Why merging with the Big East is what the ACC (and VT) needs to survive

Paint a picture with me.

It's early February. Football season has just passed. Basketball is stepping into the spotlight again.

You see an ad on ESPN for Rivalry Week, where the sport's top rivals play each other in nationally televised games throughout the course of the week. You see many of the typical matchups: Duke vs. UNC. VT vs. UVA. Florida State vs. Miami. Cal vs. Stanford. St. John's vs. UConn. Creighton vs. Marquette. Syracuse vs....Georgetown? Pittsburgh vs. Villanova? Xavier vs. Louisville? Butler vs. Notre Dame?

Are we in some sort of mini non-conference slate in the middle of conference basketball season? Nope. In this scenario, these are ALL conference games.

What I am suggesting here is a collaboration. A partnership, you might say.

The ACC should merge with the Big East.

Let all you pearl-clutchers clinging to the idea of early 2000's basketball step aside. There is no need for an ACC vs. Big East rivalry anymore. In the struggle to survive in college sports, pride must be put aside to do what is right.

In other words: Hey, Big East:

Am I really crazy enough to suggest a 29-team megaconference? Yes. Yes, I am.

This is what both conferences need to do to stay afloat as the Big Ten and SEC continue their rise to dominance.

And if you think I'm crazy, would you call Seth Greenberg crazy?

OK, bad example.

What about Coach K? Or Rick Pitino? 

All of these men have spoken out publicly in favor of the idea. And they should! It is an idea that would benefit all involved.

Would this solve the ACC's football problem? No. At least not on the surface.

The Big East doesn't even sponsor football anymore, so all of their schools that do play have to do so in other conferences. UConn is the only one who is even in the FBS.

That's fine. We will make the Big East schools into non-football members, just like Notre Dame. And same goes for the revenue split. Much like ND, the Big East schools don't touch a cent of the football portion from TV revenue.

All the while, the new conference has created a superior basketball product. 

Imagine the rivalries I listed above renewed, plus more created. There would be regular battles of blue bloods in Duke, UNC, Villanova and UConn. Syracuse and St. John's can duke it out to see who is "New York's Team." Georgetown gets to face off against VT and UVA for some DMV showdowns. Cal and Stanford don't have to worry as much about constantly traveling to the east coast. They can take shorter road trips to midwestern sites such as Milwaukee, Omaha, Chicago and Indianapolis. What about Rick Pitino at St. John's facing his old school, Louisville?

Think, too, about the prestige that would come in the conference tournament. A 29-team bracket is obviously not feasible, so let's keep the ACC's current standard of not every school making it in the field. A 15, 16, 18 or even 20-team tournament in which every school has had to earn their spot would be a phenomenal product. Every game would matter. Every game would be a challenge.

Now, let's circle back to football: as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all ships. 

This basketball product would be highly sought after by networks. While the ACC has its current media deal with ESPN, the Big East has one with Fox, NBC and TNT. Can you say, bidding war?

While a new rights deal would almost certainly not equal the SEC or Big Ten's, it could set the ACC apart as the clear #3. This means more money for football, too.

The clock is ticking for the ACC to save itself. Quite literally, in fact.

The recently announced settlement between the ACC, Florida State and Clemson puts the conference's expiration date at the year 2030. That is when the buyout a school would have to pay to leave reaches its lowest point. In other words, the ACC has five years to prove to its current members that staying with them is the best choice. 

For a school like VT that is right on the fringe of being valuable to another big conference, this could be the security they need. The last thing VT wants to happen is the ACC collapses around them, and the SEC and Big Ten refuse to scooch over a bit to let them float on the piece of driftwood with them.

Frankly, the benefit for Big East schools is much simpler.

In this ever-changing, money-grabbing landscape, the prospects of a non-football conference surviving long term are spotty, at best. The Big East gets their security despite being restricted from any football media money.

Look at the Big East's newest media deal, signed last June. 

While this was seen as an historic deal at the time, Puck's John Ourand reported the annual payout to be $80M for the conference.

Split among 11 schools, that is roughly $7.27M per school per year. For reference, as a non-football member, Notre Dame still received $17.4M from the ACC in 2023. If the new conference can negotiate a price that somewhat mimics or outperforms Notre Dame's non-football payout, we are talking about a significant budget increase for the Big East schools.

It is, as Seth Greenberg put it, a "no-brainer" for the Big East. 

A great question that I am pondering myself. I sincerely doubt the Big East or ACC would allow one of the other's names to overtake the other. Plus, it is time to cut the semblance of East Coast geographic ties when they don't actually exist anymore.

What do we call it? The Big Coast? Big East and West? Big 29? Coast to Coast Conference? Coastal Conference?

I don't know. Names aren't my thing. Maybe you can come up with one.

Whatever they call it, let's hope all involved can make this happen.