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The B1G is interested in their basketball programs, not their football programs.The Original
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Under Armour founder and Maryland uber-booster Kevin Plank is "100 percent" behind the Terrapins moving from the ACC to the Big Ten, a regent told ESPN on Sunday.
The University System of Maryland's Board of Regents will meet at 9 a.m. Monday to vote whether to accept an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference, a source told ESPN.
Plank is "heavily involved behind the scenes with board members," a regent told ESPN on Sunday. The source added that several of the 17 board members were "miffed" that they were not included in the process until the late stages, so the vote could be close.
Plank declined comment at Saturday's game but insisted he is not involved in Maryland's athletic decisions.
If Maryland goes from the ACC to the Big Ten, Rutgers of the Big East will then follow suit, a source said. The Rutgers announcement could be as early as Tuesday, sources said. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers would give the Big Ten 14 members as the league gears toward negotiations on a new media rights deal when its first-tier rights expire in 2017.
There is not a consensus among Maryland athletic department officials, a source said. The school is leaning toward the move but there is still time for the school to decide to stay in the ACC, according to the source.
Maryland president Wallace Loh has been handling the conversation with Big Ten officials, a source said.
One stumbling block for Maryland could be finances. Maryland's athletic department has recently dropped sports because of budget issues, and the ACC recently raised its exit fee to $50 million.
Maryland and Florida State were the only two of 12 schools that voted against a $50 million exit fee out of the ACC, but lost the vote. Loh was quoted in the Washington Post on Sept. 13 that he was against the hike from $20-50 million on "legal and philosophical" grounds. The Post reported that Loh said Maryland planned to be in the ACC for years to come.
A source told ESPN that the Big Ten has been itchy about further expansion since Notre Dame made its official move to the ACC two months ago in all sports other than football. The source said the Big Ten can justify Maryland and then possibly Rutgers since they are all contiguous states to the Big Ten footprint.
One source told ESPN that Loh and athletic director Kevin Anderson don't have ACC ties so there wouldn't be a strong emotional pull to stay with the conference. Loh is a former provost at Big Ten member Iowa.
However, the chancellor of the Maryland system, Brit Kirwan, has been on the Maryland campus for 30 years and has strong affiliation for being a charter member of the ACC, according to a source.
One source with Maryland ties said there is a strong affinity for the ACC and making the move to the Big Ten may not be a unanimous decision among the school's board of regents.
Rutgers' exit fee from the Big East would be less expensive. The buyout to leave the Big East is $10 million if the school provides 27 months' notice. However, the league has allowed West Virginia, Pitt and Syracuse to leave the league without honoring the 27-month requirement by paying a higher exit fee.
The addition of the two East Coast schools would dramatically stretch the Big Ten's footprint. With Maryland holding down the Beltway, Rutgers offering up the New York market and Penn State's strong eastern ties, the league has a solid anchor in the mid-Atlantic states.
Maryland and Rutgers also would make the nation's richest conference even wealthier. Last season, each Big Ten school received a record $24.6 million in shared revenue, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. One source said the success of the Big Ten Network is an intriguing factor for Maryland.
If the two schools join the Big Ten, it would reopen what many thought was a stable time in the conference realignment process. The Big Ten joins the SEC as a legitimate 14-team superconference, while the ACC drops to 13 football members and likely will pursue another all-sports member to get back to 14. Connecticut would emerge as the most likely candidate to fill Maryland's spot in the ACC.Comment
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Maryland football?The Original
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I have yet to meet a UMD fan that likes this move. UMD has been in the ACC since the ACC was formed in the 50s. UMD isnt just gonna lose fans cause of this, they're gonna lose most of their boosters. My dad has a friend who donated to the basketball program all the time and has free season tickets and he's already said if the move becomes official him and a group of his "booster" friends won't donate another penny to UMD. I'm sure theres a lot more like that.
This move makes absolutely 0 sense. Even if we increase our conference revenue by 8 million a year its still going to take 7+ years for UMD to just make the ACC exit fee back and hit profit. The B10 contract is only rumored to go through 2017 so they could potentially kick us out before we even break even. So fucking stupid on so many levels i still don't see a legitimate reason for UMD doing this.Comment
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the b1g and kevin plank could and probably will take care of both of those problems... btw, this means more money for UMD and less having to deal with the tobacco road mafia, which almost all the teams are pissed about, especially clemson and FSU, after they added pitt and syracuse instead of adding a better option in all sports... and if you think the exit fee won't be negotiated down (not all teams voted for the exit fee to be that high), then you are high, b/c FSU, GT, Clemson, VT, UVA and every other school outside of the triad wants to leave (GT and UVA have already contacted the B1G, and VT has been talking to the SEC for the last year)...Comment
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Only 2 teams voted against the exit fee, UMD and FSU. I don't see FSU leaving the ACC so tell me again why the ACC will give a fuck about Maryland when we are just ditching them. Btw, I highly doubt Kevin Plank is gonna fork out $50 million so it looks like UMD will be closing more NCAA sports down to make this move.
This move makes absolutely no sense still. We don't fit in at all with the Big10. It's like throwing an African man in the middle of a KKK rally we don't belong here and never will. Our football squad is poo pah. Always have been and always will be. I don't even think we play hockey nor do I think any of the B10 teams play lacrosse. Basketball there might be competition but not as much as the ACC will have after this year and the B10 plays a completely different style of basketball than the ACC which could spell disaster for us in the first few years. All in all the way I see it we upgraded our competition in sports no UMD fan gives a fuck about and downgraded our competition in all the sports UMD is good at. I say again what the fuck.
Although if UConn is really replacing UMD in the conference I can see why no one else in the ACC gives a fuck. Atleast their football team doesn't have a freshman LB starting at QB.Comment
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And it's official fucking shit
Awesome cant wait to see us lose in football by an average of 28Comment
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Much like Syracuse in the ACC this move eats at the core of my youth......I am saddened. What about the UM/Duke games? They will never be the same. Traditions are dead in college sports.Comment
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Conference expansion is fucking awful.
^ Shouts to MvP for the sick sig. GFX TEAM BACK
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