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The simple truth is that conference realignment scares people. 

Why else would Oregon and Washington bail on over 100 years of tradition in West Coast athletics to join a conference based in Illinois? Why would Stanford and Cal, stalwarts of the Pacific Coast, join the Atlantic Coast Conference? 

Why would every ACC school sign a 20-year grant of rights deal that handed over their media rights to the league until 2036? And why else would Florida State’s Board of Trustees have panicked this summer because they can’t escape that agreement and are now stuck looking for more revenue to compete nationally when they haven’t even won their own conference since 2014? 

Because these schools were scared. Because money — or the lack of it — from FOX, ESPN and others can entirely change the direction of athletic departments. Rivalries, loyalty, fans and common sense can all be damned. 

Realignment has, at times, made well-educated leaders make unwise decisions out of fear. But in adding Stanford, Cal and SMU last week, the ACC did the right thing. This wasn’t done hastily or without thought. It’s a move that protects the league’s future — at least to the extent it reasonably can right now — and brought added revenue to membership that desperately needed it. The ACC has now solidified itself as a power conference for at least the next decade, with all of its core members still present. 

And that helps Syracuse greatly. Fans almost never benefit from realignment moves, but Syracuse supporters should be applauding this one, even if staying up past midnight on a Tuesday in February 2025 to watch the Orange battle the Golden Bears on the hardwood isn’t enviable. Something that is, though, is a healthy ACC. 

“As we dove deeper into it more and more, it became clear that this was good for Syracuse and it would strengthen the ACC,” Syracuse Director of Athletics John Wildhack recently told The D.O. “A stronger ACC is good for Syracuse.”

The ACC is the best place for SU, no doubt. There’s a mix of private and public universities, academics are a priority, geographic sensibility is mostly there and the competition level is appropriate. And by the way, the Big Ten and SEC aren’t calling anytime soon. The Big 12’s western-heavy footprint just doesn’t fit. 

The ACC was reportedly uncertain going into the vote Friday whether the three schools had the 12 votes needed for acceptance. Over three weeks ago, they didn’t. While NC State ultimately flipped its vote to “yes,” the schools that were against it all along — Florida State, North Carolina and Clemson — are also three of the likeliest to leave the ACC as soon as they can. 

Wildhack said Syracuse was always a “yes” vote for adding the three schools. He mentioned academics — Stanford, Cal and SMU all rank in the top-75 of US News’ 2022-23 best national universities rankings — and enhanced Olympic sports competition as reasons why. Since 2010, Stanford has won 10 Capital One Cups, an award that recognizes athletic success across all sports. 

“I feel better about the ACC. I think it’s a healthier ACC. I think it’s a stronger ACC,” Wildhack said. “It builds on what is already a great conference, and it’s a great academic fit.”

While TV market size may not play the role it once did in realignment discussions, the additions give the ACC entry into the Dallas (fifth-largest) and San Francisco-Oakland (10th-largest) markets, meaning the ACC Network will have a lot more cash on its hands. 

It certainly helps, too, that SMU will reportedly not receive any TV revenue for its first nine years in the league and the two California schools will only take in a 30% share for their first seven years. That extra money should add about $50-60 million, according to ESPN, to the ACC’s annual pot, portions of which will be divided proportionally among league members and also placed into initiatives that reward winning programs. That, hopefully, should encourage top dogs like Clemson and Florida State to hang around the league a little longer instead of sniffing around for greener pastures. 

“It helps,” Wildhack said of the additional revenue. “There’s no question.” 

Granted, that additional cash does minimal in closing the financial gap between the ACC and, say, the Big Ten. Though it’s not a drop in the bucket, either. 

And yes, none of the three schools are football heavyweights by any means, and each is a long ways away from Syracuse or any other ACC school. Those 2,800-mile trips for Olympic sports from Syracuse to the Bay Area were Wildhack’s main concern, he said, but the plan, as of now, is for those teams to only make one West Coast trip per season. For men’s and women’s basketball, it would be every other season. 

All of Syracuse’s programs should benefit from regularly playing in California and Texas, the two most-populated states, each with a high volume of talented athletes. The recruiting benefits will be immense, and SU’s brand should only grow. The significant number of West Coast Syracuse alumni and supporters — like Dino Babers’ own mother — can now watch and engage with the Orange in-person. 

No question an 18-member conference (17 in football because of Notre Dame’s independence) is excessively large and awkward. But in today’s world of DI athletics, it’s necessary. Adding members right now means adding stability — just look at how the Big 12 has changed its image from an eight-team league missing Texas and Oklahoma to a 16-member one that’s undoubtedly a power conference. Big 12 members have gone from scared to secure. 

After Friday, the ACC has hopped into the boat with the Big 12, believing new members — a larger boat — can keep it above water and maybe even inch it closer to the SEC and Big Ten. 

“I think the ACC is doing what they have to do based on the expansion,” Jim Boeheim, now a special assistant to Wildhack, recently said to syracuse.com. “Otherwise you could have no league in two, three years.”

In the long run, this might not work out. The conference’s top schools could still jump ship, and Syracuse could be left in a watered-down ACC. But if this does keep the league together long-term, Syracuse will be a winner in conference realignment.

This isn’t a game you want to lose. Because that, truly, would be scary. 

 

 

Connor Smith is a senior staff writer at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @csmith17_.

Senior staff writer Anthony Alandt contributed reporting. 

Published on September 7, 2023 at 12:13 am

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_