BREAKING NEWS: Academic Powerhouses Stanford and Cal to Join ACC

Read Time:1 Minute, 58 Second

In a remarkable turn of events, the ACC has reportedly voted to allow Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley, and Southern Methodist University to join the East Coast-based league starting in the 2024-2025 academic year.

The addition of these three schools will increase the total number of ACC academic institutions competing in football to 17. All three schools will compete in the ACC in all sports. The additions will be in all sports and will begin in the 2024-25 school year.

Stanford and Cal are two of the most highly competitive academic institutions in America, so this alone will bolster the prestige of the ACC.

The news is particularly remarkable because there have been concerns in recent weeks that the ACC was becoming more vulnerable to being broken apart as Clemson and Florida State have expressed interest in joining the more revenue-rich Southeastern Conference.

Now that this addition of three schools has been agreed upon, the future financial stability of the ACC has been bolstered considerably, and the prestige within the league and around the country will become even more pronounced.

This is, in my view, the best news I’ve heard yet about college football realignment. Being an ACC fan and living on the East Coast my whole life, the ACC runs through my heart. Growing up I rooted for the University of Maryland when in the ACC, then attended Wake Forest, and have siblings and cousins who attended Duke, University of North Carolina, Boston College, Georgia Tech, and University of Virginia.

I’m an ACC guy at my core, and I didn’t want to see the league busted up. There’s an added bonus. A few years from now perhaps Wake Forest will play at gorgeous Stanford University and, as a bucket list box checker, I’ll go to the game.

By any measure, Stanford is an amazing American institution, and having them in the ACC is going to bring more intellectuals, inventive thinkers, and good people to this great league with so much rich tradition and authentic rivalries. And Cal is a huge get for the ACC as well. Massively prestige academically, it’s one of America’s best academic institutions, just like Stanford.

Today’s big news is a thrilling day for the ACC. A happy Friday for all ACC fans yes it is.