For months, there have been a lot of questions as to how the seismic shift in the landscape of college sports would affect the Atlantic Coast Conference, and, on the morning of Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, ACC fans got an answer to that question.
The conference leaders voted to add three teams – Stanford, Cal and SMU, which increases the number of schools in the league to 18.
The conference will soon be over twice the size of the original ACC created in the summer of 1953 when seven former Southern Conference teams – Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest – left the Southern Conference to make a league of their own.
Since then, the conference has expanded through the decades – eventually throwing geographical considerations out the window. Now the latest additions – two of which are on the other side of the country – further show how geography is no longer relevant, and the Atlantic Coast Conference may eventually need a new name.
The three new schools will be incorporated into the leagues athletic schedules starting next year.
The decision to add the teams came on Friday, Sept. 1 after months of contentious negotiations.
The ACC is following a trend of other major conferences across the country which have added schools to their conference in recent years in an attempt to maximize revenue from fan dollars and broadcast rights.
The expansion points to some good news for the ACC. There has been concern in recent years that the ACC would ultimately lose teams and dissolve rather than add teams – something many sports experts see as the league’s ticket for survival.
Greensboro, which was where the ACC was formed – and which operated for years as ground zero for the conference – has been feeling the tension of the expanding conference that now has so much overwhelming big city influence. The ACC has, for instance, moved its headquarters to Charlotte.
And Greensboro is no longer the permanent home of the ACC Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament, as it once was.
It’s almost surreal to imagine that, in the future, attending the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament may mean buying a ticket to the Pacific Coast.
The real ACC died years ago. It is now nothing more than big money and nothing special like it once was. Change the name. I’m sure there are plenty of pronouns that can be used.
SHOW ME THE MONEY! Enough of these shenanigans all in the name of the almighty dollar. Eliminate the conferences and let the chips fall where they may. These ridiculous changes throughout the country threaten local rivalries and undermine local spirit.
While one of the leading conferences for years, somewhere the ACC missed the importance of football, which is driving everything. We are now the last to the dance as the SEC and Big 10 are in charge. Typical: After the SEC brought in Texas and Ok, Jim Phillips made an “alliance” of some sort with the Big Ten to counter the SEC. Then the Big 10 got UCLA and USC. Some alliance. I guess Phillip’s tenure in the Big Ten didn’t carry any weight. He did get new offices in the Charlotte skyline. As Ted Lasso would say “Big Whoop!”. We will be enduring for years the long term deal with ESPN we had to sign to bring on the ACC network. Bottom line: the ACC payout is too low and you can expect the football schools to grumble and eventually follow the money. This move is a temporary reaction postponing the inevitable. Maybe it doesn’t matter. All these changes have diluted the fan experience and rivalries.
Whatever it is, it ain’t the ACC.
LOL The ACC is Bi? … and adding in Cal Berkeley to go with UNC and Duke?! HA Change the name Woke Coastal Conference. Trash league gets trashed, good riddance. No one gives a flip about college basketball, football is king.
I miss the old days with John Swofford. Jim Phillips has sold the ACC’s soul for the almighty dollar and the bright lights and big city. As soon as he took over and arrived in Greensboro he couldn’t wait to get the heck out of here. The ACC is not the same conference as it was due to secret meetings in smoke filled rooms. The conference deserves what it gets and I hope Duke and Carolina leave the ACC
The ACC is in fact (and has been) tricoastal. The inclusion of SMU adds a second Gulf Coast team.
The Manifest Destiny Conference
I’m old fashioned. My daddy, Moses Crutchfield was a sportswriter for the News and Record in the 1950’s-early 70’s and my Godfather a sportswriter for even more years. Irwin Smallwood was one of the small group that came up with the idea of the Atlantic Coast Conference during an event held at Sedgefield many years ago. It’s a great story. I grew up going with daddy to the ACC tournaments. The ACC was created for schools on the Atlantic Coast that had high quality athletics. Maryland was even a reach. It was also before money ruled college athletics. It’s not about anything but money now. These are kids ages 18-22 and the pressure on them is tremendous. Something they shouldn’t have to experience playing the game they love. The joy is gone. Now the ATLANTIC Coast Conference is gone. Money rules! It is a shame. I treasure my memories of seeing kids like George Karl, Lenny Bias, Mike Gminski and so many more playing for the love of the game. I remember David Thompson making the first dunk in college basketball in the 1974 NCAA finals. It was illegal and resulted in a technical foul. As always, there go the good old days.
Who cares about the ACC, football and all the other sports that are played by a bunch of losers that could not have been admitted without the ability to pass a football, run, jump, shoot a basketball and whatever else is needed to receive donations from the old graduates who believe they still matter? The old f@r@s do not matter.