Florida State, Clemson headline 3 schools with votes against ACC expansion

The ACC voted Friday to add Stanford, Cal, and SMU to the conference starting in 2024. Conference expansion required 12 of 15 votes in favor, and that's exactly what happened. The three schools which voted against expansion were Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina.

A major reason the ACC chose to expand was to protect itself in the event that Clemson and Florida State leave the conference in the near future. If ACC membership drops below 15 teams, ESPN gets to renegotiate the conference's media rights contract. Adding these big-name schools now is a better option than scrambling to get to full membership after the fact if Clemson and Florida State exit.

The ACC's media rights deal with ESPN is less lucrative than that of the Big Ten or the SEC. It also extends until 2036. Florida State in particular is upset because Florida State football drives a massively disproportionate amount of the ACC's television viewership. The university feels that it should be compensated as such, rather than taking an even split with the other 14 schools.

All three universities released statements acknowledging their opposition to the expansion and welcoming the new members to the ACC.

“Clemson's leadership has been aligned and consistent throughout this process, and continues to position our University for long-term success,” the university said in a statement. “We respect the conference membership's decision and welcome the University of California-Berkeley, Southern Methodist University and Stanford University to the ACC.”

Two Florida State administrators released statements, University President Richard McCullough, and Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford.

“There are many complicated factors that led us to vote no. That said, we welcome these truly outstanding institutions and look forward to working with them as our new partners in the Atlantic Coast Conference,” McCullough said.

“All three schools are outstanding academic and athletic institutions, and our vote against expansion does not reflect on their quality,” Alford said.