Pete Thamel reveals what's next for Big Ten/SEC, how ACC grant of rights impacts expansion

It’s still unclear what’s next for conference realignment, even as rumors swirl. ESPN’s Pete Thamel shared some insight as to what could happen — notably within the SEC.

The Big Ten made the big splash late last month, landing USC and UCLA from the Pac-12 to get to 16 teams in 2024. That led to questions about what could be next for the SEC, which is also going to 16 teams by 2025 with the additions of Oklahoma and Texas. At the same time, conversations started about the ACC, which has a grant of rights through 2023, and independent Notre Dame.

Thamel said he doesn’t see Notre Dame doing anything right now, but the ACC’s agreement is making things tough at the moment. Depending on what happens, he said schools in North Carolina and Virginia might be options if the SEC decides to go that route.

“It’s hard to say because there are so many different variables,” Thamel said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “If Notre Dame goes — which I don’t think they’re going anywhere imminently — their dance parter would be Stanford. The grant of rights is a factor in who they go over. What would be the order of things happening? The grant of rights is actually, literally, the rights have been granted. The ACC owns all the rights to North Carolina, Clemson games to 2036. So it is going to be a difficult, briar patch of a legal battle to get those back from the league in order to do it because literally, the livelihood of the league would depend on it.

“I feel like if those schools had a clear path out with the grant of rights and a place to go, they probably would’ve explored it deeper than there. Certainly, Carolina [and] Virginia fit the SEC’s growth pattern, which has been continuous or contiguous. … It would not be repetitive. Now, they were repetitive with Texas, but that’s pretty understandable repetitiveness, right? Because of the market, the brand and the budget’s there and the talent nearby.”

Pete Thamel on why conferences could expand into Virginia, North Carolina

Thamel also explained why North Carolina and Virginia could be options for future SEC expansion, saying it makes sense geographically. But from a football perspective, specifically Virginia wouldn’t make sense of a school like, say, Virginia Tech.

“There’s a school of thought where the SEC would want to go north into North Carolina,” Thamel said. “And look, there’s a lot to like about North Carolina. It’s a great school, it’s a great brand, it’s the eighth or ninth-largest state by population in the country. It’s growing fast. So it would make sense.

“Virginia, to me, doesn’t make as much sense other than as a population play and a contiguous state play. I mean, the great moments in Virginia football history is a pretty short compilation. … But the SEC tends to favor the big state schools. Tech doesn’t bring you all the same markets that Virginia does, in theory.”