By MICHAEL PETERS Sports Editor on Sep 12, 2012, at 7:58 PM Updated on 9/12 at 7:58 PM
THE EDITOR'S DESK
Oklahoma City made its last stand Monday night.
But as is often the case with last stands, this one proved futile.
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Perhaps, the final die was cast Wednesday in the never-ending conference realignment saga.
The biggest get of them all, Notre Dame, decided to align itself with the ACC.
Surely this means conference realignment is over... well at least until the power conferences get a feel for how the new college football playoff works.
By then you may see another shakeup. But things should be stable -- for the next few years anyway -- after Wednesday's decision by Notre Dame to move its non-football sports to the ACC from the Big East.
The two most endangered conferences in all of realignment -- the Big 12 and the ACC -- seem to have saved themselves (Sorry, I'm not even counting the Big East. It was doomed from the start).
The Big 12 and ACC are proof realignment is truly a marathon not a sprint.
The Big 12, four members down at one time with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State on the way out, now has a new $20 million a year television contract. And a grant of television rights provision for 13 years likely precludes anything less than a total implosion of the league.
Just a few weeks ago, ACC member Florida State was talking about exploring its conference affiliation options. It's a move that would have caused another seismic shift in college football and doomed the ACC to a Big East-like existence.
Now, the Seminoles are looking at a home-and-home with Notre Dame every six years and a prohibitive financial exit penalty to cure their wandering eye.
With all the power players seemingly satisfied -- even if it is at gun point -- this wave of realignment seems to have run its course.
Who are the great pick ups right now? Maybe Louisville and BYU? But if you're the Big 12, are those schools worth $40 million a year -- the amount of money ESPN and Fox would have to offer to keep league schools cashing $20 million a year TV checks?
The big prize for the Big 12 was Notre Dame, and the Irish seem to have discarded that option with little consideration.
Notre Dame isn't nearly what it was 25 years ago, but it's still an A+ property. How many other middling football programs could have their choice of conference and then dictate the terms of the marriage?
You may not like them (I admit, I'm a huge Notre Dame hater), but the Irish are the only true national brand in college sports.
And if you've disliked the constant turmoil of conference realignment, you should tip your hat to the Irish today.
They've finally ended it -- at least for the time being.
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