According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, the ACC is having "exploratory discussions" about whether the conference should consider adding Stanford and California.
Sources: In the next 24 hours, there’s two calls for the ACC to vet and have early exploratory discussions on the potential addition of Cal and Stanford. One is for ACC athletic directors and the other for the league's presidents and chancellors.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 7, 2023
This comes after the collapse of the Pac-12 which started last summer when USC and UCLA announced that they would leave for Big 10 in 2024-25 and was since followed this summer by Colorado leaving for the Big 12, Oregon & Washington leaving for the Big 10, and Utah plus the Arizona schools leaving for the Big 12. This has left the Pac-12 with 4 schools for 2024-25 currently in Stanford, California, Oregon State, and Washington State.
There has been lots of media speculation about the idea of the ACC adding Pac-12 schools over the past year along with some faint rumors about the ACC looking at expansion generally speaking.
I've written in greater depth previously about why I think this would be a bad idea for the ACC. Stanford and California bring plenty of logistical nightmares for the league while their value add per school would be minimal at best. Even if they were brought in on a partial share, the two Bay Area schools do not add much TV money value to the ACC which would be the only point of expanding across the country because there's no other even understandable reason why they would.
Think about this, the Big 10 gave Oregon and Washington a partial share that is even smaller than what ACC schools are currently receiving per year. The Big 10's presidents would have likely loved to add Stanford and California given the academic reputations of those schools yet the conference has chosen not to even offer them a partial share. If the Big 10 wouldn't offer them a partial share that is less in value than what ACC schools gets per year, why would you think those two schools add any per year value to the ACC.
Why would adding Stanford and California make the biggest brands of the ACC want to stay long term more especially since they wouldn't add money and bring more travel nightmares? Sometimes, the best move is to not make a move and the worst move is to force a move that makes no sense.
