Someone on this board could probably prove that the ACC still has as many or more ESPN affiliated broadcasts for basketball games. Someone will likely point out the ACC alumni analysts and cover guys as well (although, to me, many seem to be Duke and UNC guys).

IMO, the ACC made enemies of the B1G when they grabbed Notre Dame... plain and simple. The Notre Dame move also made ESPN look at the ACC differently.

Since then, the B1G swooped in to steal UMCP and weakened the ACC significantly enough that it's made ESPN hesitant to continue like they did pre-UMCP departure. I've noticed since 2012 a continual decline in ACC popularity on the world's premier sports network.

I'm naturally cynical and always look at the flip side of most things. It's a fault, but it keeps me on my toes when things go south. Being part realist and part conspiracy theorist, I think the main ESPN cargo ship has left the port. Swofford may hitch a ride on a smaller ESPN dingy... but his best bet may be to run to the neighboring pier where the NBC and CBS ships are docked.

Again, my conspiracy theorist thoughts say it's all moot anyway, because much of the sports programming will be taking a different avenue in the coming decade. Media streaming will have been refined and the cable companies will be on the forefront of the media change. So the B1GN and SECN could become streaming options rather than networks. Part of me says Swofford just missed out on a small window that would have been very profittable for the ACC, but that small window might turn into something else. Whether that something else is a cash cow or not remains to be seen. Something tells me the B1G and SEC will be fine no matter how the technology changes

[Post edited by Calamitous at 01/31/2016 12:33PM]