ACC to discuss expansion in Friday phone call, sources say

ACC presidents and chancellors are scheduled to have a phone call Friday morning to discuss expansion again, multiple sources told ESPN.

While it remains unclear whether there are enough votes to add Cal, Stanford and SMU, there is hope for a resolution to the monthlong conversations. The presidents call was initially supposed to happen Monday, but was postponed after a North Carolina faculty member was shot and killed on campus.

There are four schools that have been against the additions: Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and NC State. The ACC needs 12 out of its 15 schools to vote yes to expand.

The ACC will not take an official vote until Commissioner Jim Phillips knows they have the 12 yeses needed to approve expansion, sources said. There is optimism layered in ambiguity from the schools out West, who are simultaneously making plans for a yes vote but uncertain whether it will arrive.

In the ACC, all eyes are on NC State, multiple sources indicated. The Wolfpack have long been viewed as the most vulnerable of the four dissenters. But there has been no definitive indication as of Thursday evening that chancellor Randy Woodson has changed his vote, multiple sources said.

There are also political factors at play for North Carolina and NC State. The two schools generally vote the same way, as was the case the first time a straw poll was taken three weeks ago. But sources indicated they do not necessarily need to vote as a block.

Discussions about adding the three schools gained steam over the past week after a new financial model was presented to help alleviate concerns from the four schools that were against.

Sources indicated SMU will take no television money for seven years, while Stanford and Cal will take 30 percent. That is expected to create a pool of between $50-60 million annually to divide among ACC schools. Some of that would be distributed to all members, and the rest would be put into a pool for success initiatives.

Whether this additional money is enough to get to 12 votes remains to be seen. If the votes are there to expand, Cal, Stanford and SMU would be expected to enter for the 2024-25 season in all sports. The potential move comes after the Pac-12 spiraled in the wake of eight schools departing in recent weeks.