Forget the money issue and the need for additional revenue or the ongoing war to "keep up". The current issue is getting enough talking heads that have a financial interest in the ACC - i.e., paid broadcasters - to have the ability to provide ACC news to the broader networks.
The SEC has its own network with ESPN, ESPN itself, and CBS. The SEC network - ESPN connection has created a tremendous amount of cross coverage between all the ESPN stations and the SEC network. CBS - which now hired Neuheisel from the PAC 12 network - adds more talking heads. Rick N is a regular on XM 91. All of talk radio - not just XM 91 - wants to have "known" announcers appear on their radio shows. The Big Ten, PAC 12 and SEC have talking heads all over the airwaves. It's nonstop. And here's a news flash - all these broadcasters want access to interviews with the big name coaches of the conferences they cover. And guess what - when they overly criticize anyone in the conference, they get less interviews. So what happens? Lots of uplifting great stories about their conference.
It's easy for these talking heads to not pump up the ACC - there is no downside to doing it. And besides, why support a conference into the playoff if it does not financially benefit you?
Look - there are reporters saying some objective and positive things about the ACC. But not a lot right now. The Big Ten and PAC 12 truly had a bad week-end - the PAC 12 dark horses of the north and south (Stanford and ASU) both lost. And the Big ten top three teams of the B10 west all lost. But you would never know it. UNC and VT losing is somewhat meaningless if you look at the projections of the Coastal. UL losing to Auburn was expected (but there was some positive coverage of the new QB). But the Atlantic belongs to CU and FSU until proven otherwise. The ESPN bloggers have written some positive articles in their section of that website. But on an overall basis, it is not safe to listen to the radio if you want to hear anything positive about the ACC.
The SEC has its own network with ESPN, ESPN itself, and CBS. The SEC network - ESPN connection has created a tremendous amount of cross coverage between all the ESPN stations and the SEC network. CBS - which now hired Neuheisel from the PAC 12 network - adds more talking heads. Rick N is a regular on XM 91. All of talk radio - not just XM 91 - wants to have "known" announcers appear on their radio shows. The Big Ten, PAC 12 and SEC have talking heads all over the airwaves. It's nonstop. And here's a news flash - all these broadcasters want access to interviews with the big name coaches of the conferences they cover. And guess what - when they overly criticize anyone in the conference, they get less interviews. So what happens? Lots of uplifting great stories about their conference.
It's easy for these talking heads to not pump up the ACC - there is no downside to doing it. And besides, why support a conference into the playoff if it does not financially benefit you?
Look - there are reporters saying some objective and positive things about the ACC. But not a lot right now. The Big Ten and PAC 12 truly had a bad week-end - the PAC 12 dark horses of the north and south (Stanford and ASU) both lost. And the Big ten top three teams of the B10 west all lost. But you would never know it. UNC and VT losing is somewhat meaningless if you look at the projections of the Coastal. UL losing to Auburn was expected (but there was some positive coverage of the new QB). But the Atlantic belongs to CU and FSU until proven otherwise. The ESPN bloggers have written some positive articles in their section of that website. But on an overall basis, it is not safe to listen to the radio if you want to hear anything positive about the ACC.
