Texas and Oklahoma were announced as pending members of the SEC in the summer of 2021, though the announcement at the time had them set to join the league three years later, in 2024.
This is worth bringing up now, as, once again, rumors are beginning to swirl behind the scenes in athletics offices across the country about the next round of conference expansion, as Congress is debating legislation that would allow Power 4 conferences to undergo very limited expansion.
Under the terms of the so-called Protect College Sports Act, which has strong bipartisan support, conferences generating more than $700 million in annual revenue – which means, specifically, the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC – would be limited to a maximum of 19 member institutions.
And yes, 19 is an odd number, and no, nobody is going to want a 19-team conference.
Maybe they’re writing in flexibility there to allow the ACC, currently at 17, to grow by two?
Not sure, though one thing I am sure of – the ACC as we know it is going to be prime for the poaching.
Clemson and Florida State, remember, sued for the right to get out of their ACC obligations early, and won a settlement from the conference that knocks down the exit fee rather dramatically, to a flat $75 million, on July 1, 2030.
Funny thing happened on the way to those two bolting: Virginia and North Carolina are going to want to see their contacts at Clemson and FSU a nice fruit basket when those schools are announced as the two additions to the SEC.
Because that’s where this has always been headed, and is continuing to trend.
Clemson and Florida State aren’t going to get invites because they’re located in states that already have SEC members (South Carolina and Florida, respectively), meaning, there’s political opposition from the folks in Columbia and Gainesville to drag their in-state rivals into the perimeter of wealth and prosperity.
The other factor: Virginia and North Carolina offer the existing SEC access to new, sizable TV markets.
As do, yes, no doubt, schools like Virginia Tech, Duke, NC State and Wake Forest, but none of those are the flagship programs in their home states.
I can hear the keyboards from Virginia Tech fans getting fired up with emails in the works that will try to make the point, Well, just wait ‘til we see what James Franklin gets going in Blacksburg, but, no, just, no, that’s not how things work.
The decision on this, for all intents and purposes, has already been made; we’re really just waiting for Congress to pass the Protect College Sports Act, so that we get the parameters of the playing field going forward – which include restrictions on transfers, a hard cap on roster spending and provisions preventing in-season coaching moves – set into stone.
Everything I’m hearing from folks on a certain college campus where the folks prefer the term Grounds is, this is the future for UVA Athletics.
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Chris Graham
