Paul Finebaum Gives Foreboding Assessment of ACC’s Future Amid Recent Realignment
Against the current backdrop of rampant conference realignment, the ACC— for the time being—has remained unaffected.
Despite overtures from other conferences, all 15 of its schools remain in place. That's a far cry from past waves of realignment, which thrust Big East stalwarts Boston College, Louisville, Miami, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Virginia Tech into the league while charter member Maryland left for the Big Ten.
However, stability now does not guarantee stability in the future—ask the Pac-12 circa 10 years ago. On Saturday, ESPN's Paul Finebaum gave a frank description of the ACC's tenuous position on SportsCenter.
“I was surprised that (a hypothetical vote to add California and Stanford to the league) almost passed. It needed one more vote to let these two schools in and quite frankly, this conference is in a lot of hurt right now,” Finebaum said.
Finebaum expressed doubt that adding California and Stanford would quash the wanderlust of the ACC's biggest brands, such as Florida State. The Seminoles have made little secret of their desire to exit the ACC, which has a grant of rights agreement through 2036.
"Remember a week ago Florida State had a public meltdown and a Board of Trustees meeting saying, in essence, we're better than the rest of the league," Finebaum said. "They clearly want out. So does Clemson, I believe. North Carolina, other schools are looking around but it’s almost impossible for anybody to get out. So is it really going to help adding new members? The answer is no, it will not.”