Schools that Duke fans would love to see kicked out of the ACC
Every family has those members that you wish you could swap out for someone else. Of course, college athletics are no different.
To think about kicking teams out of a major conference might seem like a bad idea, though. Given the volatile nature of the NCAA landscape due to conference realignment, it might seem like now is the best time ever to circle the wagons and find a way to add to your ranks, not subtract.
That's why Duke fans and others across the ACC might not want to see some disliked schools hang around. For instance, even though Clemson and Florida State are openly trying to get out of their ACC grant of rights deals, Duke and other ACC institutions need those schools to hang around to prevent the ACC from going the way of the PAC 12.
Similarly, Duke fans should want their in-state rivals like North Carolina or NC State to remain in the same conference as the Blue Devils so that those rivalries are preserved. After all, college sports are driven by hatred and rivalries that generate tons of interest.
Still, there are some ACC schools that no one would miss if they were forced to find other conferences to call home. So let's look at five schools that should be kicked out of the conference.
SMU adds little value to the ACC
Though the ACC's addition of SMU, Stanford, and Cal seemed to help stabilize the league, at least temporarily, the reality is that none of those schools add much in the way of intrigue or prestige. At least Stanford and Cal have been long-time members of a major conference, though.
SMU, on the other hand, is stepping up from the Group of 5 level to the ACC. What they bring with them is a huge bag of nothing.
Sure, SMU calls Dallas, Texas home. Thus, they put the ACC into one of the largest television markets in the country.
However, SMU is nothing but an afterthought in their own city. The Dallas market is ruled by Big 12 and SEC fans. Schools such as Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Baylor, and TCU all have massive followings in the Dallas area and each carries far more weight in that market than SMU.
For proof, just consider that the Mustangs constantly struggle to fill their tiny 32,000-seat stadium on campus. In a metro area of around 7 million people, it should be easy to sell out a facility of that size but because bigger in-state schools have tremendous followings in Dallas/Fort Worth, SMU is perhaps the sixth or seventh most popular team in their own city.
Unfortunately, the ACC's financial payouts to its institutions lag behind what the other Power 4 conferences can offer their universities. Thus, having SMU in the mix to eventually lessen the share of the pie that each ACC team will get makes no sense.
Sure, SMU won't get any money from the ACC media deal for nine years but if the league is still around after that time frame passes, the Mustangs will want to be fed like their ACC counterparts. When that happens, a school that is an afterthought in its own television market will essentially be eating for free.