‘I Could Foresee the Big 12 Being a Landing Spot’ for Miami: Inside the U’s David Lake
The action around any potential future conference realignment is all based in the ACC right now. The Pac-12 is effectively dead, the Big Ten and SEC remain strong, and are staying pat for now, they claim, and the Big 12 is in the third-most envious spot in college athletics today.
But the ACC is messy. The top two brands in the league, Florida State and Clemson, are currently suing over the buyout to potentially try to leave the league. The complaint filed in Pickens County last week says the ACC’s “exorbitant $140 million” exit penalty and the grant of rights used to bind schools to a conference through their media rights should be struck down.
So where does all this leave Miami? Well the Miami athletic director recently told a Miami radio station, “We are incredibly solid with the ACC, it’s a great conference and provides great structure an certainly access to the College Football Playoff. We look at our circumstance here with a very orange and green set of glasses and ask are we in. a good spot and growing our football program. We’ve invested in it. We’ve brought Mario (Cristobal) here and he’s establishing an incredible foundation. What’s the opportunity for us here, with things under our control to move this thing forward? The ACC is still one the Power Four conference that’s a part of the College Football Playoff.”
But is this really what’s in the best interests of Miami? To stay and back the ACC, especially if the two perceived powerhouses leave?
Recently, Inside the U’s David Lake told 247Sports, “Miami’s leadership needs a kick in the pants, frankly, and unless they change their approach I could foresee the Big 12 being a landing spot. Hopefully athletic director Dan Radakovich and the Miami leadership start being proactive and make sure they have a seat at the table in the game of musical chairs for the migration to the ‘Big Two’ sooner rather than later.”
Lake added, “This is a big game of musical chairs and the question for Miami is how many spots in the ‘Big Two’ remain. Amongst ACC programs, Florida State and Clemson are the two biggest brands and they are being the most aggressive. They will likely eat first. Where does Miami stand in the pecking order amongst the remaining schools? Miami is banking on a winning 2024 season translating to making themselves more desirable to the ‘Big Two’ conferences. Miami certainly hasn’t been aggressive enough at this point to make any definitive prediction.”
Now, understandably, Miami would prefer the Big Ten or SEC, just based purely on money, however those two conferences have not expressed a desire to expand right now. But the Big 12 would love to grow its foothold in the Sunshine State. The Big 12 already has UCF in Orlando, and adding a brand like Miami would be enormous for the league, and would also be right up the alley of Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark. Yormark would love the flash and potential of a downtrodden brand that has tremendous potential in South Florida.
But for now, we wait and see what happens with the Florida State and Clemson lawsuit. That will be the next domino to fall to see if there’s any poaching for the Big 12, or anyone else, to do.
