SMU Mustangs and the Expansion Quandary of the ACC

When you look at the landscape of college football, few decisions have been as perplexing as the inclusion of the SMU Mustangs into the mix. The talk of the town is that they wanted the Dallas market, an argument that doesn’t sit well with many.

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Comparing Markets and Relevance

The Dallas market reasoning for SMU is reminiscent of the logic for Rutgers and the New York City market. Let’s be clear here: New York City’s interest in Rutgers is practically nonexistent. Drawing a parallel in the world of basketball, the Atlantic 10’s expansion into New York via Fordham offers another puzzling decision. Despite Fordham being a commendable institution, its basketball program isn’t exactly the talk of the town, at least not up to the Atlantic 10 standards.

Basketball Woes and Geographic Mysteries

Transitioning west, the attendance figures for the Stanford and Cal basketball programs are, to put it bluntly, underwhelming. Stanford sits at 130th in division one attendance, yet astonishingly, Cal is further down the list at 180th. Drawing a mere 2000 attendees for a Cal basketball game, they’re juxtaposed with the likes of Sienna. Compare this to the massive following Kentucky boasts at home, and you quickly see the disparity. It’s baffling to think that these are the programs one would want to expand towards.

The Mistake of Expansion

The age-old mantra of “expand or die” clearly didn’t apply here. Those who championed this idea missed the mark entirely. This move appears to be a monumental miscalculation. Instead of bolstering the ACC, this inclusion might very well dilute the competition within major sports, especially when March Madness comes around. The potential repercussions could see fewer ACC teams making the cut for the NCAA tournament.

As the season unfolds, time will tell if this expansion will pay dividends or if, as many suspect, it will go down as a misstep in the annals of college football history. But as of now, skepticism remains rife surrounding the SMU Mustangs‘ inclusion and the logic behind it.

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