[Jamesy]

Pitt alumni here who used to live out in the Bay area.

First, Pete Thamel is perhaps the most reliable voice in realignment.  I doubt he tweets that unless Stanford and Cal are being seriously discussed by the ACC. When you see anyone associated with WVU commenting on realignment, it is not generally reliable information.  Several of their bloggers, including the one posted above, have a long track record of just making things up.  But when Thamel writes something, from my prior experience with knowing what has gone on with Pitt and what he puts out there, I take it fairly seriously.

Second, this realignment environment and what happened to the Pac is atrocious.  No one wants this for the Pac schools, but here we are.

Things to note about the ACC:

UNC-UVA is the power center which is more stable than you'd think.  UNC AD came out recently blasting FSU statements.  FSU has been a loud malcontent since Bowden left and they have regularly look to place blame for their poor coaching and financial decisions on anyone but themselves.  Who knows what FSU might do because they don't seem to be speaking or acting logically, but they'll be cutting a half billion check if they do.  Here's an ESPN article on the rest of the conference's reaction: https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ealignment

That said, the current contracts with ESPN and the ACC Network that run through 2036 will keep the ACC as the third conference in the revenue pecking order, but the gap between the ACC and SEC/Big10 is a serious concern that will continually need to be addressed.

Note that Notre Dame is a full legal member with full voting privileges (except on football matters).  They are subject to the same grant-of-rights agreement and exit penalty as everyone else and are contractually bound to play football in the ACC if they decide to have their football program in any conference. However, ND's identity in football is their independence, so don't expect them to ever join a conference unless out of necessity for access to the CFP.

Notre dame must average 5 games against the ACC annually.  Some years they play 4 games, some years 6.  They do not count in conference standings.

Football currently still only plays an 8 game conference schedule.  There is not much initiative within the conference for that to increase because so many schools have annual rivalry games out-of-conference (Clemson-SC; FSU-UF; GT-UGA; UL-UK; Pitt-WVU); plus ND rotating through the conference. If an eight game conference schedule holds, that could leave more flexibility for Stanford and/or Cal to schedule local non-conference games.  So for football, there would be no more than 4 away trips across the country in any season (and if Cal was along for the ride, could be as few as 3 every other year).

That said, I have no idea how things will work for any other sports with round robin type of scheduling like hoops, soccer, or volleyball.  Perhaps there is only a football arrangement to be made. 

Most of the ACC schools are serious about who they academically associate with. The ACC has the highest mean US News ranking in the FBS.  There is an ACC Academic Consortium which primarily focuses on undergraduate research and creativity programs (see acciac.org).

Expansion votes in the ACC must pass by a 3/4ths majority.

I have no idea if it would happen or not.  Clearly a lot of logistical issues to consider. Also, on the ACC's end, it will primarily depend on the details in the contract between the ACC and ESPN.  But I'd personally be happy to have an excuse to fly back out to the Bay area once in a while and to have Stanford and Pitt to play occasionally for a Pop Warner trophy.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to try to answer them.  Whatever happens, best of luck.

I also think that we could push to have back to back ACC road games in weeks 0-3 so that the team could stay out east without students missing classes.

[Jamesy]

Pitt alumni here who used to live out in the Bay area.

First, Pete Thamel is perhaps the most reliable voice in realignment.  I doubt he tweets that unless Stanford and Cal are being seriously discussed by the ACC. When you see anyone associated with WVU commenting on realignment, it is not generally reliable information.  Several of their bloggers, including the one posted above, have a long track record of just making things up.  But when Thamel writes something, from my prior experience with knowing what has gone on with Pitt and what he puts out there, I take it fairly seriously.

Second, this realignment environment and what happened to the Pac is atrocious.  No one wants this for the Pac schools, but here we are.

Things to note about the ACC:

UNC-UVA is the power center which is more stable than you'd think.  UNC AD came out recently blasting FSU statements.  FSU has been a loud malcontent since Bowden left and they have regularly look to place blame for their poor coaching and financial decisions on anyone but themselves.  Who knows what FSU might do because they don't seem to be speaking or acting logically, but they'll be cutting a half billion check if they do.  Here's an ESPN article on the rest of the conference's reaction: https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ealignment

That said, the current contracts with ESPN and the ACC Network that run through 2036 will keep the ACC as the third conference in the revenue pecking order, but the gap between the ACC and SEC/Big10 is a serious concern that will continually need to be addressed.

Note that Notre Dame is a full legal member with full voting privileges (except on football matters).  They are subject to the same grant-of-rights agreement and exit penalty as everyone else and are contractually bound to play football in the ACC if they decide to have their football program in any conference. However, ND's identity in football is their independence, so don't expect them to ever join a conference unless out of necessity for access to the CFP.

Notre dame must average 5 games against the ACC annually.  Some years they play 4 games, some years 6.  They do not count in conference standings.

Football currently still only plays an 8 game conference schedule.  There is not much initiative within the conference for that to increase because so many schools have annual rivalry games out-of-conference (Clemson-SC; FSU-UF; GT-UGA; UL-UK; Pitt-WVU); plus ND rotating through the conference. If an eight game conference schedule holds, that could leave more flexibility for Stanford and/or Cal to schedule local non-conference games.  So for football, there would be no more than 4 away trips across the country in any season (and if Cal was along for the ride, could be as few as 3 every other year).

That said, I have no idea how things will work for any other sports with round robin type of scheduling like hoops, soccer, or volleyball.  Perhaps there is only a football arrangement to be made. 

Most of the ACC schools are serious about who they academically associate with. The ACC has the highest mean US News ranking in the FBS.  There is an ACC Academic Consortium which primarily focuses on undergraduate research and creativity programs (see acciac.org).

Expansion votes in the ACC must pass by a 3/4ths majority.

I have no idea if it would happen or not.  Clearly a lot of logistical issues to consider. Also, on the ACC's end, it will primarily depend on the details in the contract between the ACC and ESPN.  But I'd personally be happy to have an excuse to fly back out to the Bay area once in a while and to have Stanford and Pitt to play occasionally for a Pop Warner trophy.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to try to answer them.  Whatever happens, best of luck.

I also think that we could push to have back to back ACC road games in weeks 0-3 so that the team could stay out east without students missing classes.