Maryland moving to the B1G was something they had to do. The athletic department was in major financial trouble, which most blamed on Debbie Yow. They had to cut 7 sports in the years leading up to the move and were in serious debt. So they had to go and take more money and rebuild all the losses they had. I don't remember what the payoff difference was, but one article I found said that in 2019, the B1G schools made 54 million from TV revenue while the ACC schools made 33 million. The B1G has been far ahead of most conferences in making money and distributing it to their member schools. Also, the larger schools have brought more visiting fans for football and their attendance has gone up which has meant more money. It has helped MD's programs across the board as they have been one of the most successful athletic departments across all sports since they joined the B1G.
Now, most fans only care about football and basketball, where they have not been successful. In basketball, it's been more about coaching and not having a good program since Gary Williams retired. In football, they have no shot at competing in the B1G. Ohio St, Michigan, and Penn St every year along with some other pretty good programs. But with basketball, they could compete and I like what Willard has done his first year. Hopefully he gets them back into the notional picture.
As for rivalries, yeah it's not the same. But then again, the ACC is not the same. Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville aren't ACC schools. For that matter, neither are Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College, although the former two fit geographically at least. I was at the ACC tournament in 2004 in Greensboro when MD won. It was amazing and beating Duke was spectacular. The whole tournament was amazing. I went to every session except the Friday afternoon session. The building was packed every session. Even the play in game was pretty crowded. It was the last year of the traditional 9 school ACC. I went to 4 other ACC tournaments in Greensboro after that. It was never the same. The crowds were low, the excitement was not in the air. I even went to some championship games and they weren't sold out and it was just kind meh. And yes, Duke won those games, so it wasn't that it was far off teams. But the most empty section was Boston College. As other schools joined, then those sections were the least filled. Miami and even Syracuse had little fans attend. My point is, it wasn't the same once the conference expanded. It didn't feel like the ACC. The only connections were the NC schools, which I hated anyway.
Things in life change and college sports isn't going back to what it was in the glory days. Players don't even stay long enough to build up that loyalty and create good rivalries. So the school doing what it needed to do financially to survive was the best decision in the end. So yeah, those are all my thoughts on it.
 }})
