Conference Realignment: Recent report indicates Georgia Tech was on board with the additions of Cal and Stanford

Should the ACC expand and add the two west coast schools?

Jackson Caudell | Aug 12, 2023

Conference Realignment: Recent report indicates Georgia Tech was on board with the additions of Cal and Stanford /

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It is two weeks until college football Saturday's return, but the sport is still being dominated by the talks of conference realignment. This week, it was reported that the ACC was having exploratory talks to add Cal and Stanford and that Notre Dame (not a member of the conference in football) was "pushing hard" to have the conference add both West Coast schools.

While the talks are not over, it does seem that things are trending toward the conference not adding either school.

Last night, a report from Pat Forde and Richard Johnson of Sports Illustrated said that four ACC schools were preventing Cal and Stanford from joining the ACC and the schools that were mentioned were Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, and NC State. The ACC needs one of those schools to flip if they want to add Cal and Stanford.

If those are the four schools that are blocking the way for Cal and Stanford, that would indicate that Georgia Tech is one of the schools that is voting yes, along with Miami, Pitt, Virginia, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Duke, Syracuse, Louisville, and Wake Forest, though none of these schools have publicly come out and endorsed the additions.

Will the ACC expand and add Cal and Stanford? / Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports

The report from Forde said that "while both school's addition to the conference is not off the table, things are unlikely to change"

It should not be surprising that Georgia Tech is one of the schools that was ok with adding Cal and Stanford, two of the most prestigious academic schools in the country, as GT is a proud academic institution as well.

This would fall in line with Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick's comments earlier this week about why Notre Dame was pushing hard for the conference to add Cal and Stanford:

“The notion that two of the very best academic institutions in the world who also play D1 sports could be abandoned in this latest chapter of realignment is an indictment of college athletics.”

Florida State has been the most vocal ACC school in terms of wanting out of the conference and they made that clear at their board of trustees meeting last week when Florida State President Richard McCullough made it seem like Florida State is looking for a way out of the ACC:

"FSU helps to drive value and will drive value for any partner, but we have spent a year trying to understand how we might fix the issue. There are no easy fixes to this challenge, but a group of us have spent literally a year. We've explored every possible option that you can imagine. The issue at hand is what can we do to allow ourselves to be competitive in football and get what I think is the revenue we deserve?"

"This continues to be a very difficult issue. There's a lot going on in the world of conference realignment. My current assessment of the situation after very deep analysis is I believe FSU will have to at some point consider very seriously leaving the ACC unless there were a radical change to the revenue distribution."

It seems that the futures of Cal and Stanford are up in the air. Both schools could join the Mountain West or Stanford could try to go independent (there have been no indications that going independent is an option for Cal).

Here is what AllYellowJackets writer Matthew Kistner wrote last week when discussing Georgia Tech's options in the midst of conference realignment and who the ACC could add through expansion:

"With the primary members threatening to leave on the basis of poor revenue deals, the conference could strive for adding new teams to bolster better commercial interest and thus generate more revenue. Teams such as Notre Dame, West Virginia, Tulane, South Florida, East Carolina, Liberty, Ohio, Marshall, Appalachian State, Troy, or Memphis could make good additions in a geographical sense. Perhaps the ACC could even reach out to the remaining teams of the Pac-12 (or should I say Pac-4) to establish a western presence: California, Washington State, Oregon State, and Stanford.

The western move or poaching West Virginia from the Big 12 would garner the most revenue in my opinion as it would activate a new audience in the West for ACC football that could bring companies calling for television rights. West Virginia also brings its passionate fan base and rivalry with Pittsburgh that would spark interest of all fans. Unfortunately, all of these situations are a stretch for the ACC and more likely than not will not happen. Facing reality, the ACC is in a difficult bind and I am not too optimistic on the future of the conference."

If the ACC can't get the votes to add Cal and Stanford, could they get votes to add other schools? Yahoo Sports Ross Dellenger reported there had been conversations about the ACC adding SMU, but no updates have been brought. Would Georgia Tech also be in favor of adding those programs that are not as high in academic prestige as Cal and Stanford? I think that is an interesting question that may or may not be put to the test.

Be sure to follow along here for the latest ACC conference realignment updates!

Georgia Tech kicks off its 2023 season on Sept. 1st against Louisville at 7:30 on ESPN.

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