The ACC is the next Power 5 conference to poach the Pac-12.
On Friday morning, ACC leadership voted and turned rumor into action — extending invitations to Stanford, California and SMU, bringing its total number of members to 18. The Cardinal and Bears are currently in the Pac-12, while the Mustangs play in the American Athletic Conference.
Amid massive conference realignment spurred by an imbalance in TV revenue money nationwide, the ACC is seemingly late to the game. With UCLA and USC announcing their exit from the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in June 2022, it kickstarted a domino effect of departures. The “12” in Pac-12 has now been whittled down to two, with only Washington State and Oregon State remaining.
As for the ACC, conference leadership attempted to pass this issue about three weeks ago, but the vote failed. According to ESPN, N.C. State changed its vote to give the league its expansion. Clemson, North Carolina and Florida State maintained their anti-expansion status.
While the ACC has not yet announced the specifics of the deal, the vote comes at a crucial time in not just the college football landscape, but in all of collegiate athletics. Amid boundless uncertainty with the football season already underway, only time will tell if the conference’s rapid move was the right one.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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Rachael Kaplan is a Trinity junior and sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.