Wednesday Headlines: The Possible End of the ACC Edition

Seven teams are reportedly ready to depart from the conference.

By John Morgan Francis@MonJorgan May 17, 2023, 7:30am EDT

NCAA Basketball: Miami (FL) at North Carolina

College sports continue to look like they’ll be much different sooner than later.

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network is reporting seven schools are looking to depart from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Those schools are Clemson, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

McMurphy is reporting that the seven schools mentioned have met with a legal team to determine if an early departure from the ACC is possible.

Clemson, FSU, Miami, UNC, NC State, Virginia & Virginia Tech are “The Magnificent 7” ACC schools, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. These schools, @RossDellenger reported, have met in past several months, w/lawyers examining grant-of-rights to determine just how unbreakable it is.…
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 15, 2023

The ACC is made up of 15 total schools, so the eight not mentioned in McMurphy’s report are Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Wake Forest.

If the Magnificent Seven were to split off from the ACC, it’s being reported that the Big Ten is interested in several of those schools listed in McMurphy’s list with the possibility of the SEC taking one or two.

Keep in mind Oklahoma and Texas recently split from the Big 12 and are joining the SEC in 2024.

It seems like the ACC schools have a few obstacles to overcome before abandoning their contracts with the conference, which go through 2036. But it didn’t take long at all for Oklahoma and Texas to hop on over to the SEC, so it may be sooner than we think.

This appears to be the direction college sports are heading. Two, maybe three, super conferences loaded with schools. It definitely feels odd, but everything in sports is evolving at a rapid pace and becoming much different than 10-15 years ago.

If the Magnificent Seven (and possibly more schools) were to depart from the ACC, where do you expect they’d go and would you be for adding to the Big Ten and/or SEC? Let us know in the comments below.

Tweet of the Day

One thing is clear…Mark Stoops, Vince Marrow and the rest of the staff have absolutely learned to master the transfer portal

This staff has been consistently great at identifying and bringing in talent to fill holes the last three years
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) May 16, 2023