Because of the Louisville-FIU game on Wednesday, your all-UofL sports talk show will be coming to you tonight at 6:00 on ESPN 680 and ESPNLouisville.com.  The guys will be discussing the big road win over Memphis, and preview the FIU and WKU games coming up.  They will also be talking UofL football recruiting and speaking to the newest Cardinal QB Brett Nelson.  LSL will take you inside his whirlwind recruitment, his visit to UofL, and how he figures into Louisville football’s future plans. In the second hour the guys will welcome back former Card Perrin Johnson to the show and get his take on how Rick Pitino’s team has looked so far in the 2012-2013 season. As always, we’d like your input on the program, so feel free to call us at 267-9680 and hit us up on twitter @LvilleSprtsLive.

According to Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, the ACC won’t be raided by the Big 10 – for now.  His story cited two sources saying UofL’s future conference home is stable and that conference realignment could take a hiatus for at least a short amount of time.  Additionally, Dodd reported that the ACC will be “monetizing its soon-to-be lucrative digital network”.  That figures into more money for the ACC, thus keeping football powers Florida State and Clemson happy.  Notre Dame’s AD, Jack Swarbrick said that the ACC will soon be making more money per school than the Big 12, another league rumored to be eyeing ACC schools.  While the Big 12 has the an advantage in the Sugar Bowl paying out $80 million ($40 million per team, then spread out to the 10 Big 12 schools is another $4 million), compared to the Orange Bowl’s $55 million ($27.5 million per team divided by 14 ACC members equaling to a little under $2 million per team), the digital network, combined with Notre Dame and Louisville’s addition, could make-up the other $2 million.

Swarbrick was the second source in two days to say that the ACC will eventually be making more money per school than the Big 12. That would seemingly put to rest speculation that Florida State is trying to get out. Both of those conferences are behind the Big Ten, largely considered to be No. 1 in conference revenue at the moment.

One source said all the major conferences are within $500,000 of each other, hovering around the $20 million mark per year in annual per-school payout. However, estimates for a future Big Ten have gone as high as $40 million per school when its primary TV rights are renegotiated by 2016.

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Photo courtesy of @ITV247

-As quickly as Angel Nunez became a Cardinal, his career at UofL ended just as fast, as WDRB.com’s Eric Crawford reported that the swingman will transfer out of the program.  Nunez gave UofL a verbal commitment virtually out of nowhere back in September of 2010.  He was compared to Fransisco Garcia because of his build and his ability to shoot from long range. However, he didn’t progress as quickly as Coach P would have liked on defense, and saw little playing time.

“With Wayne (Blackshear) and Luke (Hancock) ahead of him, he wanted to find a place where there will be more playing time, and all of our coaches support his decision,” Pitino said.The 6-8, 200-pound sophomore had not seen the court at all this season after logging 55 total minutes in 12 games as a freshman.

-Louisville may be the decided underdog against Florida when the teams face off in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl, but currently CardNation is beating UF as far as ticket sales are concerned.  UofL has sold over 14,000, while UF has just made it over the 6,500 mark.

When Florida and Louisville take the field for the 79th annual Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, the fourth-ranked Gators will be a pretty big favorite, about 16 points. But when it comes to ticket sales, it hasn’t been close, at least thus far.

As of Friday, Louisville had sold more then 14,000 of its allotment of 17,500 tickets while the Gators had sold about only 6,500.

Go grab your free ESPN 680 College Basketball Guide available today at select area businesses, then at multiple locations in the area on Friday.  For the complete list, click here.

Join your only all-UofL sports talk show tonight at 6:00 on ESPN 680 and ESPNLouisville.com as we preview the big UofL-Memphis tilt on Saturday with Tigers Head Coach Josh Pastner.  We’ll also bring on Yahoo! College basketball blogger, Jeff Eisenberg to break down all the latest hoops action. The guys will talk all things Sugar Bowl and the ever-changing Big East, including the 2013 football schedule.  As always, we welcome your input, so feel free to hit us up at 267-9680 or on twitter @LvilleSprtsLive. Other topics include:

-Russ for All-American

-Cards basketball heating up

-Recent developments with football recruiting and who you need to keep an eye on

-Basketball-only schools unhappy with new Big East set up

-Is conference realignment over?

While all things realignment have seemed to simmer down at the moment, there have been steady rumblings that the Big Ten has its sights on expanding to 16.  Why?  More money comes with more markets and the ACC has some apparently for the taking.  The ACC Presidents came out this week and pledged their loyalties to the league.  While that is just lip service, it was reported that FSU, Clemson, and other schools at the center of realignment rumors spearheaded the charge for the commitment. Speculation has swirled around the Big Ten being interested in scooping up Georgia Tech and its Atlanta market along with Boston College (Boston), or Virginia.  Can the ACC do anything to stop them from joining the Midwestern mammoth other than potentially their $50 million buy-out?  That’s literally the multi-million dollar question.  All conference eyes will be on the courts as they rule on the outcome in the coming weeks. If they hold Maryland to the maximum, any ACC school poaching is out the window.  If you think about it – even if UofM’s penalty is half – a cool $25 million would be nearly impossible for most schools to come up with and/or an amount a new league would want to pay for a new member.  Grant of Rights is something three conferences (Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12) have to ensure members don’t leave.  What is GOR and how is it different from an exit fee?  Matt Tait of KUSports.com explains:

Grant of Rights agreement is written permission by members of a conference to hand over control of their television rights to the conference for the agreed-upon term. Unlike exit fees, which are liquidated damages and can be negotiated in court and proven to be valid or invalid, the GOR agreement is not up for interpretation, according to a report written by Mit Winter of BuisnessofCollegeSports.com. It stands to reason then, that it is much more likely to hold up in court as a legitimate, enforceable contract.

Grant of Rights in the Big 12 keeps the league intact and discourages other conferences from trying to grab its schools.  The main reason the Big 12 has been sitting on their hands is because there isn’t a school that would add enough value to their TV contract to keep their members happy and still bring in $20 million per school.

Considering the value of the Big 12’s current TV contracts, along with the revenue that is soon to come as a result of the conference’s partnership with the SEC that created the Champions Bowl, each member of the Big 12 is looking at a guaranteed take of nearly $30 million per year for the length of the contracts.

That sets the bar awfully high for the Big 12 to even entertain the idea of expanding.

“If you’re thinking about taking two schools you’ve gotta go to your TV partners and say, ‘We’re taking these two schools in; we want $60 million more.’ It ain’t gonna happen,” a Big 12 administrator said.

Why not?

Because most high-ranking officials within the Big 12 don’t believe that any schools out there are worth that kind of money.

And why not?

Because that’s what the television partners say.

Mentioned above, the ACC Presidents are committed to the league, but does that really matter if the 14 ACC schools all don’t agree to sign a GOR? That seems to be the real binding agreement in the current realignment era.  Currently, the ACC’s television contract will pay out $17.1 million per team annually.  That’s up from $13 million before Pitt and Syracuse were added.  The TV deal should be bumped up again with part-time Notre Dame and Louisville joining.  Should the ACC make a move to become the first ‘Super Conference’ at 16?  Nobody from the Big Ten or SEC would come because they make too much money.  The Big 12 has the GOR protecting that league so you can cross them off the list as well.  14 appears to be a solid number for now, but that is subject to change if the SEC and Big Ten act.  If those leagues do expand, ACC schools will be the target, but as long as FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Miami stay in the fold the ACC will be fine.  The Big 12 would be the major player for them, but they still don’t look like they want other teams coming in and dividing up more of the pie.  So, where does that leave the ACC in regards to further strengthening the league?  Here are the scenarios:

1. Add UConn and Cincinnati and become the first ‘Super Conference’.  The TV deal would be renegotiated and it could receive a bump if the New Haven (#30) and Cincy (#34) markets were added.  Adding basketball powers Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt, UConn, and UC could be used in sweetening the pot because without a doubt, the ACC would continue to be the nation’s elite basketball conference.  Also, with Notre Dame in the league and playing 5 ACC schools annually in football, ESPN would pay more, right?  But, would adding UConn and UC make football powers FSU and Clemson want to exit?

2. Entice Notre Dame to join in football.  Yeah right, especially with the Irish making it to the national title game as an independent this year. Would ND be willing to make some financial concessions in order to keep others from leaving?  Only if they wanted the ACC to prosper, thus allowing them to stay in a league that doesn’t require them to join in football.

3. Maryland is challenging the $50 million buy-out, why not put the Big 12′s GOR to the test?  Tell Texas to bring their Longhorn Network with them (the ACC was rumored to be talking with UT a couple of years ago).  Ask WVU to come along to make 16.

It all comes down to the power hungry Big Ten and SEC.  If they want to add, they will and it more than likely be a school from the ACC.  In this ever-changing game of conference realignment, nobody is safe.  Let’s see where the ACC falls when the media rights deal is renegotiated again and go from there.  All this could be moot if the ACC schools can sign a GOR.

Join your only all-UofL sports talk show tonight at 6:00 on ESPN 680 and ESPNLouisville.com as we discuss Strong’s decision (when it is made) and what it means for the future of the program.  Of course we will talk about arguably the biggest game in Louisville football history- the Sugar Bowl agains the #3 Florida Gators.  We breakdown the Cards’ blowout win of Charleston last night and tell you why this team has the potential to be unstoppable.  As always, we’d love to hear your opinion on the Sugar Bowl, Coach Strong, and UofL hoops.  Hit us up at 267-9680 and on twitter @LvilleSprtsLive.

We all know about how successful the various sports programs are across Louisville’s entire athletic department: Final Four basketball team, football is squaring off a for a conference title tonight, soccer team is a perennial contender, women’s basketball in the top ten, women’s volleyball dominates the conference, and so on and so on. Factor in the rabid fan support and the #1 TV market for college basketball, and it’s no secret why the ACC chose Louisville to replace Maryland as the conference’s 14th team yesterday. But another huge factor in the process, perhaps one that was overlooked by national media – but certainly not ACC commissioner John Swafford and other key decision makers – is the fact that Louisville possesses one of the most profitable athletics programs from top to bottom, in the entire nation. There will never be a question about the dedication towards winning here and the ability to make money at a high level. Kristi Dosh of The Business of College Sports and now ESPN, wrote a little over a year ago about just how profitable Louisville’s program is, compared to other big hitters across the country. And what we found is that the basketball team is more profitable than any other football program in the Big East OR the ACC.

Not only is Louisville basketball the most profitable basketball program in the country, it’s more profitable than the football program at any Big East school. It’s also more profitable than any football program in the ACC or Pac-10! Keep in mind, these numbers were for the season before Louisville basketball began play in a new arena.

But, as mentioned above, the data from that column is a bit outdated now. According to this piece from Forbes magazine published in March of 2011, once the Cards moved into the Yum! Center, their revenue jumped from $16 million all the way up to nearly $26 million.

And keep in mind, Louisville did all of this while being a member of the Big East, which, by far and away, receives the smallest TV and BCS payouts compared to the other power five conferences. However, with the impending ACC move, the program is about to take things to a whole new level. In a new piece published last night by Dosh, she states that Louisville was pretty rich before, but now they’re going to become even richer. According to her report, Louisville once again upped its basketball revenue in 2010-2011 (2011-2012 numbers won’t be available until January) to $27.6 million. Duke who was at one time ahead of the Cards in basketball revenue, is now more than $10 million behind them. The Big East reportedly paid Louisville $10 million last year. Meanwhile, the ACC – and this number should go up – pays their members $17 million annually. With that extra $7 million, Louisville will become one of the top ten most profitable programs in the country. Think about that for a second. Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Louisville, all in the same breath among the richest programs in all of college sports.

James Ramsey and Tom Jurich should have statues erected on campus the day they retire.

Photo from @KentTaylorWAVE

National writers have all chimed in about Louisville’s move to the ACC.  Not a surpise to Card Nation, they were glowing about UofL’s program and leadership.  Looking back, the Big 12 snub last year was probably a good thing as the ACC is the perfect fit for the Cards in football and hoops.  Here’s a sampling of what the national media is saying about the huge move:

*Yahoo! Sports Pat Forde’s thoughts

When Maryland’s spot in the league came open, several Big East members made clear their interest in moving to the ACC. Sources said Louisville outmaneuvered the perceived early favorite, Connecticut, in large part because of the school’s overall athletic commitment, the health of its football program and the issues Jim Calhoun left behind in the Huskies’ basketball program. Cincinnati also made a spirited 11th-hour push, sources said.

*ESPN’s Brett McMurphy on the ACC move

The ACC felt Louisville was the best choice because of its “aggressive approach” to success, including a commitment to “marquee athletics programs,” a source told ESPN. The recent additions of Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Notre Dame — which joins in all sports except football but has a scheduling partnership with the conference in that sport — make the ACC feel as though it is “in a position of strength,” the source said.

*The ACC’s official press release

The Atlantic Coast Conference Council of Presidents has unanimously voted to accept the University of Louisville as its newest member. The vote followed the submission of Louisville’s letter of application.

“With the addition of the University of Louisville, the ACC continues to be well positioned for the future competing at the highest level in all facets of the collegiate experience,” said the ACC Council of Presidents in a joint statement. “The ACC continues to be a vibrant conference that remains steadfast in its commitment to balancing academics and athletics.

*SI’s Pete Thamel weighs in

(This man deserves his own holiday. That is not even close to a joke)

Well, boys and girls, it is official. We have escaped the sinking ship of the Big East and are set to join the ACC in 2014 to replace Maryland, who leaves for the Big 10. Below you will see the reaction from sportswriters and fans alike, but first, a few thoughts…

• This is without a doubt, the biggest day in Louisville athletics history. It has been a long, frustrating ordeal for Louisville fans ever since getting rejected by the Big 12, and with the news of the Big East countering conference realignment by adding…ahem…Tulane and East Carolina, it was clear that the Big East was dead and Conference USA 2.0 was born. Thus, Louisville fans’ frustrations were at a boiling point. Today, that is all washed away, and Louisville fans could collectively breathe a sigh of relief and a let out a cheer of approval as the Cards are set to join a conference that will benefit ALL sports, not just football, and will ultimately become the best basketball conference in the nation, if it stays together.
• One of the first questions Cards fans will ask after they are done celebrating is what does this mean for Charlie Strong’s future at Louisville? First off, it is far sunnier than it was a week ago had we stayed in the Big East. Second, in my opinion, his ultimate goal is to be a head coach in the SEC. I do not think that happens next year, but will down the road. The good news is that with our new conference situation, Louisville will be a much easier sell in finding his replacement. Had we stayed in the Big East, that would not be the case.
• I do find it highly comical that this news comes only a day after UK announces the hiring of Mark Stoops as their football coach, thus completely raining on their parade. It is no secret that UK loves to announce good news following a period of bad news for Louisville (see Calipari hiring announcement days after Louisville’s Elite 8 upset loss to Michigan State). However, as those could be seen as intentional cheap shots, this move was announce out of Louisville’s control and merely a coincidence. Again…highly comical.
• Not to be the wet blanket here, but keep in mind, conference realignment rumors will continue to surface. There have already been rumors of several ACC schools, including North Carolina, Florida State, Clemson, Virginia and Georgia Tech possibly joining the SEC, Big 10 or Big 12. There were reports today that one reason the ACC acted so fast was because the Big 12 was showing serious interest in Louisville. This will no doubt prompt the gung ho “Big 12 or Bust” crowd of Louisville fans to call the move premature and unneccessary. They will say Louisville should have been patient, but here is the thing: Louisville WAS patient for nearly a year after being rejected by the Big 12. We lobbied, we waited, and all we got in return were constant reports that the Big 12 was happy at 10 schools and had no plans to expand. With the Big East going the way it was going, Louisville COULD NOT AFFORD to be patient any longer. An opportunity came along, a great opportunity for that matter, and we took it. Simple as that. Louisville was basically Scott Howard from “Teen Wolf.” Pamela (the Big 12) is incredibly hot and desirable, but all she does is tease us and give us false hope. Boof (the ACC) was there for us all along (just go with it) and we just failed to notice her. Boof appreciates us for who we are. Pamela was a stuck up bitch. We made the right call.
• Again, this is a move that will benefit ALL sports. While the situation is not exactly as concrete as we would like it to be, but if we’re going to be realistic, it is pretty obvious the Big 12 move would have benefitted football and have little value to several other programs. The ACC gives us far more competition across the board and the geography makes it much easier to travel than it would have been in the Big 12. Yes, it is still a sketchy situation, but Louisville is in a FAR better position than they were yesterday, and if you are a fan, today is a day to celebrate.

Click the link to see what members of the media and fans are saying about the move.

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