As the Atlantic Coast Conference expands to an unlikely grouping of 18 schools, (including Notre Dame, sort of), the ACC Network is scheduled to introduce the new kids on the block to its audience.
The television network is hosting programming live this Summer from the campuses of SMU, Cal, and Stanford. The conference is positioning it as a welcoming to the newest members of the ACC.
Introducing the New Kids In School
The first part of the introductory process will be live from the SMU campus in Dallas on Monday, July 1st. The network is calling it The Happiest Hour in Dallas, with original programming beginning at 5 pm Eastern. Conference commissioner Jim Phillips will take part in the ceremony to signify SMU’s first official day as an ACC school. The programming will also include several Mustangs’ coaches and school representatives.
The ACCN will make similar efforts at Stanford on July 31st and at Cal on August on August 2nd. That coincides with the dates those two former Pac-12 schools become full-fledged members of the ACC.
The ACC program Roadshow is scheduled to head back to SMU on August 6th.
All three schools are slated to have their head coaches and select players participate in ACC Media Days, which are in Charlotte, NC the last week of July.
How They Got Here
Cal and Stanford were the last two to depart the moribund Pac 12 after eight other schools left before them. The ACC was the only conference to offer both Bay Area schools a life raft. They come at a discounted price though. The two schools are going to the conference while getting only 30% of a whole ACC share for the first seven years.
SMU has long sought to get back into the bigger conferences since its NCAA death penalty in 1987. The Mustangs are coming on an agreement that they take none of the conference revenue pie for nine years. It is estimated it will cost them $300-$400 million in revenue, an amount already made up for by boosters.
The expansion of the conference got the minimum number of votes needed from the existing ACC membership late last year. North Carolina State was a late flip in the process, giving Phillips the 12 votes needed to move forward.
