North Carolina Tar Heels Among Several Schools to possibly leave ACC
By Jordan Falls
Re-alignment has been a topic of discussion amongst college athletics, now North Carolina has surfaced as one that may be exploring that option.
According to a tweet from America’s College Football Insider Brett McMurphy, the North Carolina Tar Heels are among the several Atlantic Coast Conference schools that could be exploring another conference.
Clemson, FSU, Miami, UNC, NC State, Virginia & Virginia Tech are “The Magnificent 7” ACC schools, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. These schools, @RossDellenger reported, have met in past several months, w/lawyers examining grant-of-rights to determine just how unbreakable it is.…
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 15, 2023
According to McMurphy’s tweet, six other ACC schools, along with North Carolina, are classified as “The Magnificent 7,” and are in discussions with their lawyers to see if they can break their agreement with the ACC.
We’ve already seen massive conference re-alignment with USC and UCLA announcing they will be leaving the PAC-12 to join the Big Ten and Oklahoma and Texas are leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC.
As it stands now, it appears the two power conferences of the future are trending towards being the SEC and the Big Ten. The ACC began with eight member institutions, six remaining in the conference today (South Carolina left in 1971 and Maryland left in 2014). Of “The Magnificent 7” referenced in McMurphy’s tweet, four are original members (Clemson, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Virginia).
Could the ACC be on the verge of losing more?
As we know, money and large TV deals are huge reasons college institutions are looking to join other conferences. Following his tweet from earlier in the day, McMurphy followed it up with this:
ACC athletic directors emerged from 4-hour meeting w/commish Jim Phillips just now in Amelia Island & said they’re not allowed to talk to media today 👀 https://t.co/omBOwgaTKk
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 15, 2023
Can the ACC be saved with a new TV deal? Or are we looking at a new era of college athletics that we’ve never seen (or maybe even thought of) before?
What it would mean for North Carolina Tar Heels athletics if they were to leave the ACC is another discussion for another day that is more in-depth, but it is certainly something that appears to be on the radar of many. If the choices are the Big Ten or the SEC, which one makes the most sense in the long term for Carolina athletics?
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