Stanford and Cal’s ACC dreams might be back from the dead

Cal and Stanford don’t have to get ready to play football in the NESCAC just yet.

After the California schools’ last-ditch campaign to join the ACC appeared to have stalled out earlier this month, a flurry of reports Wednesday evening suggested they could be headed to the Atlantic Coast after all. 

Twelve of the conference’s 15 schools have to approve new members. As of last week, there had been four reported holdouts: North Carolina, NC State, Clemson and Florida State. The rest of the conference and its leadership were apparently on board with adding the Bay Area duo (plus maybe SMU).

It’s not clear which of the four schools is flipping its vote, but all reporting Wednesday evening was pointing in the same direction. 

The Associated Press had the conference “making progress toward an expansion that could grab Stanford and California.” Yahoo Sports had the move as a “legitimate possibility” while also providing the clearest financial picture. Stanford and Cal, desperate for a major conference, offered to take shares that are just 30% of what existing members get, while SMU, which has deep-pocketed boosters, is offering to play for free, according to Yahoo.

If the ACC wants to add Stanford and Cal, it has all the leverage. After the collapse of the Pac-12, the Bay Area schools have frantically tried to find a major conference that would provide anything close to the tens of millions of dollars in football money both were accustomed to. Even at 30% shares, being in the ACC would be a better deal than reforming the Pac-12 with lesser powers or just swallowing their pride and joining the Mountain West or American.

It’s unclear what becomes of Cal and Stanford’s athletic programs outside of football and basketball. Though one San Francisco Chronicle reporter wrote Wednesday that this move would be for football and basketball, another wrote that it would likely be for all sports if it happened. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.) While some sports, like track and field, could easily blow off in-conference competition during the regular season, it’s hard to picture how travel would even work in sports like soccer and baseball. As Stanford football coach Troy Taylor put it, it might be time to load up the covered wagon.