Cal and Stanford ACC efforts stall as not enough conference members are on board yet

There are still enough holdovers in the ACC who are uncertain about a union with the California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal.

Photo credit Winsipedia/Stanford Tree

Limbo goes on for California Golden Bears fans everywhere. We still don’t have a home for 2024.

Despite clear signs of interest from the Atlantic Coast Conference and unexpectedly fervent support from Notre Dame and ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips (according to Nicole Auerbach of the Athletic), ACC presidents couldn’t get the votes needed to allow Cal and Stanford to join yesterday. 12 of 15 ACC schools need to vote affirmatively for Cal and Stanford, and at the moment there are at least four hold-outs.

Pete Thamel of ESPN has more:

By Wednesday evening, however, it became clear there were not enough presidents willing to say yes to even take a vote. With 15 schools of various sizes and different interests, there was not enough to coalesce around one plan. The potential of programs leaving has the more entrenched schools within the league pondering what the next iteration of the ACC could look like, making unanimity nearly impossible to reach within the room. For the ACC to vote in Cal and Stanford, it would require the approval of three-fourths of the conference's presidents/chancellors, which means 12 of the 15 schools.

Brandon Marcello confirms ACC presidents will meet again Thursday and/or Friday to keep on discussing. So expansion is not dead, it’s just not a done deal.

Despite generous concessions, including reduced revenue share from Cal and Stanford (and SMU even foregoing revenue for a number of years), there are still significant concerns about travel, cost, and overall fit that is drawing pause from enough conference members. Also the support of Notre Dame is causing some consternation, as the Irish themselves are not full members of the conference.

That being said, there are rumors that the number of votes needed aren’t that many. If a few votes can be swung with some concessions, it’s possible Cal can be voted affirmatively into the ACC. It’s of course just as possible that talks will stall and the ACC will indeed not invite Cal and Stanford.

Plenty of scenarios are still on the table. But the wait is interminable.