THINKtank: ACC’s Future?

by TexCane

Ever since Florida State and Clemson sued the Atlantic Coast Conference, the future of the conference has been in doubt. However, the recent court settlement gives all parties time to sort out their differences and map their long term future.

However, fans are still left guessing on the future. That includes the Miami fans.

Over the last year or so, a group of us Cane fans have been talking and debating the future of Miami athletics. Our group is made up of six or so alumni from across the country. We periodically chat online about Miami’s options down the road. Lots of opinions, but all have a passionate loyalty to the orange and green.

As a result of the recent court settlement, the future scenarios for the ACC have narrowed. While not in total agreement, our small group has agreed our first “preference” is to stay in the ACC. However, probably not in the current form.

What I’m about to share has NO FACTUAL BASIS. Just a group of Hurricane junkies making informed and intelligent projections.

First, our THINKtank assumes FSU and Clemson will eventually leave the ACC, maybe sooner than later according to recent reports. Certainly by 2031.

With the departure of FSU and Clemson, the ACC will have 16 schools, with Notre Dame remaining independent in football.

Our THINKtank first DEBATED over how the ACC could narrow the revenue gap between the ACC and the BigTen and SEC. That’s the big elephant in the tent. With the probable departures, our thinking has become increasingly “out-of-the box” in nature.

This series will examine one potential scenario that would shock the college football landscape.

The first conclusion our THINKtank came to is the ACC can’t continue to do nothing without risking collapse. We have concluded the conference must get significantly smaller in order to quickly increase the revenue share for each of the remaining schools. Specifically, reduce the conference membership to twelve full membership schools. To accomplish this, four current schools, in addition to FSU and Clemson, must depart the conference.

How does that happen? This is where it begins to get cloudy and tricky.

In part two of this series, we will examine how our THINKtank makes it happen.

GO CANES!