ACC vote on Cal, Stanford expansion postponed due to UNC shooting

An ACC meeting where university presidents were expected to discuss adding Cal, Stanford and SMU to the conference has been postponed in the wake of a shooting at UNC, according to multiple reports.

Around 1 p.m. ET, police were called to respond to a report of shots fired on campus, according to the Charlotte Observer. One faculty member was killed in the shooting, university officials said at a Monday news conference. Police said they apprehended a suspect about 90 minutes after they initially received the report of shots fired.

“This loss is devastating, and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community,” said UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz.

The incident disrupted a scheduled meeting of ACC university presidents, which was expected to take place over the phone Monday evening. The summit could have potentially led to formal action toward adding the two Bay Area schools along with Dallas-area SMU, according to Yahoo Sports. 

Cal and Stanford’s athletic futures have been a roller coaster lately. When the Pac-12 disintegrated, the Golden Bears and Cardinal were up a creek without a paddle. The ACC appeared to offer a lifeline out, but even that path came with roadblocks. The two schools needed 12 of the 15 conference members to approve expansion, but four schools held out in an initial straw poll: North Carolina, NC State, Clemson and Florida State.

But Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported Monday that ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has heavily supported the proposal, with help from Notre Dame, which is why the discussion is still alive. Still, it’s not clear whether any of the four dissenters have changed their mind. UNC women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance went so far as to say last week that he hopes the Bay Area programs “die on the vine,” though he later walked back his comments.

If the merger does go through, Cal and Stanford would join as partial members of the conference and initially receive just 30% of the standard ACC revenue share, according to multiple reports. The take would then be expected to increase if the two Bay Area schools are accepted. What doesn’t go to those two programs — an over $70 million pool, according to The Athletic — would be distributed to other schools in the conference based on on-field football performance in 2024-25. The ACC grant of rights runs through 2036.