Clemson Football: ACC is considering expanding

Realignment had so far only involved the PAC-12, Big Ten and Big 12. It didn’t seem likely to involve the ACC unless someone found a way to leave the Grant of Rights.

Now it appears the conference could be interested in expanding.

Two schools that had not found a new home were Stanford and California. Neither school has a big following for football, but both have good programs through other sports, including the Olympic Sports.

First, Jim Williams (who had posted that the ACC and PAC had conversations last week) indicated that the ACC was discussing a merger with the PAC.

That seemed merely another rumor until veteran sportswriter Pete Thamel confirmed that the ACC was indeed considering adding at least Stanford and Cal.

While it doesn’t seem that the addition of any of the remaining programs would improve television revenue for the ACC, it is possible the league could be looking to find a way to renegotiate their television contract with the addition of two more programs.

Clemson Football and the ACC would need a boost in revenue for expansion to make sense

Logically, the league would have been in touch with their primary television partner, ESPN, to see if additions would warrant a renegotiation of their current contract, which matches the length of the GOR and expires in 2036.

The ‘outside the box’ possibility is that the additional inventory from two or four PAC schools might allow the ACC to negotiate a new contract with another partner strictly for the new inventory.

For example, if ESPN wasn’t interested in renegotiating, they might allow the ACC to search for a contract with Apple or The CW for the incremental additions to the conference’s inventory.

All of that is speculation, but if Thamel’s timeline is accurate, we should know quickly if the ACC is serious about adding programs from the West Coast.