Report: North Carolina exploring potential move from ACC to SEC

Is the college sports world ready for another round of realignment? Well, if a Tuesday report from Inside Carolina is accurate, North Carolina could be exploring a move away from the ACC to the SEC “perhaps in the near future.”

The University of North Carolina is reportedly among several schools “interested in seeking a potential departure from the ACC” whenever the next round of collegiate realignment happens, sources told Inside Carolina‘s Adam Smith. UNC could “even could be considered at the front of that pack, alongside Clemson.”

Inside Carolina sources reportedly named the SEC as the conference “the Tar Heels are aiming” to land, should it ultimately exit the ACC. The ACC’s exit fees drop from $93 million in 2029-30 to a flat $75 million beginning with the 2030-31 academic year, which “would figure to become an important final line of demarcation, if the Tar Heels haven’t made their departure (from the ACC) sooner,” per Inside Carolina.

Inside Carolina cited the March settlement to last year’s lawsuit filed by Clemson and Florida State challenging the ACC’s conference exit fee and revenue distribution figures for providing a “substantial victory to member schools for exploring possible pathways toward leaving the conference and relocating to greener financial pastures.” Inside Carolina suggested UNC chancellor Lee Roberts “quietly” got involved in behind-the-scenes negotiations and “performed a key role in helping finalize” the ACC’s settlement with Clemson and FSU.

Per the ACC settlement terms, the league’s exit fees go from $165 million this current academic year to $147 million in 2026-27. The number drops to $129 million in 2027-28, and $111 million in 2028-29 before dropping under the $100 million threshold beginning in 2029, per Inside Carolina’s report.

Jim Phillips addresses relationship between ACC and Clemson, Florida State after settlement

Florida State, Clemson and the ACC worked this offseason to strengthen their relationship after reaching a settlement to resolve the programs’ lawsuits against the conference. The main gist of the dilemma between the Seminoles, Tigers and ACC had to do with the conference’s exit fee and revenue distribution.

In the end, both schools and the conference were able to agree, and now they’ll move forward as part of the ACC. Kicking off ACC Media Days, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips addressed the relationship between Florida State, Clemson and the conference, and where it all stands at the moment.

“Maybe everybody doesn’t get exactly what you want, but you get to a place that’s for the greater good, and that’s where I felt it was different,” Phillips stated. “I know what the Florida State and Clemson people were saying, and they said it to the entire group, about their desire to be in the ACC and all the rest of that. I believe them, I really do. I have a responsibility to make sure that our ACC schools want to be in this league. Not just have to be in this league. I think that’s important.

“Five years ago, one of the things I said was I wanted to make sure that I listened. If you were going to serve the membership, you had to listen to the membership. I think that’s what we did. In this particular case, we did that. We did it, I thought, in a very fair and equitable manner. If you want to earn more money, then you’re going to need to invest. We have two prongs to this thing. You have the overall success initiatives, where if you perform in football and men’s and women’s basketball, you will get a bigger share of the revenue from the conference than others.

“Then, viewership ends up being — go put a good team together. Invest. Play good competition. Play good non-conference games. Draw attention, like last year’s game with Georgia Tech and Florida State did, and others. I listed the Clemson–LSU game. Go fight for those dollars, from a viewership standpoint. Everybody’s going to get a certain level of viewership dollars. There’ll be a little bit of teeter-tottering based on your performance, based on your team, and that’s healthy. I really do.”

— On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this report.