ACC schools to approve additions of Pac-12 schools, SMU to conference |
Brandon Rink
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- Friday, September 01 2023
Coast to coast.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is set to welcome its first new full members since the 2014-15 season by going to California to add current Pac-12 members Cal and Stanford and to Texas for SMU in the 2024-25 athletics season, TigerNet has confirmed. After weeks of discussion, the ACC needed 12 of its 15 total programs to approve such an expansion, and multiple outlets reported Clemson and Florida State as being against the move from the start, with North Carolina and NC State also regarded as in that group opposing. UNC Board of Trustees reps released a statement against an expansion move on Thursday night. The move is reported to bring between $50-60 million in annual revenue thanks to the existing ESPN contract kicking in an equal amount of additional revenue per school. The new additions not taking a full share means even more extra funds going to current ACC members. Stanford and Cal are reportedly taking a 30% share to start before seeing that grow over the remainder of the Grant of Rights deal (through 2036). SMU is said to be taking no share at all for the first seven years (Yahoo reports possibly up to nine years). Yahoo reports that the additions will still receive conference shares from the NCAA basketball tournaments, the College Football Playoff and the new ACC success initiative passed earlier this year. The Bay Area and Lone Star State additions bring the league to 17 full members, plus a Notre Dame affiliation that has the Fighting Irish in the league in all sports but football (an FBS independent there). The move comes in the wake of the Big Ten and Big 12’s carving up of the Pac-12 this summer, where the B1G returned to the West Coast to grab Oregon and Washington after taking USC and UCLA out of Los Angeles the year before. Colorado first, then Utah, Arizona and Arizona State moved to the Big 12, leaving Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington remaining in the Pac-12. Before Cal and Stanford joined the ACC, there were reports of a potential Pac-12 association with either the Mountain West or American conferences. Dallas, Texas-based SMU has strung together four winning seasons in a row on the football field, with the best campaign being a 10-3 season in 2019. Former Clemson offensive coordinator and current volunteer analyst Chad Morris coached there from 2015-17 and improved the team from 2-10 in his first year to 7-6 in 2017. SMU was given the NCAA’s “death penalty” for improprieties in the 1980s (payments to players and families), where the program won 10 or more games from 1981-84 and didn’t again until 2019. SMU finished 73rd in the all-sports measure Directors’ Cup this past season. Stanford’s strength has not been on the football field of late, but the Cardinal has won 26 of the 29 editions of the Directors’ Cup competition. Stanford has gone 6-18 over the last two football seasons, but the program did win nine games or more eight times from 2010-18. Cal’s last winning football season came in 2019 (8-5) and the Bears have just four winning campaigns in the last 11 seasons. The athletic program finished 22nd in the 2022-23 Directors' Cup. Former US politicians Condoleezza Rice, for Stanford, and George W. Bush, for SMU, were said to be campaigning for their schools’ inclusion in the ACC during the process. The previous wave for ACC expansion was Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame (outside of football) joining in 2013-14 and Louisville in 2014-15. The schools will have to sign the Grant of Rights deal with the ACC that all other current member schools have, giving the league the power over TV revenue and the right to air their games through 2036. That Grant of Rights is a point of contention for members such as Florida State publicly in a growing revenue gap to leagues such as the Big Ten or SEC. Clemson v. the new members (football) 1-0 vs. Stanford (27-21 Gator Bowl win in 1986) 0-1 vs. Cal (37-13 Citrus Bowl loss in 1992) NR v. SMU (no meetings) I’ve confirmed the revenue distribution for Stanford/Cal: Cal announces it will not receive full ACC revenue shares until its 10th year in league: 2033. Stanford & SMU in same situation It’s final: ACC presidents have approved expansion to add Stanford, Cal and SMU, sources tell @YahooSports, ending a month-long saga into an issue that divided the league. ACC will add Stanford, Cal & SMU in 2024, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. The league’s presidents got the required 12 of 15 votes to expand the ACC’s football membership to 17 schools. SMU will not receive any media rights revenue for 1st 7 years, while Stanford & Cal will receive… NC State will need UNC’s help when the ACC eventually dissolves.
30 percent the first 7 years. 70 percent in Year 8, 75 percent in Year 9, 100 percent Years 10-12.
Really dumb move by Randy Woodson to not align with UNC. Like failed Poly Sci 101 dumb
Like didn’t watch Top Gun dumb
But not sure what else any logical person could have expected from Woodson
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