NC State and realignment: Race to be No. 3 among leagues?

The reality seems to be settling in that the rapid realignment of college conferences is less likely to happen, which means for the time being NC State fans can worry less about the looming uncertainty. However, equally realistic continues to be that there is still an uneasy feeling about the future of the ACC.

As ESPN’s David Hale noted on a recent appearance on 99.9 The Fan’s The OG Show, “We’re sort of at the bottom of the mountain and you see the avalanche coming, and you think you should probably move.”

Problem for NC State and other ACC teams: the grant of rights that lasts till 2036. A clearer picture suggest leaving the league could cost a team in the neighborhood of $500 million.

“You’re tethered to the giant rock of that mountain waiting for the avalanche to overcome you,” Hale added.

The question becomes what can the ACC do to survive? Reports now suggest what The Wolfpacker touched on in last week’s update, that future moves from the Big Ten and SEC may not make financial sense for those respective leagues at this point unless the transaction involves Notre Dame.

That has not stopped continued speculation about teams, particularly Clemson, Florida State and Miami, trying to bolt for the SEC. However, multiple reports over the weekend emerged that the SEC, at least, prefers to stand pat at the moment.

Hale noted that Notre Dame is about to cash in with a bidding war for its new television contract in 2025, and for now there is still not enough incentive to get involved full-time with a conference. Without Notre Dame, the Big Ten is also likely to stay at 16 teams.

Who Moves First? NC State’s ACC Or Big 12 Or Pac-12?

Is there a way where the ACC can get ESPN to re-negotiate its television contract to increase the revenue stream and perhaps save itself?

On an appearance of the Howard Finebaum Show on ESPN radio, ESPN college football reporter Pete Thamel discussed what an expansion option may look like for the ACC and its member schools, like NC State.

“I think it would have to be a bit of a marketplace for the ACC Network. The guidepost, there would be bigger population markets,” said Thamel. “So, it wouldn’t be West Virginia, which is a great program. It’s certainly no knock on West Virginia. It’s just not a very populated state.

“If you look at what the ACC would do if it was to make a play for like a western front, basically, it would be maybe Cincinnati, a couple of Texas schools, and then some of those higher-end West Coast schools.”

However, any discussions of moves by the ACC and its members, including NC State, to put the conference on stronger grounds assumes that the Pac-12 and Big 12 do not beat them to the punch.

Beyond the talk of super conferences, there may be a race to become the premier No. 3 conference ongoing.

Could a group of Big 12 and Pac-12 schools converge into a new conference, for instance? The headliners in each of those leagues join up?

Or could the Big 12 and Pac-12 come together on a partnership that was similarly discussed between the ACC and Pac-12.

This takes on importance for teams like NC State in the ACC because perception will become an increasingly important aspect for future viability. There is a race to be viewed as still being at the table for the biggest stages of college football, even if not in the super conferences of the Big Ten and SEC.

“Being marginalized in an era of recruiting, that’s a problem, that’s a big problem,” Hale noted. “Even if you can start to make some of the money work in the short term, the recruiting side of that and the perception side of that matters, too.”

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