Report: ACC exploring major changes to the conference as early as 2023
The Atlantic Coast Conference began its annual spring meetings earlier this week. There are multiple topics that will be on the docket throughout the next few days in Amelia Island, namely NIL, the conference's revenue gap, the future of the ACC Headquarters, and potentially an elimination of divisions.
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According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, the conference is exploring eliminating divisions in football as early as 2023. The change would create a lot more flexibility when it comes to scheduling in the future.
Thamel goes on to say that one model that is being explored is each team having three permanent opponents and five other programs rotating each year on the schedule. Another option is two permanent opponents and six programs rotating each year. Theoretically, this wouldn't provide simply more variety, it would also allow every team in the ACC to host every other team in the conference every four years.
The ACC has played under a two-division model since 2005 (outside of 2020) when the conference expanded to 12 teams, which has now grown to 14 programs plus Notre Dame. However, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, who replaced John Swofford last year, is in favor of scrapping football divisions.
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The COVID-19 shortened season in 2020 allowed the conference to see front and center how things would work if divisions weren't in place. Instead of the top team in two separate divisions, the top two overall teams in the league met up in the championship. If the move goes into effect, it will only increase the quality of play that the ACC is putting on the field.
At the minimum, Florida State would still match up with Miami and Clemson every year, with the possibility of playing a wide variety of other opponents in the conference. Dating back to when the ACC added Pittsburgh and Syracuse in 2013, the Seminoles have played the Panthers twice (2013, 2020), Georgia Tech three times (2014, 2015, 2020), Virginia Tech once (2018), Duke three times (2013, 2017, 2020), Virginia twice (2014, 2019), and North Carolina three times (2016, 2020, 2021). That number could rise quite a bit over the next few years.
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