At long last, the Atlantic Coast Conference school presidents voted to add Cal, Stanford and SMU to the conference on Friday morning, sources told Sports Illustrated‘s Pat Forde. The schools are set to join the league in 2024.
The vote culminates a month-long saga for the Pac-12, during which the conference has almost completely disintegrated. Only two members of the conference remain committed beyond the current academic year—Oregon State and Washington State—and at this point, it seems much more likely they will join another existing conference rather than pulling other schools into a revamped Pac-12.
As for the ACC, the move was meant to stabilize the conference in a rapidly changing college football landscape. With schools such as Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and NC State remaining as flight risks to the conference, the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU bolster the league’s lineup in case prominent members bolt.
