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The Atlantic Coast Conference Board of Directors voted to admit California-Berkeley, Stanford and Southern Methodist to the ACC, the league decided early Friday morning. Starting in the 2024-25 academic year, the league will now have 18 members — 17 for football as Notre Dame competes as an independent in the sport. 

SMU will join on July 1, 2024 while Cal and Stanford join on Aug. 2, 2024. The teams will begin competing in the 2024-25 academic year. About 2,200 athletes from the three schools will join the current 10,000. 

“I feel better about the ACC. I think it’s a healthier ACC. I think it’s a stronger ACC,” Director of Athletics John Wildhack said. “It builds on what is already a great conference, and it’s a great academic fit.”

In a 12-3 vote on Friday, Syracuse voted to admit the three institutions, ESPN reported. Originally, four ACC schools dissented the move — Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and North Carolina State — but NC State flipped to meet the 12-vote threshold, sources told the outlet. Wildhack said Syracuse was always a yes vote for the move to bring on the additional programs, with travel for Olympic sports as his main concern before casting a final yes vote.

“As we dove deeper into it more and more, it became clear that this was good for Syracuse and it would strengthen the ACC,” Wildhack said. “A stronger ACC is good for Syracuse.”

The process of bringing on California, Stanford and SMU has been developing over the past few months, a process Wildhack called “complicated.” There were continued conversations with SU and the ACC office about data on travel and revenue. As of today, Olympic sports teams would only take one trip to the West Coast per season. Wildhack said that on a given weekend a Syracuse team would be able to play California and Stanford, which would eliminate travel to another road game such as Clemson, Georgia Tech or Miami.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams will likely make one trip to the West Coast every two years, following a similar game format to the Olympic sports. Football is expected to make two or three trips to the West Coast over the course of five seasons. Basketball could travel across the country more easily without missing academic instruction during winter break such as late December and early January. Schools like Stanford that are on a quarters schedule and don’t begin until mid-September can travel to the East coast at the beginning of the season without missing classes. 

“This is a significant day for the ACC as we welcome Cal, SMU and Stanford to this incredible conference,” said James E. Ryan, UVA president and chair of the ACC Board of Directors. “This expansion will enhance and strengthen the league now and in the future.”

Wildhack also said that while specific meeting places and details of how to cut down on travel for Olympic sports aren’t being discussed “in detail amongst the ADs,” there are opportunities for ways to more creatively schedule games. Though he said that nothing was being discussed, he posed that bringing the schools to a midpoint or creating a midseason tournament, festival or challenge could be explored.

SMU will leave the American Athletic Conference while Cal and Stanford will depart the Pac-12 Conference, which has crumbled. Earlier this summer, Washington and Oregon left for the Big Ten while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah departed for the Big 12. 

With 18 members, the ACC joins the ranks of the Big Ten and SEC, which will have 18 and 16 teams, respectively, starting next year. 

he ACC has 17 combined national championships over the last two seasons — the most out of the four remaining top collegiate conferences during that span. Wildhack said adding California and Stanford, who have historically excelled in Olympic sports, makes the competition in the conference even greater.

“The best just got better,” Wildhack said. “I think there’s growth potential in a number of ways for Olympic sports.”

The additions will create additional revenue for the current institutions. ESPN reported that SMU will not receive a share of broadcast media revenue for the first nine years, while Cal and Stanford will receive a 30% of a share for the first seven years, eventually receiving a full share in the tenth year.

The withheld money will create an expected annual pot of revenue between $50 million and $60 million, which will partially be divided proportionally among current members and reward the programs that win, ESPN reported. “It helps. There’s no question, and we can reinvest that into the enterprise,” Wildhack said.

While financial implications are currently unknown, Syracuse can potentially have increased travel costs when traveling to California and Texas for away games. Currently, Miami is the furthest conference opponent for Syracuse, roughly more than 1,200 miles away. Cal (Berkeley, California) and Stanford (Palo Alto, California) are both over 2,400 miles away. SMU, located in Dallas, Texas, is more than 1,300 miles away. 

With Syracuse being a “global brand,” Wildhack said there are now opportunities to do something with Syracuse alumni when the teams travel to face the three new schools. Each time he said he travels to the West Coast, the largest question he fields is when the Orange will be able to come out to play West Coast teams. “Now, they’ll be able to see them,” Wildhack said.

“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,” said ACC commissioner Jim Phillips. 

Published on September 1, 2023 at 3:07 pm

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