"League is just heading towards the iceberg": Paul Finebaum slams ACC for jeopardizing relevance with conference expansion choices

The ACC was the last of the Power Five conferences to be affected by realignment.

Conference officials recently voted to approve the addition of the California Bears, Stanford Cardinal and SMU Mustangs. College football insider Paul Finebaum recently claimed that the decision to expand could wind up being the downfall of the conference.

During a recent appearance on The Matt Barrie Show, Finebaum said:

"There is such a fissure right now in the ACC. ... I just want to congratulate the ACC for essentially voting out Clemson, North Carolina and Florida State because after what happened Friday with the admission of SMU, Cal and Stanford, they have essentially given those three a ticket out."

Finebaum continued by claiming that the league is headed towards an iceberg:

"That league, which was already teetering towards irrelevancy, has just taken on three schools that devalue an already discounted product even more, and that league is just heading towards the iceberg."

Check out Paul Finebaum's comments on the Atlantic Coast Conference below (starting at the 21:50 mark):

The Clemson Tigers, Florida State Seminoles and North Carolina Tar Heels were the three teams that did not vote in favor of expansion.

All three schools have previously explored leaving the conference and were among a group that attempted to break the conference's grant of rights agreement, according to Brett McMurphy of The Action Network, who tweeted:

"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. ACC deal runs thru 2036."

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What led to the ACC voting to add Cal, Stanford and SMU?

The ACC previously held a vote to add the California Bears and Stanford Cardinal. The vote failed to reach the 75% threshhold required for expansion, according to Brett McMurphy of The Action Network, who tweeted:

"Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and NC State are the ACC schools against adding Stanford and Cal, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. 1st report by SI. W/only 11 of 15 schools (including Notre Dame) in favor, ACC expansion is 1 vote shy of required 75 percent (12 of 15) to add new members"

The North Carolina Wolfpack flipped their vote, leading to the addition of three new programs. The California Bears and Stanford Cardinal will forfeit 30% of their revenue share, while the SMU Mustangs will forfeit their entire share.

The addition of the three programs will protect the ACC against any potential departures. Their media rights deal with ESPN allows the network to renegotiate the deal if the conference strength falls below 15 teams.