CFB insider claims ACC expansion has opened the exit door for 3 schools as Stanford, Cal, and SMU join the conference
The addition of the Stanford Cardinal, California Golden Bears, and SMU Mustangs to the Atlantic Coast Conference shows where ACC expansion is ultimately heading. Adding these three teams without sacrificing much money for the first handful of years could also be a change of the guard in the conference.
While appearing with ESPN's Matt Barrie, Paul Finebaum expressed dissatisfaction with the recent ACC expansion.
"There is such a fissure right now in the ACC. I want to congratulate the ACC for essentially voitng out Clemson, North Carolina and Florida State because after what happened Friday with the admission of SMU, Cal and Stanford, they have essentially given those three a ticket out. That league, which was already teetering towards irrelevancy, has just taken on the schools that devalue an already discounted product even more, and that league is just heading towards the iceberg." H/t Sports Illustrated
The ACC expansion has theoretically gotten the conference closer to demise, as losing Clemson, North Carolina, and Florida State would be critical. It will be interesting to see how the future looks going forward.
Did this ACC expansion hurt the conference in the long run?
The ACC expansion has been a cause of worry for college football fans as they are trending towards the next Power Five conference to falter. They have been trying to figure out how to get more revenue for their programs as they are currently lagging behind other conferences.
The $39.4 million per team each program receives sounds significant, but that is behind the Big Ten, Big 12, and Southeastern Conferences. This has been a growing concern for some major programs, specifically Clemson and Florida State. However, reports had as many as eight teams ready to leave the ACC because of conference money.
The ACC is currently in the midst of a 20-year media rights deal and that does not expire until after the 2036 college football season. However, if they drop below 15 teams at any point, ESPN (the media rights holder) has a renegotiation clause. If they were to invoke that, the revenue would significantly decrease.
That was the primary objective of this ACC expansion of Stanford, SMU, and Cal as they boost the numbers in case schools decide to leave. It is effective in the short term but shows the conference's weakness as a whole.