Congratulations to SMU…

[Sangria Wine]

Seriously. This is a pretty significant move that took a pile of cash commitments, one hell of a sales pitch, and making a HUGE bet on themselves to finally try to figure it out in a big way.

TCU went to the Sun Bowl way back when and put a sales pitch on them, agreed to buy a bunch of tickets to the game, and forced themselves into a bowl game that they probably did not deserve to be in quite honestly. But then we took that bet and made a statement that relaunched the program taking it to levels not seen before in a generation. Maybe the Ponies will do that. Maybe they’ll crap the bed. But they pulled off what everybody said was impossible and did it in a way that honestly is a no-brainer. Kudos for being a deal maker…now the pressure rises to a place they’ve not experienced!

 

[Fred Garvin]

The only losers in this are wealthy SMU donors. Paying a $18MM exit fee and funding SMU athletics for 9 years until the conference explodes and they never get paid any media rights What's the ROI on that?

 

[4 Oaks Frog]

Yippie!

 

[ShreveFrog]

No congrats are in order. They bought their way in. And they're in because of location in a major media market. Sort of like winning the lucky sperm lottery. They didn't earn it. Schiess 'em.

 

[KillerFrog InD KitchenSink]

8 of the 9 teams from the 70s and 80s SWC now in power conferences. Big Ten only power conference without a former SWC team now. Rice the only former school not in a power conference.

 

[Endless Purple]

The only losers in this are wealthy SMU donors. Paying a $18MM exit fee and funding SMU athletics for 9 years until the conference explodes and they never get paid any media rights What's the ROI on that?

What about the $10 plus million per year the ACC doles out beyond media rights? Which SMU should be getting. Seems like the donors are not going to have that big of a hole to fill.

 

[Sangria Wine]

The Ponies will have more money coming in with their new deal than they had in their current situation. Their alumni will begin giving at higher levels. They will clearly recruit somewhat better in the ACC. They will earn more money on gate admission. They will play better teams and they will have a runway funded by their donors to put them in fully equal step with every other team in the ACC. They made themselves one hell of a deal…rubbed two dimes together and made a dollar fall out.

 

[satis1103]

I'm shocked they pulled it off. Good for them, happy for them. It will help them in the long run whether or not the conference falls apart IMHO

 

[froginaustin]

What about the $10 plus million per year the ACC doles out beyond media rights? Which SMU should be getting. Seems like the donors are not going to have that big of a hole to fill.

They will be competing with North Carolina instead of East Carolina (isn’t ECU in their present conference?)

If they have materially fewer resources than their new conference mates, SMU will be the underdog as long as the ACC holds together.

If their rich alums don’t want to support a doormat, they need to cover the difference between UNC (or Wake Forest) budgets and what SMU gets with no media money.

 

[Brog]

The Ponies will have more money coming in with their new deal than they had in their current situation. Their alumni will begin giving at higher levels. They will clearly recruit somewhat better in the ACC. They will earn more money on gate admission. They will play better teams and they will have a runway funded by their donors to put them in fully equal step with every other team in the ACC. They made themselves one hell of a deal…rubbed two dimes together and made a dollar fall out.

but, but, but will they have water at the stadium during their home games?

 

[LisaLT]

It’s a no brainer to forego 9 yrs of revenue in order to buy in to a conference that has maybe 7 years to live?

Since no one can predict the future of what and when and If the ACC will go poof, I think you have to live in the moment, year by year if you’re SMU. Right now, and at least for a few years, it’s an upgrade. And, if they can produce successfully on the field, that is important to their future. Time will tell.

 

[Florida frog 92]

"Rising tides floats all boats."

 

[ShadowFrog]

$ they got, no doubt. Built a shell of a stadium, yes. Buy their way into a P5 conference (for now), yes. But the whole package for success? That takes more. Program support from the chancellor on down, a real athletic Director, a commitment to success, a solid football coaching staff, consistent recruiting, and yes, running your stadium like a professional organization that does not run out of water or ice or have 16 of your 20 gates closed. It remains to be seen if smu can step up to that full bodied challenge. Not just money.

 

[HToady]

This reminds me of Baylor and the inception of the Big 12, forced to take them, then they breathed a sigh of relief then did nothing for 10 years...

 

[JugbandFrog]

It’s a no brainer to forego 9 yrs of revenue in order to buy in to a conference that has maybe 7 years to live?

I kinda like their schedule over the next 7 years over ours.

Playing the likes of Miami, Clemson, heck, Notre Dame will do wonders for them. Dallas is a transplant city and they will get eyeballs

 

[Endless Purple]

They will be competing with North Carolina instead of East Carolina (isn’t ECU in their present conference?)

If they have materially fewer resources than their new conference mates, SMU will be the underdog as long as the ACC holds together.

If their rich alums don’t want to support a doormat, they need to cover the difference between UNC (or Wake Forest) budgets and what SMU gets with no media money.

You are correct a team with less money cannot compete with one that has more. I mean UT dominates the Big 12 because of their resources being so much higher.

I noticed you picked the team at the top of the Coastal division last year. They will also compete with Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke, and Boston College. They do not have to win the ACC, just be average.

 

[FROGLEGHOP]

Maybe they should start playing in the Cotton Bowl again. They moved back on campus to have more "Institutional Control". That control has gone out the window now. They can give out Trans Ams at will.

 

[4 Oaks Frog]

Maybe they should start playing in the Cotton Bowl again. They moved back on campus to have more "Institutional Control". That control has gone out the window now. They can give out Trans Ams at will.

SMU…Mother of NIL …and Dead Hooker Stadium.

 

[eh0215]

More big football games hosted in DFW is never a bad thing. Good for them. I won't dock them for buying their way in. That's how the game is played now.

 

[Deep Purple]

What about the $10 plus million per year the ACC doles out beyond media rights? Which SMU should be getting. Seems like the donors are not going to have that big of a hole to fill.

As a former college fundraiser, I can promise you that the cash SMU needs to finance facility upgrades, NIL inducements, increased travel costs, etc, is way, WAY beyond $10 mil per year. That is barely a down payment.

All of the reconstruction and improvements TCU has made to Amon Carter Stadium and its supporting facilities (training, compliance, coaching offices, team meeting rooms, film viewing, sports medicine, etc.) from 2008-present total more than $312 million. That averages about $20.8 million per year. And that's just for football stadium and program facilities -- never mind expanded staff, increased payroll (to attract best candidates), upgraded promotional programs for ticket sales, etc. Not to mentioned increased spending for all of these same expenses in basketball and the non-revenue sports, plus NIL, travel costs, etc.

You really think SMU donors are going to quickly bridge this gap? "Quickly" because that's all the time they really have. TCU has a larger student enrollment (especially undergrads, which is where intercollegiate athletics lives), a much larger fan base of both alumni and external constituents, a significantly larger endowment, and a much more storied and prominent athletics reputation, both past and present.

TCU has built these advantages through strategic vision, bold spending, herculean effort, and earned rewards -- not by groveling and prostituting itself, like some schools we could mention.