Realignment has taken the college football world by storm as we all witnessing firsthand the fall of the Pac-12 as the Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 have taken the top teams from the conference as they build their conferences further.
The latest change we’ve seen came with Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah jumping ship to the Big 12, leaving the Pac-12 with just four teams left in the conference. Rumors turning to reality, the question now is what is next for the ACC?
Reports released that the ACC Presidents met Friday night to discuss adding some Pac-12 teams and realignment. Lagging behind the others, the three schools moved to the Big 12, and the conference deemed the leftover teams would not raise the value of the conference.
So, what is next for the ACC? College Football News broke down the possibilities.
The best scenario is that the ACC media deal gets reworked. This is a no brainer as every party would benefit from this.
The worst case scenario is Florida State figuring out a way to get out of the contract. They would be able to help other top programs get out such as Clemson and Miami which would destroy the ACC.
The most likely scenario? Here’s what writer Pete Fiutak thinks.
For all of the bluster and screaming and fist pounding – best guess time considering we’re dealing with technical law and economic stuff here – nothing happens because the cost of breaking the deal to get out is astronomic.
Florida State is forced to stick around for the foreseeable future, the Big Ten and Big 12 are too busy playing with their new toys to make a push, and the SEC wants to wait a bit on how things work with Texas and Oklahoma before making any moves.
Again, best guess, but the ACC reworks a few parts of the deal and finds other revenue options to up the deal to past $40 million a year for the most successful teams, but that won’t be good enough. The bigger schools will still throw a fit since it won’t come close to what Big Ten and SEC schools will make over the next several seasons.
It is very tough to say what will happen next in the ACC. There are many options, and none of us are on the inside of things.
We will have to wait, but I can tell you this much. It will be interesting.
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