The Pac-12 is back.
Cal and Stanford are not.
The conference roared back to life Thursday when the two remaining members, Washington State and Oregon State, added four Mountain West teams but strategically left two spots available for its next chapter. Instantly, speculation surfaced that the Bay Area schools might leave the ACC and return to their former home.
Not happening, folks.
When contacted by the Hotline, a Cal spokesperson said the school is committed to a long tenure in the conference. A spokesperson for Stanford echoed the sentiment, saying the school was a proud member of the ACC.
As if the Bears and Cardinal even have a choice in the matter.
Upon agreeing to join the ACC in Sept. 2023, the schools signed a 12-year contract binding them to the conference through the 2035-36 school year.
At the time, they viewed the ACC as the best available option despite the travel demands on their athletes and the stipulation that they receive partial shares of the ACC media revenue for 10 of the 12 years, creating a significant competitive challenge.
The decision left Washington State and Oregon State alone in the shattered Pac-12. And so it remained until Thursday, when the two-team conference tripled in size by adding Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State from the Mountain West.
And the Pac-12 isn’t done. It must have at least eight members by the summer of 2026 to comply with NCAA rules.
Which means there’s a second wave of expansion coming with at least two spots available.
In the 36 hours that followed the expansion announcement, Cal and Stanford were linked to the openings in mainstream media reports and social media chatter.
Not happening, folks.
In addition to their contractual obligations, the Bears and Cardinal view the ACC as the right fit for their first-class Olympic sports.
The conference also provides easy access for thousands of Cal and Stanford alumni along the Eastern Seaboard.
And many ACC schools (Duke, Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, etc.) have comparable educational missions to the Bay Area’s academic powerhouses.
All that was true 54 weeks ago, when they left WSU and OSU behind in the depleted Pac-12, and it remains true today as the conference expands.
The Bears and Cardinal aren’t having second thoughts.
They aren’t breaking the contract.
They aren’t coming back.
Not happening, folks … unless at some point in the future, the ACC ceases to exist.
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That’s not likely, especially in a timeframe that suits the Pac-12’s expansion clock (the next six-to-nine months). But a full-blown implosion of the ACC sometime in the second half of the decade is possible if the lawsuits filed by Florida State and Clemson are successful in voiding the grant-of-rights contract.
That legal document, which ties the schools’ media revenue to the conference, doesn’t expire until the summer of 2036.
It’s the only thing preventing Florida State and Clemson from seeking homes in the SEC or Big Ten.
If either school wins in court, others will follow them out the door (hello, North Carolina), and the conference could collapse.
And in that situation — only in that situation — Cal and Stanford would have an escape hatch.
They could consider a return to the Pac-12, although we suspect their preference would be a lifeline from the Big Ten, where they could join USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington to form a six-school western arm that makes sense on numerous levels.
But short of an ACC implosion, the Bears and Cardinal aren’t going anywhere.
They don’t want to leave.
They cannot leave.
And they aren’t leaving, so long as the ACC lives and breathes.
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