With all the fun we've been having, I lost track of this:

https://collegesportswire.usatoday.c...0/81370201007/

It's not a given that they'll leave, but I can't see how anyone would argue against the idea that the situation will be made more conducive for FSU and Clemson to exit the ACC stage left.

Now it's no longer about 2036. It's 5 years from now, and you can bet that they will be preparing for it beginning sometime in 2028. I doubt either school will sniff the B1G or the SEC, but who knows. At the very least, assuming Yormark is still in his chair, which is a very big assumption, I would think that the Big XII would do anything it could to make itself attractive to those schools.

Scenarios? The ACC won't be able to backfill effectively and be sufficiently relevant to the media for a media agreement that would keep it at a P4 level. At least I can't see where that is possible. They can't lose their 2 biggest football programs when they're already at the $40 million per school payout level and hope to stay anywhere close to that figure by adding App State, as an example.

This could be the trigger point for an ACC / Big East merger, or simply an acquisition of the Big East of the more logical brands for basketball. Can football come first where football has been severely wounded at Wake, BC, Syracuse and Pitt, in particular, by this deal? Keep in mind that this new agreement kicks up shortly, leaving schools like that to intake upwards of $7 - 8 million less in media payout under the new arrangement. So FSU and Clemson get a boost based on "viewership" and a lower exit fee (i.e. < $70 million beginning in 2030). That is a clear exit ramp in exchange for keeping the status quo until the end of this decade.

Bring back Mack. Get back to Mack's results here, even under this new landscape. Part of that is having the settlements wash through so revenue sharing becomes a strength as a basketball school. We should be good to power through this madness.