Every Power Five conference has been changing as of late. Well, except for the ACC.
The Big 12 just added four new schools this summer, Texas and Oklahoma are headed to the SEC next year, and UCLA and USC are making the jump from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. But the 15 ACC schools have stuck together through an era of heavy conference realignment in college sports.
However, even though change hasn’t happened yet, there have certainly been concerns about the future of the ACC. During this year’s conference meetings in May, news broke that a group of schools dubbed “The Magnificent 7” had formed.
The group is a collection of seven schools in the ACC: Clemson, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech. They’ve been exploring possible ways to get a higher payout from the conference, and reportedly have also looked into whether or not the current conference contract could be broken before it ends in 2036.
With the meeting wrapped up, it seems as though the dust has settled for now. No path to breaking the Grant of Rights has materialized, and Florida State athletic director Michael Alford has even said “The ADs and the universities are very unified.”
For the time being, the ACC has held onto all 15 of its teams, and that’s good for SU. Syracuse would be put in a very tough spot if conference realignment results in teams leaving the ACC.
It’s clear that SU is on the outside looking in. Most of “The Magnificent 7” schools have a bigger football brand than Syracuse in the modern era, and have a much easier path towards getting an invitation to the SEC or Big Ten, the two biggest conferences in college sports.
So what are Syracuse’s options if (and that’s a big if) the ACC as we know it ceases to exist?
One option many SU fans might like is moving back to the Big East. That desire would be misguided. No amount of nostalgia can bring back the “old Big East.” More importantly, the Big East no longer plays football, which would be a logistical and financial disaster. Whichever conference Syracuse ends up in needs to have football, which is the core to a lucrative television contract that provides key funding to its member schools. That could mean moving forward with a new-look ACC with all the teams that can’t get a spot in a new conference. Another possibility is trying to join the big guys and get an invitation into the Big Ten, like Rutgers did back in 2012.
None of those options are perfect. All in all, the best path forward is to hope the ACC finds a way to stick together as long as possible.
