Following 48 hours of conference realignment that left the Pac-12 sitting with just four teams (Washington State, Oregon State, Cal and Stanford), the ACC presidents met on Friday night to discuss the next steps of conference realignment, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo!.
Per Dellenger, the ACC “seriously explored” adding 5-7 Pac-12 schools as the conference’s uncertain future loomed. Now with Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah bolting to the Big 12, while Washington and Oregon departed to the Big 10, the most attractive football schools from the west coast have now found new homes elsewhere.
What’s next for the ACC is anybody’s guess. The conference’s current Grant of Rights runs through 2036, but the financial implications of the television deal signed by former commissioner John Swafford and ESPN prior to his retirement puts member schools in a precarious situation. The ACC’s deal was signed prior to the massive television contracts put together by the SEC with ESPN and the Big Ten with Fox, CBS and NBC, and puts the conference well behind its counterparts on an out-year basis.
