The ACC may be on life support.
For a while now, the ACC has struggled to compete with the SEC and Big Ten. Football and its revenue are king in the college sports world, and the ACC has fallen far behind. Adding Cal, Stanford, and SMU is not going to make up ground on the other two conferences. When the college football playoffs were announced and an undefeated ACC champion was left out, one thing was clear: the ACC is not being taken seriously.
What’s Next?
There are three highly sought-after schools in the ACC. They are Clemson, Florida State, and North Carolina. There have been rumors for over a year of these three and others, such as Miami and Virginia, looking to leave the conference. Yes, the ACC has a storied history, but it has fallen so far behind in revenue. Schools in other conferences are making much more money through TV deals. That money goes back into the athletic department to be used to create championship teams.
Wrong Moves
The SEC and Big Ten got the jump on the rest of the college sports world. Next season, the SEC will add powerhouse brands Texas and Oklahoma. The Big Ten adds Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington. All six of those teams are big names that will contribute. With the PAC-12 dissolving, the rest of the conference (outside of Oregon State and Washington State) headed to the Big 12. The ACC’s decision to allow all of these bigger names to head elsewhere effectively killed the conference. With that move, the ACC fell further behind. When it decided to act, the ACC added three schools that do not bring much to the revenue sports.
CFP Crushes ACC
When the college football playoff was announced, the undefeated ACC champion Florida State Seminoles were left out in favor of Texas and Alabama, who both have a loss. It is the first time an undefeated power-5 school has been left out. It doesn’t help that the speaker for the playoff committee chair, Boo Corrigan, has direct ties to the ACC, being the athletic director at NC State. That school was also the one to flip its vote, allowing Cal, Stanford, and SMU into the conference. Florida State fans are rightfully furious, and this decision encapsulates what is happening in college sports. The ACC is being left behind and will continue to falter. It will come as no shock when the top-tier programs in the conference decide that enough is enough and leave.
It is sad to see how far the ACC has fallen in recent years.
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