The 15 ACC schools today agreed to a grant of media rights, which means the ACC owns their media rights for the next 15 years. So if Clemson went to the Big 10, the ACC would make all the revenue from every Clemson home game no matter what. The ACC teams are going to make over $20 million a year starting in July. That effectively means that no current ACC team is leaving the ACC. All of the power leagues except the SEC have grant of rights agreements.
What this means for Cincinnati is that the Bearcats are not joining the ACC. Not for the next 15 years at least. Some eyes have turned to the Big 12 in the hopes that the conference expands beyond 10 teams. I think if UC was going to the Big 12, they would have gone with Louisville when that was a possibility. Now? I'm not very sure. As someone just pointed out on twitter, sorry I forgot who, UC will be able to collect all the exit fees now that they are not leaving, so that's a good thing.
Look, I know that no one wants to be in the Conference USA-like AAC. I don't want to. You don't want to. The university doesn't want to. But here we are. I haven't been very positive about any of the realignment talk. That doesn't mean that I am not disappointed by UC's current lot in conference life. The American will be a cool league I guess for a year. Then it will be a conference to dominate. If the Big 12 is going to expand back up to 12, crushing this league would go a long way in helping UC be a prime candidate. UC is stuck here. The world is not going to end. It'll be alright. The ACC is ugly anyway. Our conference has 2 A's which means it's twice as awesome. Oh god that is not helping. Here is a hug.
Please watch the gif as many times as you need until you get your hug quotient for the day. Realignment sucks.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
