Week one of the college football season may be here, but conference realignment never rests.
On Friday morning, the Atlantic Coastal Conference officially announced the additions of Cal, SMU, and Stanford, giving the conference 18 members. Out of those 18, 17 will be full-time, with Notre Dame being a part of the ACC in all sports except football, where they remain independent. All three institutions will join the ACC next summer, with SMU officially joining on July 1, while Stanford and Cal will both officially join on Aug. 2.
“We are thrilled to welcome three world-class institutions to the ACC, and we look forward to having them compete as part of our amazing league,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D said in a press release on Friday. “Throughout the evaluation process, the ACC Board of Directors, led by President Ryan, was deliberate in prioritizing the best possible athletic and academic experience for our student-athletes and in ensuring that the three universities would strengthen the league in all possible ways. Cal, SMU and Stanford will be terrific members of the ACC and we are proud to welcome their student-athletes, coaches, staff and entire campus community, alumni and fans.”
The additions of the three schools come just a few weeks after the conference initially voted not to expand after the conference’s 15 members voted 11-4. The four dissenting votes came from Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, and NC State. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, it was NC State’s chancellor, Randy Woodson, who flipped his vote, which allowed the conference to extend invitations to the three universities.
For Cal and Stanford, the ACC is a lifeline for the two universities left in the remanents of the Pac-12 alongside Oregon State and Washington State. Both of those universities remain looking for their next home, with the Mountain West Conference as their most likely option.
For SMU, the move to the ACC marks the university’s return to a power conference. After being a part of the Southwest Conference from 1918 through 1995, the university has only been a member of the Group of Five conferences since 1996. The Mustangs previously spent time in the Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA, and American Athletic Conference.
According to Thamel, Cal and Stanford will only receive 30% of the conference’s revenue share for the first seven years of their membership. However, that number will increase to 70% in their eighth year with the conference, 75% in their ninth year, and they will then receive full financial shares in their tenth year.
SMU, on the other hand, to give themselves the best chance of being accepted into the conference, opted not to take any revenue share from the conference through their first nine years.
Notably, SMU’s move to the ACC will mean that the AAC will have lost a fourth program in the last two years, with Central Florida, Cincinnati, and Houston all joining the Big 12 this summer. However, thanks to being proactive in conference realignment themselves, the AAC will still have 13 members, including 12 for football, following SMU’s departure after adding six new members his summer.