Thursday, November 15, 2012

Orange Bowl: Good Deal For SEC & Big Ten



The Orange Bowl and the ACC have inked a 12 year deal with ESPN where the ACC will have an automatic berth in the game and will play a team from either the SEC or Big Ten, or Notre Dame. The mega-sports network will reportedly pay $55 million per year during the life of this contract, which goes into effect on January 1, 2015. To me, Notre Dame is the "strange bedfellow" in this scenario. They've actually become a member of the ACC, although in football they remain an independent. But they have to play a minimum of five games against ACC members each year. So why are they included in this new Orange Bowl deal at all? The answer to my own question is because the networks love the Irish and they believe intensely in that little Leprechaun and that tub of gold. I think this deal is a bad marriage because the Atlantic Coast Conference is a basketball conference and they bring absolutely nothing to the table as a factor in football, Notre Dame is a pseudo member of the ACC, and lastly, major bowl match-ups should be based on BCS rankings and not conference/bowl deals. That's my rant for the day. Oh yea, I'm betting that the ACC wins no more than a third of the 12 games during this contract. Just sayin...

s of the eventual college championship

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