Clemson, Florida State Reach Out to SEC About Joining Conference (Report)

Clemson and Florida State have reached out to the SEC to inquire about joining the conference, according to a report from Marc Ryan, Assistant Program Director of ESPN Upstate.

"Per a reliable source, Clemson+Florida State have reached out to the SEC about joining the conference," Ryan tweeted. "The SEC is concerned that streaming numbers for Clemson+Florida State don't bring what Oklahoma+Texas do. Notre Dame is the only 'free agent' left that would 'add to the pot.'"

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Since that report has gained attention, there have already been counters and/or rebuttals.

Eric MacLain, a former Clemson football captain and current ACC Network analyst, tweeted, "Via Clemson. This is not true."

Kyle Bailey, host of The Clubhouse on WFNZ in Charlotte, tweeted, "The source of that Clemson/FSU 'report' makes it automatically disqualifying. And not one single person has offered a plausible way for ANY program from the ACC to walk away from the 15+ years remaining on the conference’s TV rights deal."

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The news comes on the heels of Oklahoma and Texas announcing their intention to leave the Big-12 and join the SEC. That move figured to spark another round of conference expansion/realignment. This move would be another large domino to fall and leave both the Big-12 and ACC reeling.

Jay Bilas of ESPN has already gone on the record suggesting an ACC/SEC merger.

"If you're in this business now, you're going to have to start thinking bigger," Bilas said in a video clip on ESPN.com on July 26th. "Greg Sankey and the SEC are certainly doing that. If I were commissioner of the ACC, one thing I'd be thinking about is approaching the SEC and saying, 'look at all the natural rivalries we have interconference. Why don't we start thinking about a merger?' Because that's what the SEC is going to become. It's going to become the junior NFL and junior NBA. There's no reason why the ACC shouldn't jump in there and take advantage of those natural rivalries and markets."