ACC votes to add Stanford, Cal and SMU

By Brian Murphy, WRAL

The Atlantic Coast Conference voted Friday morning to invite Cal, Stanford and SMU, dramatically expanding its geographic footprint to the West Coast for a marginal increase in revenue that can be used to mollify disgruntled current members.

The additions of two schools in Northern California and one in Texas will bring the North Carolina-based league's total membership to 18 schools, including Notre Dame, which remains a football independent.

"This will help the ACC in multiple ways," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told WRAL.

Presidents and chancellors at each of the 15 schools had a vote and 12 were needed to invite the schools, who come with sterling academic reputations but no sustained recent success in the all-important sports of football and men's basketball.

All three will join for the 2024-25 academic year with SMU becoming a full member on July 1 and Stanford and Cal on August 2.

The ACC has been seeking ways to increase its bottom line as the SEC and Big Ten have surged ahead in revenue generation through significant additions and record-setting television rights agreements. The SEC will have 16 teams, including Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12, in 2024. The Big Ten will have 18 teams, including Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington from the Pac-12, in 2024.

“This is a significant day for the ACC as we welcome Cal, SMU and Stanford to this incredible conference,” Virginia President James E. Ryan, chair of the ACC Board of Directors, said in a statement released by the conference. “This expansion will enhance and strengthen the league now and in the future. We greatly appreciate the tireless efforts of Commissioner Jim Phillips throughout this entire process, especially his focus on minimizing travel burdens for student-athletes, and we are excited about the ACC’s collective future.”

The expansion vote comes after weeks of debate and outright opposition from some corners. Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and NC State did not support expansion a few weeks ago, according to multiple reports. ESPN reported that NC State backed expansion Friday. A meeting scheduled for earlier in the week was postponed after a deadly shooting Monday on UNC's campus.

Legendary UNC women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance denounced the plan. The leaders of UNC-Chapel Hill's Board of Trustees sent a letter Thursday night saying a "strong majority" of the 13-member board opposes expansion.

"The travel distances for routine in-conference competitive play are too great for this arrangement to make sense for our student athletes, coaches, alumni and fans," wrote David L. Boliek, Jr., and John P. Preyer, the chair and vice chair of the UNC-CH Board of Trustees. "Furthermore, the economics of this newly imagined transcontinental conference do not sufficiently address the income disparity ACC members face."

Pac-12 members Cal and Stanford are available to join the ACC for the 2024-25 season as their league has no television contract or grant of rights in effect at that time. Eight of the league's members have announced their departures — four to the Big Ten and four to the Big 12 — leaving Cal and Stanford with few options.

New schools react

The schools have reportedly agreed to accept less than a full share from the ACC's television rights deal in order to remain in a top conference, particularly one with other top academic schools and very good all-around athletic programs.

Stanford has the most storied all-around athletic program in the nation, winning 26 of 29 NCAA Director's Cups for all-around excellence. The university said it expects 22 of its 36 sports will see either no scheduling changes or minimal scheduling impacts. Stanford offers some sports, such as water polo, that the ACC does not sponsor.

“Stanford welcomes the invitation extended by the ACC member universities, and we are excited to join them beginning in 2024,” Stanford president Richard P. Saller said in a statement released by the league. “Student-athletes come to Stanford to pursue their highest academic and athletic potential, and joining the ACC gives us the ability to continue offering them that opportunity at a national level."

Cal will contribute back a portion of media revenue to current member institutions, the school said. Its contribution will taper off until the 10th year, at which point it will begin retaining 100% of its media revenue share, the school said. The fact that annual revenue will increase over time was an important factor in the agreement, the school said in its statement.

Cal projects that 19 of its 30 sports will experience either no or minimal change with regard to travel.

"We are confident that the ACC and its constituent institutions are an excellent match for our university and will provide an elite competitive context for our student-athletes in this changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics," Cal chancellor Carol T. Christ said.

SMU, a private school located in Dallas, is a member of the American Athletic Conference. The Mustangs built a football power in the early 1980s in the powerful Southwest Conference but committed a slew of violations in the process, including paying players. The NCAA handed SMU the first — and, to date, only — "death penalty" in 1987, folding the Mustangs' program for a season.

With deep-pocketed donors willing to foot the bill to return to an upper-echelon conference, SMU reportedly will forgo media rights payments for several years in the ACC.

“This is a transformational day for SMU,” SMU president R. Gerald Turner said in a statement. "Becoming a member of the ACC will positively impact all aspects of the collegiate experience on the Hilltop and will raise SMU’s profile on a national level. We want to thank everyone who has helped position SMU for this important moment. Joining the ACC is an historic milestone in our institution’s history, and the start of a new chapter in SMU Athletics.”

ESPN owns the ACC's television rights through 2036, and the current members are bound by a prohibitive grant of rights agreement through that time, making it all but impossible — at least now – to leave the league.

As part of that agreement, ESPN will pay the league for additional schools. With the incoming schools taking less than a full share, the ACC can use the difference to help offset additional travel costs for current members and add money to a new success initiative, designed to reward teams for on-field success. How that money gets divided has been a point of contention.

A group of seven ACC schools, including North Carolina and NC State, held discussions about trying to find a way around the grant of rights earlier this year. Florida State's leadership said it would consider leaving the ACC if the revenue situation does not change.

"Unless something drastic changes on the revenue side at the ACC, it's not a matter of if we leave, in my opinion, it's a matter of how and when we leave," said FSU trustee Drew Weatherford, a former quarterback for the Seminoles.

The league generated $616.9 million last year.

If top members do leave the league, additions like Cal, Stanford and SMU could help the conference rebuild and, perhaps, avoid the Pac-12's fate. The league has just two remaining members in Oregon State and Washington State, which may end up in a lower-revenue league like the Mountain West or American Athletic Conference.

The ACC's television deal is third among conferences — and that's unlikely to change anytime soon. The rights agreements for the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 expire before the ACC. But with the cable television market suffering, rights deals may not continue their staggering growth leaving the ACC in a better position.

Conference history

The expansion vote comes in the same week that the ACC officially moved into its new Charlotte headquarters.

"We really tried to look at how we modernized the ACC, how we get our forward-facing ACC brand in a different light across not only in the region, but across the country," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said Tuesday at a press conference in Charlotte.

The conference had been headquartered in Greensboro since its founding in 1953 with seven members — Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina, Wake Forest. Virginia joined the same year.

South Carolina left in 1971 for independence, and Georgia Tech was added in 1979. Florida State made it a nine-team league when it joined in 1991.

Miami and Virginia Tech joined in 2004 from the Big East, the beginning of an exodus from that conference into the ACC. Boston College joined in 2005. Pittsburgh and Syracuse joined in 2013, along with Notre Dame for its non-football sports. When charter member Maryland left for the Big Ten, Louisville joined the ACC in 2014.

“We are thrilled to welcome three world-class institutions to the ACC, and we look forward to having them compete as part of our amazing league,” Phillips said in a statement.

“Throughout the evaluation process, the ACC Board of Directors, led by President Ryan, was deliberate in prioritizing the best possible athletic and academic experience for our student-athletes and in ensuring that the three universities would strengthen the league in all possible ways. Cal, SMU and Stanford will be terrific members of the ACC and we are proud to welcome their student-athletes, coaches, staff and entire campus community, alumni and fans.”