College football insider weighs possibility of ACC exodus after USC, UCLA report

UCLA and USC have stocked the college athletics world by reportedly making their intentions known to the Pac-12 that they’ll be moving to the Big Ten in the coming seasons. With conference realignment at an all-time high, the Athletic’s Matt Fortuna discussed what that means for the ACC following the shocking news.

“The ACC grant of rights is through 2036 and keeps exiting teams from taking their media revenue to another conference,” Fortuna wrote in a tweet thread. “That figure — believed to be north of $100 million — goes down with each year, and at some point that cost may not outweigh the cost of losing out on SEC money.”

This now becomes an extra important season for Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia and the rest of the pack that have been chasing Clemson for the label of the ACC’s premier program. But now, Clemson has an even larger target on their back following their disappointing 2021 campaign.

“It’s why this season is crucial for Clemson; a new-money power whose reign atop the ACC ended in 2021 and lost lots of key assistants,” Fortuna continued. “If the Tigers fall from national power to ‘really good team’ — at the smallest ACC public school, no less — are they as attractive of a property?”

Fortuna’s solution lies in fellow perennial national football power Notre Dame. He believes that the Fighting Irish can “save” the conference by joining the league full-time – but what would be the point if it would all dissipate over the next decade and change?

Technically, Notre Dame is already a member of the ACC in every sport except for football and hockey – but their part-time conference membership gives them the ability to play either sport in any conference they so please. The Fighting Irish would need to pay a string of exiting fees to free their other sports from the ACC.

The conference is in a vulnerable position with no new additions to their league. The SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten are all expecting an influx of high-level programs to join their leagues in the coming years, while the ACC is seemingly left in the dust. Losing any team in the conference – let alone a program with the prestige of Clemson – would be a major blow and potentially enough to spell the collapse of a conference that has been around since 1953.