A disaster is what it would have been.
My first thought when I read that the ACC had asked Clemson to move its annual rivalry game with South Carolina to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, was what in the world is conference leadership thinking?
For Clemson and South Carolina, it would have been a total disaster.
Sure, the game would have been aired in prime time. But it should be anyway, regardless of what day the game is played. But the ACC’s shortsightedness and failure to recognize tradition and the intricacies of football in the Palmetto State are incredibly misinformed. Oh, and their reaction to Clemson refusing their request was, well, interesting.
Conference leadership resorted to scolding Clemson as if they were a petulant toddler throwing a tantrum in the supermarket aisle because they did not get the bag of candy they wanted. In fact, it was the ACC who wanted to reap the sweet rewards of the game being moved only because of its media deal with ESPN.
The conference did not get its way, so it responded by chastising its bell cow football program for its “lack of cooperation.”
Boo hoo.
The ACC’s official statement on the matter, released by senior associate commissioner Michael Strickland, said in part:
“As has been indicated to you during this process, the Conference Office is disappointed in Clemson University’s lack of cooperation on this matter. As all ACC members know, it is incumbent upon the ACC and its institutions to work in good faith with ESPN on football scheduling issues. This cooperation maximizes the value of our relationship with our media partner and strengthens our collective future. Clemson’s decision not to do so in this instance is harmful toward that goal.”
Michael Strickland, Senior Associate ACC Commissioner
Good faith you say? What, pray tell, is good faith according to the ACC? We are talking about the same conference that is embroiled in bitter litigation with Clemson University in regard to the conference’s grant of rights agreement which Clemson is challenging in a potential play to ultimately leave the conference altogether.
The request for Clemson to move its annual rivalry game against the Gamecocks to Black Friday sounds like nothing more than a power play to bully Clemson outside of the courtroom. Clemson, however, fell for no such ploy.
The yearly tilt between instate rivals is not a discount item to be plucked away by hordes of midnight shoppers racing to beat the holiday rush. It is a time-honored tradition in this state and is worth far more to the fans than the ACC’s piece of ESPN’s pie.
And let us not forget what also happens on Black Friday. You guessed it, the high school football state semifinal games. Most of those games are played between teams with passionate fan bases. Are you going to ask them to choose between supporting their hometown team or spending hundreds of dollars to attend the biggest college football game in the state a day early? No!
This is to say nothing that one of the state’s biggest high school football powerhouses, Daniel High School, exists in the very shadow of Clemson University and Death Valley. Making fans choose between the teams they support is a major disservice to those who would otherwise be able to attend both. Thank goodness they will not have to choose because Clemson operates under the pretense of common sense.
Oh, and many people still work the day after Thanksgiving. Clemson and South Carolina playing on Friday would have created a conflict of interest there as well.
The ACC tried to bully Clemson and athletic director Graham Neff called their bluff. Instead of acquiescing to the demands of the conference, Neff used their own ridiculous request against them in an affidavit filed with the court as part of the university’s lawsuit against the ACC.
Well played. Just as well played as the annual Palmetto Bowl on a Saturday. The way it should be. And the way it is going to stay.
You lose, ACC. The state of South Carolina, the Tigers and Gamecocks, win.
