The Atlantic Coast Conference’s talks about expansion have reportedly hit a snag.
Multiple national writers reported that ACC presidents met Wednesday night but that there wasn’t enough support to vote on the matter.
One of the schools reportedly “pushing hard” for the ACC to expand is Notre Dame, which plays as an independent in football but competes in the league in all other sports.
Tiger Ilustrated’s Larry Williams first reported that the Fighting Irish are in favor of the ACC adding current Pac-12 schools California and Stanford, the league’s primary expansion candidates.
“There had always been long odds the schools would join the conference because there wasn’t a significant value add,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel wrote Wednesday, adding that expansion discussions have “hit significant roadblocks.”
The ACC would need 12 of its 15 member schools to vote yes in order of expand, according to The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach. Right now, only 10 favor the addition of the two Pac-12 schools, according to Wildcat Authority’s Jason Scheer.
This all comes one day after multiple reports about the ACC meeting to discuss Cal, Stanford and SMU (of the American Athletic Conference) as expansion possibilities, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Notre Dame is a full voting member of the ACC, per Williams, even with its football program maintaining its independence.
“Notre Dame initiated us bringing on Stanford and Cal and continues to push, yet Notre Dame won’t join the ACC as a full-time member,” an ACC source told Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, who confirmed Williams’ report. “That doesn’t make sense to us.”
With its independent schedule, Notre Dame has played Stanford in football every season but three since 1988. The Fighting Irish have played Cal five times all-time, including last season.
Cal and Stanford, along with Washington State and Oregon State, are the lone remaining members of the Pac-12, beginning in 2024. The league will lose two-thirds of its membership next year, when USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon join the Big Ten, while Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado are headed to the Big 12.
There have been reports that the two Football Bowl Subdivision conferences in the West, the Pac-12 and the Mountain West Conference, have had discussions about a possible merger. On Wednesday, MWC commissioner Gloria Nevarez told Front Office Sports that her league will wait to see what the ACC decides on expansion before moving forward.
“I do think — and I don’t know the details — but the ACC is in deliberation right now,” Nevarez told Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich. “And I think that needs to happen first before anything would get serious with us.”
If Cal and Stanford were to join the ACC, they would receive a reduced share — about 70% of what league teams currently receive in annual revenue distributions, according to McMurphy.
The ACC is locked into a media rights deal with ESPN through 2036.
Last year, the ACC distributed a record average of $39.4 million in revenue shares to its 14 full members, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, while partial member Notre Dame received $17.4 million.
SMU would be willing to join the ACC without requiring any league revenue for its first 5-7 years in the conference, McMurphy reported. A source told McMurphy that SMU would receive a full share by 2030 if they joined the ACC.
“What SMU showed us is they would require zero (in league revenue),” a source told McMurphy. “That’s a long-term play for them. They think if they can get in a Power 5 conference, then it’s not a bad play thinking 30 years down the road instead of one or two years from now like most universities think.
“They have the pockets to do it.”
Thamel, though, said expansion talks involving SMU “aren’t headed anywhere, either.”