It’s long been thought that the next conference realignment will directly involve the Big Ten and offer at least one new conference rival for the Nebraska football team. But what if the B1G is left out of the next round of musical chairs entirely? Some rumblings hint that’s exactly what’s about to happen.
Big 12 Insider writer C.W. Lambert recently put out an X thread with what he called “legit insider information” from a broadcasting veteran that is all about the next shakeup of the college football world. This shakeup involves Florida State and Clemson, where they may go next and why ESPN might be ok with them leaving the ACC.
The difference in the latest rumors about the two schools that are desperate to leave the ACC and the ones floating around for the last few months is that if the scenario Lambert is claiming is most realistic it would mean neither is headed to the Big Ten.
“ESPN has approached FSU, Clemson and the ACC about a potential settlement allowing the Seminoles & Tigers to leave the ACC whenever they want,” Lambert wrote. “But an ESPN brokered deal is only possible if FSU and Clemson leave for the SEC.”
Nebraska Football might not be getting any new rivals from the ACC after all
Lambert explained that, “ESPN is the exclusive rights holder for both the ACC & SEC. Moreover, ESPN is a partner in both the ACCN and SECN. ESPN would not lose money if FSU & Clemson are in the SEC as opposed to the ACC.”
The key part of this whole deal is that ESPN basically becomes an entity that is essentially guaranteeing a loan to the ACC that would keep that conference afloat.
https://x.com/InsideTheBig12/status/1778332443633652053
If this rumor is true, it would mark what appears to be the next evolution of the sport in general. The money and broadcast rights have always been at the forefront of why a team moved to the SEC or the Big Ten or anywhere else.
But if this deal comes to fruition, a network is directly involved in brokering the realignment.
That’s not a good thing.
Greed, for lack of a better word, is prevalent in college football. Nebraska Football fans, Big Ten fans and everyone else in this world has known that. But this feels different for no other reason than just how directly a massively powerful entity like ESPN - and Disney by extension - has this obvious a hand in where a team goes.
While I started this off by saying that the next round of realignment won’t involve the Big Ten or Nebraska Football, that would technically be true. But once ESPN makes this move, one has to wonder what the move after it will be.