Clemson Football: A busy Monday, but ACC expansion meeting postponed

Clemson Football was one of four teams that voted against the proposed expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference following the collapse of the PAC-12.

Since that time, the people in favor of expansion have continued to improve the proposal in an attempt to convince Clemson or one of the other three schools against expansion (Florida State, North Carolina or North Carolina State) to change their vote.

Only one flipped vote would be required to approve the additions of Stanford, California and SMU. Twelve votes were required to pass the proposal, and they fell one vote shy the first time they discussed expansion.

Ross Dellinger from Yahoo Sports posted yesterday that the conference had planned a meeting for Monday evening to discuss the expansion proposal, and that a vote was possible but not guaranteed.

We learned more during the day that there was a motivation for the schools of the ACC to bring more institutions on board sooner than later. There is a clause in the contract between the ACC and ESPN that says the contract can be re-negotiated with the network if the conference falls below fifteen total members.

If schools like Clemson and Florida State leave the conference, then the overall value of the ACC would drop, and ESPN would be able to pay less money per school. Adding Stanford, California and SMU could keep the league above fifteen even if Clemson and FSU depart.

Unfortunately, there was a tragic event on the campus of UNC in Chapel Hill on Monday afternoon, and the ACC elected to postpone their meeting.

A faculty member was killed by a gunman on Monday afternoon, and students were told to shelter in place until the suspect was apprehended.

There is no word yet if the meeting could be held on Tuesday, but considering the positive momentum that expansion has gained in the past week, it isn’t likely that ACC members will wait too long to continue the discussions.