Key quotes from New York Times article on conference shakeup

I still think reactions to the Big XII-SEC Bowl game was overblown. I found Pete Thamel's article the most evenhanded. Here are a few bits that stood out to me:

The Big 12, which has 10 teams, will eventually want to grow back to 12. Florida State would pine to keep its football relevance. (The twist, of course, is that the A.C.C.’s national irrelevance can basically be traced to the struggles of Florida State and Miami, which could be the top targets to be poached.) Don’t expect any major moves until a playoff plan is settled.

The ACC has options and some leverage. If Florida State bails before the playoff plan is laid out, that is on them. I hope the ACC is acting aggressively. I am less concerned with money and most concerned with playoff access.

This union will probably create tiers of college football. The four-team playoff that has been discussed would make up the first tier. The next tier would be this game, known as the Champions Bowl, and the Rose Bowl. While neither game would have the cachet of the national semifinal and national title games, they could be put in favorable time slots on New Year’s Day and considered the best leftovers.

This new bowl is essentially the NIT. Why would Florida State leave over access to the NIT? If it is a money issue, the ACC can form a new bowl too. Play the No. 2/No. 3 Big Ten team in the Meadowlands every year. On at FedexField! We have access to big markets and big stadiums. This is not a big deal if cooler heads prevail.

The ACC has made some short sighted deals and seen its best teams play lousy football on the biggest stages. That's in the past. If we get out-maneuvered on these deals, then its on the ACC to join the have nots and the NCAA to form a true playoff.

Not caring about the latest conference speculation and other links

Heights and Lows found bro'd out Eagle hat a few weeks ago. It's Friday. It's graduation weekend. It's time to celebrate, so I figured it was time to bust out the bro hat.

The Big XII and SEC announced a bowl game and generated another round of the ACC's sky is falling/Florida State is leaving event hand handwringing. As I tweeted, I am not worried. The playoffs will expand and will include other teams. There is just too much money left on the table for it not to happen.

Spaz had good things to say to HD. She also thinks Rettig will adapt well to the new system.

Steve Flynn -- an invited football walkon from Central Massachusetts -- is having a strong baseball season.

BC makes change with Women's Lax

Laxpower reported that BC has fired Women's Lacrosse coach Bowen Holden. I know very little about Women's Lacrosse so I cannot judge much about Holden's skills or coaching. Although she had a winning record, the team struggled in ACC play.

Like other BC coaching mistakes, Holden was very young and had no prior head coaching experience. I know BC doesn't have big athletic budgets, but there is no reason we cannot find more experienced candidates for our openings. The idea to catch the next great coach before anyone else involves a lot of risk. BC shouldn't have to take that risk. We can bring great coaches to BC.

Game times announced and other links

BC and the ACC announced the kickoff times for our first two home games. Miami will start at 3:30 and will be shown on ESPN2 or regionally on ABC. The Maine game will start at 1 PM and be available on ESPN3.

Chase Rettig's old QB coach had some insight into his development.

HD is back from her leave and thinks our game against Miami is crucial for building momentum.

Presnap read further explains his stance on BC. It is another tough read. What is interesting though is that he is so critical in part because of our prior success, self inflicted wounds and that we still have upside. But the unlikely upside makes it all more depressing.

Baseball dropped their first game against Duke.

The Hockey team's celebration tour took them to the Capitol.

The future of BC's uniforms

While the rest of the ACC bloggers debate about FSU's departure, I am going to fret about another hypothetical. Grantland posted a great article on the future of corporate logos on sports uniforms. Logos are commonplace on sports jerseys around the world and in other sports (like NASCAR), but have not been a factor in the major, professional U.S. sports. Grantland predicts the NBA and NHL will have some variant soon. What the article did not broach was if college teams will add logos in the near future. My guess is they will and that raises many questions.

For anyone doubting that some college will eventually try the logo concept, all you need to do is look how willingly college teams embrace "combat" jerseys and other marketing ploys related to their uniforms. Is wearing some ridiculous contraption from Nike (or Under Armour) all that different from having a sports drink logo plastered on a shoulder of a uniform?

I doubt BC would ever be the first to try this idea, but we won't be the last. Once an few ACC teams or at least two of the Boston pro teams make the move you can count on BC to follow. This could be worth millions to the program. Aesthetically I wouldn't like it but I am sure I would get used to the idea. But what brands would we want to be associated with? Giant Glass and BMW of Peabody are great supporters of BC sports, but does that mean we have to have them out in front of the University's most public students?

Paying athletes also becomes an issue. It is hard enough to justify their amateur status now, but how can you when their uniforms become billboards? Schools could spin the endorsement: "those sponsors cover the cost of Title IX sports." The rebuttal is obviously that AT&T doesn't pay to be on the softball uniforms that no one sees.

College sports are changing. The money pouring in and the decisions being made will force schools like BC to readdress what our athletic mission truly is. I am not advocating that we become a Holy Cross. I still think athletics are a great tool and outlet for BC. But we need to start being more honest with ourselves and be prepared to answer the tough questions like should our students be walking ads for anything other than the school?

ESPN defends ACC deal, big hockey donation and other links

Given the growing criticism of the new ACC deal, ESPN felt the need to defend and explain the specifics of the agreement. What's interesting is that Syracuse and Pitt triggered the opportunity to evaluate the deal but was not a contracted "out" of the old deal. Still my point from yesterday holds true: ESPN needs to keep the ACC at parity with the other conference.

An anonymous donor gave BC a $5 million donation to to turn the hockey head coach position into a endowed job. I think this shows BC Development team that success in sports can open up wallets. BC is losing money ever day that Spaz is in charge.

This preview of the football team is spot on, very candid and depressing.

The ACC and Big Ten announced the pairings for the Challenge. BC will face Pen State on Wednesday November 28th.

Baseball lost to Maine 9-4 on Monday. The final series of the season begins Thursday against Duke.

Spaz believes the new playoff needs to have conference winners.

ESPN3 is the ACC network and that's the problem

The ACC seems vulnerable and is dealing with unhappy members because of the new TV deal. All the gripes relate to money and third tier rights. As with most unhappy partnerships both sides are not seeing the value of the other. ESPN and the ACC can make ESPN3 one of the most viable new distribution platforms in TV and the Internet. But to do so, ESPN needs to revise the ACC deal again and pay a premium for the ACC's third tier rights.

ESPN3 is the perfect network

New sports networks have had varied levels of success in their distribution. ESPN3 hasn't had the same political or financial hurdles because they are dealing with Internet Service Providers and not cable and satellite companies. Most major ISPs carry the network and have for a few years.

I've complained like everyone else about having to watch games on my laptop, but technology is making that less of an issue. There are a variety of streaming devices and gaming systems that enable putting ESPN3 on a big screen. As ESPN continues to invest in ESPN3 the production quality will be as good as any traditional channel and seamless from a Big Ten Network or Pact 12 Network production. And unlike those other networks, ACC content would be still within the ESPN network so the conference will benefit from ESPN's cross promotion and massive audience.

ESPN can make ESPN3 the biggest Internet Channel available. It can be bigger than Hulu or MLBTV. And that is big for the ACC. While the other college networks can pushed to a sports tier, the ACC can be the center piece of ESPN's biggest innovation since ESPN2.

ESPN3 is not a money machine

Where the ACC suffers is in revenue allocation from ESPN3. The Big Ten Network collects approximately $1 per cable subscribers in Big Ten markets. ESPN3 collects an undisclosed amount per ISP subscriber for ESPN3. But regardless if ESPN3 collects $1 per subscriber, that money is not exclusively for the ACC. Why share all that revenue with the ACC when EPSN can claim that some of those subscribers are more interested in the other programming on ESPN3 like soccer or tennis or auto racing? If the ACC had its own network or had built one with the Pac 12, that revenue division would be less opaque.

Now ESPN has plenty of cash. They have their cable revenue and enormous ad sales that the Big Ten or Pac 12 networks cannot approach. With that track record and advantage, ESPN will probably turn ESPN3 into a cash cow too. But because it's not one now, the ACC suffers.

ESPN needs to save the conference

I am sure ESPN viewed their new deal with the ACC as fair. Since they were bidding against themselves, I imagine they didn't feel the need to break records. But that conservative approach clearly backfired. Florida State is unhappy and ready to join the Big 12. Some would say that ESPN doesn't care, because as a member of the Big 12, ESPN would still have rights to plenty of Florida State games. But if ESPN let's Florida State leave they will be losing a valuable asset. The ACC is exclusive to ESPN. That bond should have a premium.

We'll find out more about the ACC's future this summer. The likely outcome is a breakup. I hope everyone slows down, because the ACC's partnership could be fantastic. But no one seems to see the big picture.

King runs well at ECAC and other links

Caroline King set new BC record for the 800 Meters at the ECAC Championship.

The Bears signed Ryan Quigley. He has a good chance to make the team.

Baseball split their series with Fordham.

Dragicevich transfers to BC officially

When we last blogged about Alex Dragicevich he was denying reports that he had committed to Boston College. Now his transfer is public and official. All my original comments on his transfer still hold. It's a good sign to get a transfer from Notre Dame and he has the type of game to thrive under Donahue. The bad news is that he cannot play next year and makes our class of 2015 very, very crowded. If Donahue doesn't get some scholarship balance, he will have a huge rebuilding project in three years.

Feldman on Spaz and other links

Bruce Feldman's Friday Mailbag had a few different BC angles this week. Feldman considers Spaz -- along with Mack Brown -- to have the hottest seats in college football. The less obvious tie to BC comes via Feldman's lead on San Jose State Coach Mike MacIntyre. Bruce predicts MacIntyre will be one of the hot names on the coaching front next year. Could he be a candidate at BC? I don't know, but his past relationship with John DeFilippo won't hurt his chances.

The Orlando Sentinel is the latest publication to think BC will struggle this year. They ranked us 94th overall.

BC target and NJ running back Gerald Towns-Owens already has offers from BC and Rutgers.

In honor of Mother's Day, ESPN posted a feature on Mark Herzlich and his mother.

A double Eagle plays peacemaker between BC-UConn

They said "only Nixon could go to China" so perhaps only a BC guy could solve UConn's BC problem. Connecticut's Governor Dan Malloy (a BC and BC Law Grad) reached out to Father Leahy to help resolve the longtime feud between BC and his homestate's University of Connecticut. Malloy claims he wants the two schools to start playing each other again. Because of our expanded ACC schedule, there just aren't that many opportunities for the two schools to play. BC knows this. UConn knows this. Malloy is a smart guy (obviously!). He must realize that the schedules are crowded. Given he's smart guy and all that's happened in college sports the past few months, I think Malloy's olive branch is less about scheduling and more about future ACC expansion.

The ACC is saving a spot for Notre Dame. IF the Irish ever come to the ACC, the conference would need one more team for scheduling purposes. On paper the most likely candidates for the last spot are UConn and Rutgers. Rutgers has the better recruiting and marketing demographics. UConn has the better athletic tradition...and more enemies. Their biggest enemy has been Gene and BC. If UConn ever wants to get into the ACC, they need to turn BC from an enemy to an advocate.

I am sure Malloy loves both schools, but this isn't about good games. It's about protecting UConn's athletic future and Malloy is probably just thinking ahead.