ACC presidents and chancellors reportedly vote on invitations for Stanford, Cal and SMU
The ACC will expand after all.
After an initial hesitation to add soon-to-be former Pac-12 teams to the conference, the ACC presidents and chancellors voted to extend invitations to Stanford, Cal and SMU as revenue agreements appear to be resolved. The additions will be in all sports and will begin in the 2024-25 school year, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported.
Part of the discussions in recent weeks were revenue splits, and SMU is expected to come in for 7 years with no broadcast media revenue, while Stanford and Cal will have 30% shares.
In a straw poll nearly a month ago, 4 ACC schools dissented — Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and NC State. One of them needed to flip for the vote to pass.
One opposition vote came from David Boliek, the chair of the North Carolina board of trustees, who added Thursday night that the move also had a “strong majority” of university trustees.
At least since May, there have been growing factions in the league about splitting revenue, and Florida State leaders in particular have been vocal about wanting more revenue.
Commissioner Jim Phillips worked to appease a group of schools eager to add the schools and others seeking more revenue. Tensions within the league between 2 factions of schools came to light over the summer.
The move means the ACC joins the ranks of larger conferences and realignment around the country. Starting next year the B1G will have 18 teams and the Big 12 and SEC will have 16 teams. The move also leaves the Pac-12 with just 2 remaining programs, Washington State and Oregon State, as the conference has lost 8 teams since late July.
Sources: ACC Presidents and Chancellors have voted this morning to extend invitations to Stanford, California and SMU to push the league to 18 teams.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 1, 2023