ACC reportedly 'seriously considering' Stanford, Cal, and SMU again

Stanford's chances of going to the ACC are continuing to build

The process of Stanford, Cal, and maybe even SMU going to the ACC has not been a smooth one by any means. 

There have been pushes made by Notre Dame, Condoleezza Rice, and George W. Bush to make things happen, but when it came down to it Stanford and Cal had been one vote short of entry. The link between the two parties died down for a couple days, picked back up, and now they seem to be full steam ahead according to Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic. 

She reported on Wednesday that the ACC is "seriously considering" adding Stanford Cal, and SMU and that the ACC presidents met on Wednesday morning to go over financial discussion. The report also indicated that there will be more meetings this week.

Outside of the interest picking back up, the thing that stood out the most was that Stanford and Cal would be expected to come in at a partial share rather than for free like previously speculated. 

Financially, the way this would work: SMU would take no media rights revenue from the ACC for a period of time, and Stanford/Cal would come in at a partial share. Because ESPN would still be paying a full share for each additional member, there would be a pool of new, available $

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) August 23, 2023

The additional money could be used to pay unhappy programs, or can be used to reward programs for on-field success. For Stanford, while there are cons to the move there are also a lot of pros. Two things I broke down recently and you can check out here.