WRAL:
N.C. State however never had a shot at the SEC according to Yow.
“We’re not a part of that conversation. As a founding member of the ACC I can’t envision being anything else. Our focus needs to be doing our part as one athletic program to strengthen overall, the ACC.”
Yow then put it bluntly. State hasn’t won an ACC football championship since 1979. Why in the world would it want to go to the SEC for football?
The smart answer to that question would be money, or financial stability. While Swofford said the ACC will be able to renegotiate its 12-year $1.86 billion TV deal and produce a positive impact, Yow wants to be sure her school is taken care of before falling in line with another expansion to 16 teams.
“I have no interest in State losing money by sharing with more people or losing more from what we ultimately will gain by adding these two,” she told Mark and Mike. “We’re not a wealthy program and we’re trying very hard to find new revenue sources and enhance the ones that we have so we can provide for our 23 varsity sports. I would be very vocal in any initiative that would harm us in our ability to do that.”
Travel concerns for N.C. State are not as great as they would be if the ACC decided to expand to the mid-west. Still, Yow is on board with the concept of having a North and South division to help minimize some of those costs.
“Not just in the Olympic sports but in the revenue sports as well. It makes all the sense in the world and as far as I’m concerned N.C. State belongs in the South division, obviously.”
One concern that will be on the thoughts of fans more than anyone else is the schedules in a mega-conference. Those fans will want to continue to see the same rivalry games they’ve been seeing for decades. And it’s a fact that ACC expansion has already eliminated N.C. State and Duke from playing in football every year and sometimes eliminates a game in the basketball season. But Yow says she isn’t worried about that aspect of it.
“I think the conference is very smart, very in tune with the games that are considered marquee games and have been for 50 years,” Yow said. “We’ve had our ups and down and we’re going to be headed back up the mountain. I think they want to protect us. That’s all about protecting your brand and the value of that conference on the national level. You want to protect games like State versus UNC.”
