Should the ACC be considering Cal and Stanford?

The ACC could be looking to expand in light of recent realignment

Jackson Caudell | Aug 8, 2023

Should the ACC be considering Cal and Stanford? /

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Unfortunately for college sports, football in particular, conference realignment has become the main focus of discussion and not the upcoming 2023 season that begins two weeks from Saturday. Colorado kicked off the latest round of realignment talks by deciding to rejoin the Big 12 and the Buffaloes were later followed by fellow Pac-12 schools Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah. Oregon and Washington made a huge move to the Big Ten and that move is sure to mark the end of the Pac-12. Oregon State, Washington State, and Cal are all that is left of the conference and it is up in the air what might happen.

One possible solution was presented yesterday when ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that the ACC is going to "vet and have exploratory discussions" to add Cal and Stanford to the conference. One call will be for the Presidents and Chancellors of each University and the other is for the athletic directors. Thamel also added that the situation is fluid for the four schools remaining in the Pac-12 and a "myriad of options" are being discussed with this being one of them.

Sources: In the next 24 hours, there’s two calls for the ACC to vet and have early exploratory discussions on the potential addition of Cal and Stanford. One is for ACC athletic directors and the other for the league's presidents and chancellors.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 7, 2023

Today, Thamel updated the news by saying that "The ACC presidents met this morning for an exploratory call on Cal and Stanford. As expected, no vote was taken and the league is "still evaluating" the potential decision.

Sources: ACC Presidents met this morning for exploratory call on Cal and Stanford. As expected, no vote was taken. The league is “still evaluating” the potential decision.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 8, 2023

The question is: Does this actually help the ACC long term with its situation with the current TV deal and Grant of Rights?

I don't think so.

For starters, just because the ACC expands, that does not mean that the GOR (grant of rights) goes away.

I don’t believe this to be the case. Have been told numerous times by numerous sources that expansion does not change GoR. If it resulted in significant lost revenue, prob a case, but nobody’s voting for that anyway. https://t.co/UbEcMhE67P
— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) August 7, 2023

In terms of competitiveness, neither one of these schools is moving the needle. Stanford used to be one of the more consistent programs in the country under David Shaw, but the Cardinal have not won more than four games since the 2018 season. Cal has had four winning seasons since 2010 and the athletic department financials are a mess right now.

Travel logistics for every school would be a nightmare for all involved as well unless the move was made for football only, but even then it would still be a hassle.

No public school in the country has more athletics debt than @CalAthletics, debt the university has already partially taken off sports to ease the burden.

The Golden Bears are in danger of suffering a massive reduction in revenue.

📉: via @Sportico's college finance database pic.twitter.com/rebHTqOlIf
— Eben Novy-Williams (@novy_williams) August 4, 2023

There are potentially a couple of positives though to mention.

First, if somehow Florida State, Clemson, Miami, or North Carolina found a way out of the ACC, having these two schools in there would help with numbers. Second, having two schools on the west coast could be good for the ACC network because it would allow for access to that part of the country and could help revenue. Third, in terms of academics and other sports, both schools would make sense. Unfortunately for both of them, football is the main driver in college athletics now and neither has shown a serious enough commitment in that area.

For Stanford and Cal, joining the ACC would be better than another conference in terms of finances and TV revenue (which is all that matters now), but I have serious questions as to whether either program is serious about trying to win at a higher level than where they have been (especially Cal). The Big 12 has not shown any interest in either program as of today and while there had been talks about a potential move to the Big Ten, that has quieted and likely gone.

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

It is a shame what has happened to the Pac-12 and the schools left behind and while joining the ACC might be what is best for both of them, I don't think it helps the ACC in any meaningful way when it comes to football, the main driver of revenue in college athletics. Adding these two schools likely does not change things for Florida State and the other schools, unless adding both of them increases the revenue substantially.

Florida State held a board of trustees meeting last week and openly discussed their unhappiness with their current situation in the ACC.

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."

As of today, no ACC coaches have commented on the talks of potentially adding both schools specificaly, but Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key did give his thoughts on realignment yesterday after practice:

"To be honest, Mike told me at lunch, seriously. He said you might get a question about conference realignment and I said, what is going on? I had no clue. I was as shocked as anybody when he told me at lunch today. I don't know, ask me on Saturday, I might have time to think about it by then. I have not thought about it one bit. I am worried about Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech, and the ACC and that is really all I care about right now."

The talks of adding both schools have been exploratory and no decision has been made as of now, but I think the ACC needs to be considering other options than the two schools on the west coast.

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