ACC presidents voting soon on whether to invite Cal, along with Stanford and SMU

This is the endgame. Will the ACC bring on the California Golden Bears?

Is our long California nightmare over?

Reports are that the ACC presidents are finally set to take a vote. Barring some drastic last-minute shifts, everything is lining up for Cal, Stanford and SMU to be members of the ACC in 2024 by the end of this week. Apparently enough headway was made to sway at least one of the ‘nay’ votes needed to get this deal over the finish line.

Here are the details which mostly pertain to other ACC members, courtesy of Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports:

In the presented model, expansion would add ~$55M annually for ACC to share via incentive pool as we reported last week.

We explored in detail the model (which could see slight changes):

1) $72M from ESPN in 3 new shares ($24M each)

2) ~$55M after Cal/Stanford take 30% (SMU 0%)

3) ~$35-40M after off-setting travel costs. ~$35M distributed via athletic/FB-success

Due to the tragedy at the University of North Carolina (all thoughts to everyone at Chapel Hill) the vote reportedly scheduled for Monday night was moved.

Ross Dellenger has a summary of what the potential terms look like to what Cal and Stanford will receive. They are fairly similar to previous reports.

Stanford, the bell-cow of the group, and Cal are proposing to forgo a majority of revenue distribution for multiple years if they receive an invitation to the conference. The schools have agreed to start at 30% of distribution, or about $8 million each. SMU will forgo at least seven years without distribution and as many as nine. However, those figures are fluid and discussions are ongoing. The concessions free up more than $50 million annually in new money from ESPN — a boon for a conference that has been searching for additional revenue to appease restless members.

…

The significant reduction of shares from Cal, Stanford and SMU is not permanent. The schools would see shares escalate over the course of the grant-of-rights, a binding agreement running through 2036 that they are required to sign. Also, the three schools will receive non-TV distribution annually from the league, including evenly distributed monies from the CFP and NCAA tournament as well as the additional revenue from the incentive pool.

Nothing much appears to have changed regarding the parameters of what will be Cal’s revenue share in the new ACC. We wrote about it over the weekend.

$8-10 million in reduced ACC Tier 1 media rights to start, as Dellenger reported (the number is $8 million for 2024). But this number is an escalator, and will gradually increase to near the full amount by the end of the Grant of Rights in 2036.

$5-10 million in ACC playoff + tourney payouts, as reported by Dellenger

$8-10 million in Calimony allocated from UCLA’s Big Ten deal, as set by the UC Regents and will likely now have to be mandated by UC President Michael Drake.

It is possible a decision is handed out soon, as commissioners are set to meet and iron out terms for the new 12-team College Football Playoff. The ACC probably wants to have their conference membership set by tomorrrow.

Our month-long nightmare could be at an end.

Well, postponed.

It’s hard to see this being only an interim solution for Cal if this works out. It just keeps us in the game.

But details come later. Survival comes first.

What are your thoughts on the terms of being an ACC member Cal fans?