step closer to ending what is still of 'college' football. So believes Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, who will continue to fiercely guard the school's football independence and embrace the notion that a true 'student-athlete' still has a place in today's pay-for-play world of college athletics. Noie: How bullish is athletic director Pete Bevacqua on the future of Notre Dame basketball? Noie: Can those guys in this group be THAT good – elite good – in 2025 for Notre Dame football? The end of 'college' football? Some would say we've already been there and done that. Did it after USC and UCLA decided it best to call the Big Ten home. After the Southeastern Conference became the 800-pound gorilla in the realignment room and absolutely after Cal and Stanford thought it best to become members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. All of it crippled everything we once believed or thought we believed college sports to be — storied regional rivalries that piqued national interest. College athletics — really, college football — has changed dramatically over the last few years but one change, Bevacqua believes, would doom it. It would make it the National Football League Lite. Yesterday for sure and somewhat today, college football still is college football. Sometime tomorrow, that might not be possible if it goes the super league route. 'I view that as almost the formation of a version of an NFL paradigm,' Bevacqua said late last month in a 44-minute meeting with five area reporters who cover Notre Dame athletics, really, Notre Dame football. 'To me, that would spell the end of what makes college football special.' Bevacqua hears the super league whispers (private-equity firms, stay away!) and fears where this is all headed. He wants to stand up and hold up his hands. Stop everything from happening or at least slow it. 'If college football tries to imitate or replicate the NFL, it's going to fail and it's going to end up looking more like a minor-league sport, a somewhat bastardized version of the NFL,' Bevacqua said. 'We're going to lose everything that makes college football special.' Some would say we're already there. We passed a point of no return when the Big Ten and the SEC super-sizes its leagues to 18 and 16 teams with the constant threat to go to 20 and beyond. When SMU basically blank-checked its way into the ACC. When college football became more about dollars and less about (common) sense. All true to an extent, but do you know what else can be said about college football? It's in a good spot. Having weathered the craziness of the last couple of years, be it realignment, Name, Image and Likeness, collectives and most recently, the House v. NCAA settlement that mandated a salary cap of $20.5 million for schools to pay its student-athletes, Bevacqua believes the sport is solid. 'College football, right now, is really healthy,' Bevacqua said of a sport he believes ranks behind only the NFL, naturally, in terms of a media product. 'With this House settlement and with this (salary) cap and with some regulation around collectives, I think we could be entering into a period of stability. 'We've got to keep it going.' When is the next seismic shift? What will it be? Who knows? We didn't see Texas and Oklahoma announcing in 2021 that it would jump to the SEC. We didn't see USC and UCLA bouncing to the Big Ten. We didn't expect the Pac-12 as we knew it to fade away. Just don't go the super-league route, said Bevacqua. 'If it becomes all about let's get the 30 or so brands that really move the needle and create some version of the NFL' he said, 'I think we're going to ruin something that's very, very special to this country.' Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@ This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua wonders where college sports is headed
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
ACC's legal settlement with FSU, Clemson reveals ‘super league' escape clause
What happens if enough ACC football programs want to join a super league? That hypothetical — however realistic or unrealistic it may be — is addressed in the settlement agreement that ended the conference's dueling, 17-month litigation with Florida State and Clemson. The 68-page agreement, obtained by The Athletic on Thursday following public-records requests to both schools, also formalizes the conference's withdrawal fees and sheds more insight into how the league will distribute money based on TV viewership. Here's what we learned: Before the settlement, the answer was in dispute and at the heart of the nine-figure litigation between the ACC and two of its premier programs. Florida State had estimated that the cost could exceed $500 million. Under the settlement, the cost to leave in the 2025-26 fiscal year is $165 million and drops by $18 million annually. The figure stays at $75 million from 2030-31 through 2036 (the final year of the contract). Those terms are the same as the ones presented in March when trustees at Clemson and Florida State approved the settlement's framework. Every ACC school and the league signed the agreement in May, and FSU, Clemson and the conference formally dismissed their lawsuits last month. Advertisement Crucially, departing schools keep their future TV rights. If those rights had remained with the ACC, Clemson or Florida State would have added significantly less value to a new conference, such as the SEC or Big Ten. Because TV contracts for the Big Ten, SEC and College Football Playoff are set to expire between 2030 and 2034, the industry is bracing for the next seismic wave of realignment around then. The agreement clarifies the ACC's and its schools' stance before the league's ESPN contract expires in 2036. The ACC's exit deadline also changed. Schools must file a notice to withdraw by June 1 to leave the league 13 months later at the end of the next June. The previous date was Aug. 15. The notable change is with revenue from the league's multimedia contracts. The first 40 percent of that money from sources will be split evenly among the schools. Of the remaining 60 percent, three-quarters will be distributed based on football TV viewership, and one-quarter will be based on men's basketball viewership. Other details were redacted and claimed as trade secrets. The ACC is the first conference to use TV figures as a metric for conference payouts. Clemson estimated that the new model could yield an additional $120 million over a six-year period. That'd be enough to make the Tigers financially competitive with top programs in the SEC or Big Ten. The ACC doesn't expect the change to cause its other programs to lose ground compared to peers in the Big 12. The conference also weighs other payouts based on a team's performance on the football field or basketball court through a success initiative. The agreement specifies that Notre Dame, an ACC member but football independent, is not eligible for the football viewership distribution unless it joins the conference in that sport. Advertisement Clemson and Florida State must both approve of any future changes to the ACC's financial payouts. Officially called an 'option of limited withdrawal,' it's the juiciest part of the agreement and new information, regardless of whether it's feasible. Suppose at least six members want to leave the same sport to join a 'single sport league, conference or other association' alongside other schools. In that case, they'll owe $75 million or 50 percent of the current withdrawal figure (whichever is greater). In practice, that would allow, say, Florida State, Clemson, Miami, North Carolina and a few other top programs to leave for a super league in football while remaining ACC members in basketball, baseball and every other sport. Super league scenarios have been pitched and discussed for months, and the logistics could prove difficult, if not impossible, to overcome. However, the agreement provides a framework for schools to join one. (Photo of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney: Grant Halverson / Getty Images)
