ACC votes to add Stanford, Cal, SMU: Conference presidents approve expansion to 18 schools

[CL82]

But...

it was FSU and Clemson who were against this plan along with UNC.

It was the minnows who hatched this plan. They didnt get bullied.

That's an interesting observation.

It'll be interesting to see how the additional money gets divvied up. In all likelihood, the move has two principal goals: 1) set maximize revenue for the next seven years and 2) have sufficient member numbers so that you can survive the inevitable departure of key schools.

 

[RedStickHusky]

What schools flipped their vote?

NC State's what I heard. They only needed one.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Either the big fish in the ACC go to a power league, or they breakaway and form a reconstituted ACC once they are able to break the GOR. Either way they aren't aligning themselves with BC, SMU and Cal once they have the autonomy to make that choice themselves.

The remnants would then either need to decide to go forward together (with Cal Stanford and SMU) or form their own "new" league that makes more geographic sense, maybe we get in as a backfill there.

There's 0 chance this 18 team ACC negotiates a new media rights deal together past this expiration of the current deal. None.

 

[nickp91]

SMU agreeing to take no money for a bunch of years is such an insane tactic And it actually worked!

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Starting with 2011 this has to be the worst CR timeline for UConn.

Yet incredibly, somehow, we continue to count rings.

 

[navery12]

UConn will not want to join with Syracuse, Pitt, BC, Wake Forest, Cal, Stanford and possibly Duke?

I'd say that's a more natural grouping for UConn than the current BE.

That's not what I said. I said UConn is not going to want to join the remnants of the ACC, as in the schools that are left once all those teams leave. It would be like someone signing on to join Washington State and Oregon State in the current Pac 12

 

[kibblesnbits]

it was FSU and Clemson who were against this plan along with UNC.

It was the minnows who hatched this plan. They didnt get bullied.

You’re right. I just saw a report that it was NC State that flipped (making me more disappointed we didn’t beat them) and the vote was 12-3. I thought they would buy off the bullies to get unanimity. The interesting thing is that the $50M will be split between an extra payoff for each member and a performance based pool. Since 50 divided by 15 isn’t that much to begin with they have managed to really pull off the perfect exacta - most schools will probably barely get enough to pay their extra costs while the bullies will get an extra pittance that will really piss them off. There is no path where this is sustainable.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I love when @Fishy gets this way. Stanford successfully fields a lot of non-revenue sports. This is part of the great college experience which is Stanford. If you check a map, the ACC schools are a bit distant from Palo Alto. These student-athletes will need to travel far distances to engage in their athletic endeavors. This is probably not favorable for their academic profile. Understood?

What does it have to do with their academic profile?

 

[Drumguy]

Oh yes, the UNC who created fake classes for their athletes.

Technically, those fake classes were for any student, hence no penalty against the sports programs.

 

[CTBasketball]

Stop acting surprised, this goes back to 2002. BC will fire up a coalition to blockade us at all costs.

 

[noeynox]

I’ve lost a lot of respect for Stanford as an institution as part of this process. This makes absolutely no sense for them other than as a money grab which they don’t need. I could probably understand football-only since they have no conference at this point. Strange times indeed.

I'm sure this upsets them.

 

[yuckformak]

This is a basketball board. Can we discuss how awful the All Clown Conference just became in CBB. It's like they added 3 DePauls to an already downward spiral conference.

 

[huskyinfl]

What's next, miami to the mountain west?

 

[REB1094]

I don’t really understand conferencing so can someone explain this to me like you were explaining to a 10 year old?

What is the ACC’s benefit in adding three schools who don’t offer anything except punching bags at the bottom of the conference? Especially when the conference is the ATLANTIC COAST conference adding schools from the PACIFIC COAST?

What is SMU’s benefit of not taking any media money until next decade? I understand Cal and Stanford’s conference imploded but what is SMU’s play here?

 

[Fishy]

It’s really about safety in numbers. You don’t want to be the Pac 12 or the Big East after realignment, you want to be the Big 12.

If the ACC loses 4-6 schools to the SEC/Big 12 in 10-12 years, you’re still at 12-14 schools and, at a minimum, you’re in a better spot to keep the Big 12 from pulling off UL, SU, Pitt or whoever.

My guess is that they will make a run at West Virginia as the current Big 12 contract gets towards the end.

 

[UConnSwag11]

If Rutgers could get into the Big 10, no reason why UCONN shouldn’t be pushing to get into the SEC!

 

[Fishy]

I don’t really understand conferencing so can someone explain this to me like you were explaining to a 10 year old?

What is the ACC’s benefit in adding three schools who don’t offer anything except punching bags at the bottom of the conference? Especially when the conference is the ATLANTIC COAST conference adding schools from the PACIFIC COAST?

What is SMU’s benefit of not taking any media money until next decade? I understand Cal and Stanford’s conference imploded but what is SMU’s play here?

SMU joins a power conference and likely makes more money with zero television revenue than they currently do in the AAC. Huge profile jump for them as well.

 

[superjohn]

Rick Pitino on X: "It's great that the ACC has added Stanford and Cal. I hear the Big East is looking to add teams from Panathinaikos & Olympiacos - it's only a nine hour flight ‍♂️" / X

 

[uconnric]

UConn's athletic director has a lot of explaining to do. This makes no sense on any level. The fact that UConn can't even get an invite to join the ACC makes no sense. They are a fit in many ways. If this truly is a political decision because on a grudge that some school has over UConn, then this should be made transparent once and for all. This isn't fair and in an era of NIL and big money for athletics, this puts UConn at a big disadvantage.

We saw last night firsthand what the big discrepancy in talent level means for the football program. Moves like this will eventually extend to our basketball program and other sports if things aren't changed right now.

You're going to have to explain why this is AD Dave's fault at all. They added Calford out of desperation and Notre Dame's influence. SMU opens up Texas to them. We were never going to be added at this point no matter what our AD did and it's foolish to blame him.

In the long run I can't imagine how this works out positively for Cal or Stanford or for the ACC. But now they still get a check. Clemson and Florida State were still opposed to the move, supposedly NC State flipped their vote. ESPN has some extra football money now that they don't have to fund the Pac 12. Once they leave, the ACC crumbles like a house of cards. They probably think they gained some relevance with these additions, but that's hard to see.

 

[REB1094]

Rick Pitino on X: "It's great that the ACC has added Stanford and Cal. I hear the Big East is looking to add teams from Panathinaikos & Olympiacos - it's only a nine hour flight ‍♂️" / X

 

[upstater]

You’re right. I just saw a report that it was NC State that flipped (making me more disappointed we didn’t beat them) and the vote was 12-3. I thought they would buy off the bullies to get unanimity. The interesting thing is that the $50M will be split between an extra payoff for each member and a performance based pool. Since 50 divided by 15 isn’t that much to begin with they have managed to really pull off the perfect exacta - most schools will probably barely get enough to pay their extra costs while the bullies will get an extra pittance that will really piss them off. There is no path where this is sustainable.

It's probably about holding the conference together and getting more votes to prevent dissolution of the GOR.

We could easily envision a scenario in which the SEC and B1G were able to entice enough members into voting for dissolution, but now that fantasy is over. With the addition of the 3, it isn't possible for the P2 to open enough spots to entice members to vote the end of the GOR.

BUT, who knows, SMU is now incentivized to see a new deal for all members as quickly as possible.

 

[REB1094]

SMU joins a power conference and likely makes more money with zero television revenue than they currently do in the AAC. Huge profile jump for them as well.

Thanks, hopefully they have fun at the bottom of the conference

 

[upstater]

That's not what I said. I said UConn is not going to want to join the remnants of the ACC, as in the schools that are left once all those teams leave. It would be like someone signing on to join Washington State and Oregon State in the current Pac 12

I just named the remnants.

You think any of the conferences are adding these schools?

 

[navery12]

I just named the remnants.

You think any of the conferences are adding these schools?

Yes

 

[upstater]

Yes

If BC, Cuse, Wake Forest and the like aren't the remnants because they've been taken, then who the heck are the remnants?

 

[navery12]

If BC, Cuse, Wake Forest and the like aren't the remnants because they've been taken, then who the heck are the remnants?

BC and Wake I would assume will be, the rest you mentioned have value and I imagine end up somewhere else useful. I imagine SMU gets left behind too, probably Georgia Tech. If it's all those schools you listed then I'd have no problem making that move

 

[Hey Adrien!]

A screenshot of a tweet of mine from this morning:

 

[Iluvsuebird]

UConn's athletic director has a lot of explaining to do. This makes no sense on any level. The fact that UConn can't even get an invite to join the ACC makes no sense. They are a fit in many ways. If this truly is a political decision because on a grudge that some school has over UConn, then this should be made transparent once and for all. This isn't fair and in an era of NIL and big money for athletics, this puts UConn at a big disadvantage.

We saw last night firsthand what the big discrepancy in talent level means for the football program. Moves like this will eventually extend to our basketball program and other sports if things aren't changed right now.

Yeah, it has been so hurtful so far, right? Stop it already. Making decisions based on football almost derailed us once before. STOP IT. We are not a football school. We are a basketball school. Embrace that and stop being a pretender.

 

[Fishy]

Yeah, it has been so hurtful so far, right? Stop it already. Making decisions based on football almost derailed us once before. STOP IT. We are not a football school. We are a basketball school. Embrace that and stop being a pretender.

Ah, yes, the appearance of the basketball-only jackassery.

Just wait until Geno retires and learn that we’re not going to be able to pay $4M for a women’s hoop coach anymore.

 

[huskymedic]

SMU joins a power conference and likely makes more money with zero television revenue than they currently do in the AAC. Huge profile jump for them as well.

They’ve probably been assured that they’ll get some additional revenue on facility rentals