If a football game happens but nobody watches...

One of the primary factors for ACC expansion was the increased television revenue, which would boost the revenue for each school despite having to add three additional schools to split up the revenue. The downside of those extra teams is the additional conference games each week and since there are only so many stations that broadcast college football, that means more games that don't get televised. For area ACC schools like Maryland, Virginia and Virginia Tech this has become an issue, particularly for Maryland.

The Terps announced their schedule for the 2007 season and their first two games, at home vs. Villanova and at Florida International, won't be broadcast on television. Instead, the Villanova game will be aired on ESPN360, ESPN's online broadcast outlet, and the FIU game won't be televised at all. There's also no guarantee that all of Maryland's remaining games will be televised, as last year's Maryland-Virginia game was relegated to ESPN360 as well. The first game on Maryland's schedule to be broadcast on standard television is its Thursday night game against West Virginia in the third week of the season.

Virginia has fared far better with its first three games, as its tilts with Wyoming, Duke and North Carolina will all be broadcast. Versus, which will broadcast select WAC games this year, will televise Virginia's first game of the year. While its primarily been associated with the NHL and low ratings, Versus also provides one of the better HDTV signals and one would assume it would be used for its college football coverage this fall. Also, Virginia's Duke and North Carolina games will be broadcast on Raycom/Jefferson Pilot. So a team coming off of a 5-win season will have its first three games on the year, while the team that destroyed Purdue in the Champs Bowl will only have one.

Now the blame for this situation needs to go in two places: Maryland, for scheduling such weak out-of-conference games early in the season that won't be televised, and the ACC for diluting its schedule. Was the minimal boost in revenue for the pre-expansion schools really worth losing the almost-guaranteed exposure for its football teams? Miami's Sept. 1 game against Marshall (ESPNU), Virginia Tech's game against East Carolina (ESPN2) and Boston's College's game against Wake Forest (ABC) will all be broadcast. Take away those three additions to the conference, and that's three more slots for ACC schools, including Maryland.