With the Big Ten poaching the Atlantic Coast Conference for Maryland Monday and expected to raid the Big East for Rutgers Tuesday, according to a report on ESPN, there should be a ripple effect among the other power conferences—there almost always is.
What will happen this time? Here are four possible effects of this move.
1. The ACC adds Connecticut
This move seems pretty logical. Connecticut is on the Atlantic coast and they would add another powerhouse basketball program to the conference with an already stellar hoops league which includes North Carolina and Duke. Plus the Huskies have a decent football team and would bring a good TV audience to the ACC while also being united with rivals Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame once again.
The only downside to this is that the ACC would officially becomes a basketball league instead of a football league, and as we all know basketball brings in much less money—which is how the conference was poached in the first place. Still, they'll want to replace the Terps and stay active in this never-ending realignment.
2. Florida State, Clemson bolt for Big 12
Though the Big 12 has resisted recent rumored opportunities to expand their conference, with the SEC, Big Ten, PAC-12, and ACC all adding members, they won’t want to stand still for long. Plus it looks like the ACC could be vulnerable now—especially if Florida State was against the raising the once-$20 million exit fee to $50 million.
