ACC expansion finally adds Stanford, Cal, and SMU in the latest board meeting with adequate votes: Reports

The talk about ACC expansion and realignment seemed to be over after the Big Ten and Big 12 poached some of the programs being targeted by the conference.

Talks had already taken place between the ACC and Arizona, Utah, and Arizona State, but they all ended up joining the Big 12.

According to Yahoo Sports, various presidents were actually in meetings with Commissioner Jim Phillips to discuss ACC expansion when these moves happened.

North Carolina, Clemson, and Florida State were not in favor of the ACC expansion talks. But Jim Phillips managed to get the required 12 out of 15 votes in Friday's meeting to proceed with the ACC expansionist agenda.

Stanford, SMU, and California will call the ACC home after getting the necessary approval to join up. The less said about Commissioner George Kliavkoff's Pac-12, the better.

Commissioner Jim Phillips commented on the addition of the three new programs through a statement.

“We are thrilled to welcome three world-class institutions to the ACC, and we look forward to having them compete as part of our amazing league.”

Not everyone supports the ACC expansion

A group of seven programs ganged up to find a way out of ACC's grant of rights agreement which runs until 2036 and limits the earning potential of some elite programs.

This has been speculated as one of the reasons why some of the programs don't want to be locked in further with new expansion talks.

Florida State outlined why they voted against the ACC expansion and it involved their concerns about the current revenue sharing model.

Michael Alford, Florida State's athletic director, also commented on the addition of the three new programs.

“All three schools are outstanding academic and athletic institutions, and our vote against expansion does not reflect on their quality,” Michael Alford said. “We look forward to earning new revenue through the ACC’s success incentives initiative, based on our continued excellence. We’re grateful to the league for continuing to listen to our concerns.”

North Carolina Board of Trustees chairman David L. Boliek released a statement on behalf of the program decrying the travel distances as the reason behind their vote against expansion.

“The strong majority of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees opposes the proposed expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference to include Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Southern Methodist University."

The expansion and realignment games look like they are at an end after the complete disintegration of the Pac-12 and the Power Five has been whittled down to a Power Four.