ESPN: Cal, Stanford, SMU ACC invites hinge on swaying a holdout, likely delaying vote

Aug 22, 2023

It is looking less likely like Cal will know its ACC fate this week.

Pete Thamel of ESPN reports that the shooting in North Carolina delayed a potential vote happening yesterday and maybe for the rest of the week.

“The tragic shooting at the University of North Carolina has muted those conversations a bit in the ACC and put any decision in a bit of a holding pattern out of respect for the leadership at North Carolina,” Thamel said.

Additionally, with Hurricane Idalia hitting Tallahassee today, Florida State probably has other things on their mind today.

The college football season also starts tomorrow, with the ACC scheduling games from Thursday to Monday. So it’s possible we’re waiting until after Labor Day weekend for an actual vote, as conference presidents get busy with football matters in the coming days.

The most concerning update from Thamel yesterday is it sounds as if the vote that was needed to be swayed…hasn’t been swayed?

“Things are about where they were mid Monday afternoon when the vote was scheduled. There are still four dissenting votes from the earlier straw poll a few weeks back, and there’s no clear view… heading into Monday there wasn’t, anyway, of whether one of those four votes would flip and allow the three teams – Cal, Stanford and SMU – to enter the league,” Thamel said.

This was also confirmed by Andrea Adelson.

Quick (non) update here on ACC - no current rescheduled presidents call out of respect for what happened at UNC. Jim Phillips is going to Dallas for CFP meetings tomorrow. It is my understanding nobody has flipped yet on adding Cal, Stanford and SMU but talks continue.

Phillips actually wasn’t able to attend because of the hurricane, but is reportedly zooming in. But if that last vote hasn’t been swayed that vote might not be happening for awhile.

The four rumored no votes continue to be Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and NC State. Clemson and Florida State are the least likely to be swayed, since they are probably looking for an exit hatch out of the ACC once the exit fees for leaving the ACC Grant of Rights. North Carolina is also probably very reluctant as they likely will be part of the next line of conference realignment and have no stress at all about their future.

That leaves NC State. It is not as likely that the Wolfpack will find a better home in a major conference. Although North Carolina has the cache to maybe bring NC State along a la USC/UCLA, there are no guarantees. There is also the political fact that North Carolina and NC State vote together as a bloc.

So it’d take a lot of convincing for them to split ranks. Is the promise of a revenue boon from grabbing TV money from Cal, Stanford and SMU enough to convince any of the four parties that the financial windfall is worth it?

The good news is it’d be a bit strange for the ACC to bring up an invite vote if they didn’t have the votes, because they’d likely not vote on it at all in that situation. As long as a vote is being conducted, it is good for Cal, although there is a small chance the vote might just be a “no”.

I’m optimistic. But cautiously optimistic.