Amid Big 12 expansion rumors, ACC targets 6 potential candidates to join latest wave of conference realignment: Reports

With the Big 12 expansion rumores, ACC Comissioner Jim Phillips has to look towards expansion himself. — With the Big 12 expansion rumors, ACC Comissioner Jim Phillips has to look towards expansion himself.

The Big 12 expansion news has been going around lately, and the conference is not the only one looking to grow. With the Pac-12 implosion, the Atlantic Coast Conference seems to be in the running for some potential expansion teams.

College football insider Jim Williams posted that there are six teams that are being vetted by the ACC right now: Tulane, South Florida, Memphis, UAB, East Carolina and Tulsa.

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With the Big 12 expansion happening, this could be the ACC trying to reply. There are a few reasons that this could be happening, but for now, that list is in order of interest.

The ACC is looking to expand in its geographical proximity as all six of these universities are in the same Southeast location and looking to make the jump to a Power Five program. The Big 12 expansion has played a role in the expansion talks of the ACC without a doubt. It will be interesting to see which of these programs, if any, get added.

They would not be the first to make the jump from a Group of Five conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference as the SMU Mustangs are set to do so beginning in 2024 with their expansion including the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears.

How has the Big 12 expansion talks influenced this decision by the ACC?

The Big 12's expansion has definitely played a role in the ACC looking to add more members to its ranks. There has been an issue with what revenue the top teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference are making as they are far and away the lowest of the Power Five conferences while being locked into a 20-year media rights deal.

With the Big 12 expansion talks happening, some ACC members could look to make the jump in search for more revenue. That would leave the ACC in a bad position as the conference needs a minimum of 15 members in order to avoid a renegotiation clause with ESPN, the media rights partner, that will lower the payout.

It should not be shocking that conferences are looking to continue expansion as they want to avoid what happened to the Pac-12.