Pete Thamel: ACC presidents 'still evaluating' adding Cal, Stanford after exploratory call Tuesday

As expected, ACC presidents met Tuesday for an exploratory call regarding Cal and Stanford, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported. While no vote was taken, the conference is “still evaluating” the two schools.

Cal and Stanford are two of the now so-called Pac-4 remaining after the Pac-12 lost multiple teams to conference realignment last week. The future of the league is in doubt, and the ACC has been exploring adding the two schools as it looks at expansion.

Cal’s Board of Regents is holding a meeting Tuesday morning, On3’s Pete Nakos reported. Rumors have swirled about the Mountain West potentially stepping in and possibly merging — or something that looks like it — with the Pac-12, as well.

However, On3’s Eric Prisbell reported the American Athletic Conference’s interest in adding as many as all four remaining Pac-12 schools. That would take the league to 18 after multiple additions. It would also help the league deal with three departures for the Big 12 this year.

“We would be a good landing spot for those schools given our existing ESPN deal, which has a strong linear component, along with our major cities and institutional profiles,” a source told Prisbell.

Thamel previously reported the ACC’s potential interest in Cal and Stanford in light of the recent round of realignment. Given Cal and Stanford’s academic reputations, Thamel said the league is at least looking into expanding to both coasts.

“Nothing gets college presidents more excited than an affiliation with two of the most elite academic institutions in the country,” Thamel said on Monday during an appearance on SportsCenter. “Cal one of the more premier public institutions, Stanford one of the elite private institutions. Stanford, top to bottom, is the best athletic department in the country.”

The Pac-12’s highest-profile members — Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington — are all off to the Big Ten in 2024. The Four Corners schools of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are also heading to the Big 12. That leaves Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State left in what’s now effectively the Pac-4.

The ACC is a potential lifeline, even if talks are in the early stages. From the ACC’s standpoint, Thamel argues there is no harm in at least exploring the opportunity.

“They are assets with nowhere to go right now,” Thamel said. “I think picking up the phone and doing exploratory talks — and sources have cautioned me these are early talks. They are formal talks because people are getting on the phone but they are early. — They don’t see the drawback to having at least the chat and running up the ground ball to see where they are.”

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.