ACC PRESIDENTS HAD a meeting scheduled last Wednesday that had the potential to affect the future of the league. As the hours ticked closer to the call, nobody had a clear idea of what would happen, only that expansion was on the table.
One administrator thought the discussion about adding Cal and Stanford had gone on long enough, and the presidents had to vote. But the administrator admitted to having no idea whether a vote would actually happen.
What was certain was there were votes in favor of expansion (Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Louisville, Miami, Georgia Tech) and votes opposed (Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina) and swing votes in between. Another administrator thought enough of the 15 voting presidents would swing to yes and get the required 12 to approve expansion.
Once the call started, it became clear that would not be the case. No official vote was taken. In straw polling, the fourth school opposed was NC State, according to multiple sources.
An Aug. 15 deadline to depart the ACC for the 2024 season has come and gone. Expansion discussions are now “on life support.” After two weeks filled with near-constant drama, including Florida State president Richard McCullough saying the Seminoles would “very seriously consider” leaving the ACC, the league prepares to start a new football season. Interviews with several ACC administrators and sources with a deep understanding of the conference’s issues revealed the inner workings of what happened (or did not happen) this month, and what comes next.
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Finebaum: FSU is better off leaving the ACC
Paul Finebaum discusses why Florida State and other members of the ACC should look elsewhere.
McCULLOUGH DID NOT make his comments about Florida State’s future and what he hopes can be a “radical change” to the ACC revenue distribution model to his board of trustees on Aug. 2 in a vacuum. At the time, the Pac-12 was on the verge of falling apart. Colorado had already announced its intentions to join the Big 12 starting in 2024, and speculation centered around Arizona, Arizona State and Utah following suit. Speculation also swirled that Oregon and Washington could join the Big Ten. McCullough’s reminder to the league about his program’s unhappiness came as college athletics stood on the precipice of another round of radical conference realignment.
Behind the scenes, however, the ACC was already having conversations about trying to add Cal, Stanford, Oregon and Washington — discussions that had been taking place for well over a year. In fact, Duke president Vincent Price (serving as ACC board chair) reached out to Washington president Ana Mari Cauce last year to gauge interest in a partnership. Cauce declined, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.
McCullough knew this as he sat in front of his board of trustees. Once Colorado announced its future move to the Big 12 on July 27, those Pac-12 discussions picked up again but did not yield a deal. “I cannot fathom how Colorado moving back to a league they had already been in somehow started all of this,” one ACC administrator said, calling it a “panic move” among presidents.
Two days after McCullough spoke publicly, the Big Ten added Oregon and Washington, but at a discounted share of media rights revenue — starting at around $30 million per school, per ESPN sources, compared to the roughly $60 million or more existing members would receive. At the time, nobody knew whether the Big Ten would continue adding schools, so this provided an opening for McCullough’s comments to be taken more seriously.
But a source with knowledge of the discussions said the Big Ten did not have serious conversations about adding Florida State, and its top priority remains Notre Dame.
With Oregon and Washington headed to the Big Ten, and Arizona, Arizona State and Utah officially joining the Big 12, the Pac-12 had only four schools remaining. The ACC conversations about Cal and Stanford grew more serious. From an outside perspective, there seemed to be few benefits, especially for a league that needed two things desperately: more revenue and a boost to its football reputation. Neither school provided that. Add in travel to the West Coast for only two teams, and it made little sense.
Except to the presidents.
“Cal and Stanford were probably from the presidents’ perspective a better target than anybody else in the Pac-12 just because of the academic reputation,” one administrator said. “The fact that Oregon and Washington left, OK that’s fine, but these are two pretty good brands, so how do we integrate them into the league?”
Among athletic directors, the initial conversations around Cal and Stanford did not yield much. But further discussion changed minds. Multiple administrators in favor of the move described it this way: longer-term security in the event schools such as Florida State leave the conference. The Seminoles are not the only ones who have looked at their future and evaluated the grant of rights, which gives the ACC control over home broadcasts and media revenue through 2036. Six other schools had discussions with Florida State about the grant of rights and charting a path forward: Clemson, Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and NC State.
If the ACC added Cal and Stanford, the new schools would also have to sign the grant of rights until 2036. The current ACC contract is the longest running among all the power conferences, and adding more schools would help with stability. One administrator put it this way, “If I was the commissioner, I would be doing the exact same thing he is doing, looking to add schools.”
While more athletic directors moved in favor of adding teams, they were still not completely aligned with the presidents. Some asked why there was urgency. For more than a year they had discussed having more than two teams from the West Coast in order to get any deal done, but demurred. Now they were OK with only two? One administrator pointed out that plenty of dominoes could fall, potentially starting when the Big Ten television contract comes up after the 2029-30 season, and the Big 12 deal is up the following year. Why the rush?
SMU entered the conversation as a way to help financially — bringing in the state of Texas has appeal not only from a television household perspective but from a geographical standpoint. Unlike with the Pac-12 schools, though, there is no rush on SMU, because as multiple administrators have said, it can be added at any time. SMU has been lobbying for a Power 5 invite and hosted Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff on its campus in February.
So the discussion last week started to take shape around Cal and Stanford. As more ADs moved in that direction, the university presidents seemed to be coalescing around a “yes” vote. Notre Dame was, indeed, leading the charge. Although the Irish do not play football in the ACC, all their other sports — minus hockey in the Big Ten — do, and therefore get a full vote when it comes to expansion. The ACC requires 12 out of 15 yes votes to expand, and the decision to add Cal and Stanford would be made by the presidents.
Not only did the Irish like the idea of bringing in two elite academic schools with stellar Olympic sports programs, one source noted there was also a football perspective to all this. There is a fear among college administrators that if Stanford gets left out of a Power 5 conference, it would drop football to a non-FBS level. That, of course, would affect the longstanding Notre Dame-Stanford football series, which has been played every year since 1988 (excluding the COVID year of 2020).
Why was NC State not in favor of expansion? The dynamics in the state of North Carolina provide a fascinating window into the North Carolina-NC State relationship. North Carolina is one of the most attractive schools in the country to both the SEC and Big Ten, should those conferences decide to expand further.
NC State holds power within the University of North Carolina System and the state legislature. Siding with North Carolina essentially signals the Wolfpack believe their future is tied with UNC.
So in the end, there was not enough support among the ACC presidents. Adding just to add, with zero financial benefit, did not make sense to the four schools not in favor, according to multiple sources. Still, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said as recently as July 27 — the day Colorado left for the Big 12 — the league would continue to actively consider adding teams, with an emphasis on finding value in any expansion option.
Adding teams in the realignment landscape provides benefits that could help the league’s survival. As one administrator in favor of the move said, “I have to always be thinking, ‘How do I get f—ed?’ You don’t want to end up like Oregon State and Washington State.”
Another source put it this way: “We’re at a point because of all these other moves on the chessboard that the consequences and risks of doing nothing start to seem worse than the consequences and risks of doing something.”
THOUGH THE TOPIC is not completely closed, discussions have not moved forward since last week, and there are no presidents calls currently scheduled. The clock is ticking for both Cal and Stanford, who currently reside in a four-team Pac-12 for 2024. One source said the window for the ACC to expand remains open.
As for Florida State, the Aug. 15 deadline to leave the league by next year might have passed, but the Seminoles are still serious about having their revenue concerns addressed. McCullough told his board of trustees two weeks ago “our goal would be to continue to stay in the ACC,” but something has to change with revenue.
Any school wishing to leave the conference must contend with a $120 million exit fee plus the grant of rights, which has never been challenged in court. Florida State, like other schools in the league, has sent lawyers to study the contract language to better understand the document.
It should be noted the Aug. 15 deadline was only to withdraw for 2024. Teams can still decide to leave at any time, but multiple sources have said doing so could produce a protracted legal battle that could take years to resolve.
Those inside the league are paying attention. With no vote on expansion, and the continuing specter of Florida State possibly leaving, there is at least some hope in Tallahassee that discussions about changing the television revenue distribution might begin again, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
There is significant resistance among other ACC members, for obvious reasons. Few schools are willing to take less television money based on ratings and marketability. Florida State has touted its viewership metrics — an average of 3.09 million viewers for regular-season games in 2014-21 to top the league — much to the chagrin of other schools.
Wake Forest, for example, has taken the time over the past month to push back. In the latest edition of the Wake Forest athletic director John Currie’s newsletter, he notes that since August 2019, Wake Forest has been the fastest-growing brand in the Power 5, with a 115% growth in its fan base during that span.
Schools have privately questioned the brand and marketability data Florida State has touted, including its assertion that if conference revenues were removed, the Seminoles would rank No. 3 in the SEC and Big Ten in revenue generated.
Florida State is not going to stop pushing for more money. As Phillips has continuously reiterated, generating more revenue is at the top of his daily to-do list. The ACC is third behind the Big Ten and SEC, but Phillips pointed out the ACC topped all conferences with 16 national championships over the past two seasons despite being behind financially.
“Revenue generation continues to be a priority,” Phillips said last month at ACC media days. “But let me be clear also, this league is third right now in revenue as we go forward into wherever the next TV deals are for other conferences. We’ve had multiple TV consultants. Third is certainly a good position, but we want to gain and gain traction financially in order to close the gap with obviously the SEC and the Big Ten, who have leapfrogged everyone.”
It is an issue that will only continue to grow when the SEC and Big Ten start new television contracts that are estimated to earn their teams $30 million more annually than those in the ACC.
If there are enough presidents worried about the Seminoles leaving, perhaps those revenue distribution conversations will change, making Florida State happy. For now.
“We love the ACC. My No. 1 goal is to stay in the ACC. That’s my No. 1 goal,” McCullough told ESPN. “But at some point it becomes difficult for me to do what I’m supposed to do for athletics at Florida State.”
In his first start since agreeing to a $170 million, six-year contract, the left-hander pitched a career-best eight innings as the Red Sox shut out the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 on Wednesday night. Crochet also threw 102 pitches, one shy of his career high.
“My first start in college I went eight, and I haven’t sniffed it since,” Crochet said.
Crochet (1-0) gave up four hits and a walk while striking out eight in his first victory since the offseason trade that sent him from the Chicago White Sox to Boston.
“That’s the reason he’s here,” manager Alex Cora said after the game. “That’s the reason we committed to him.”
Crochet went 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA last season, a bright spot on a Chicago team that lost 121 games. He threw 146 innings, which was double his previous career total since his debut in 2020.
Then Crochet was dealt to the Red Sox, and they made their long-term commitment to the 25-year-old earlier this week.
“Going back to when the trade went through, we knew Boston was a place where we would love to be long term,” Crochet said. “Credit to the front office for staying diligent, and my agency as well.”
Now the question is less about where he’ll pitch and more about how well. He’s off to a nice start in that regard.
“I can’t think of the last time I played baseball for pride. In college, you’re playing to get drafted, and once you’re in the big leagues, you’re playing to stay in the big leagues,” Crochet said. “So to have this security and feel like I’m playing to truly just win ballgames, it takes a lot of the riff-raff out of it.”
The news all around was good for Boston on Wednesday.
It reached a $60 million, eight-year deal with young infielder Kristian Campbell, and he went out and doubled twice against the Orioles.
And Rafael Devers ended a 21-at-bat hitless streak to start the season with an RBI double in the fifth inning. He finished with two hits and no strikeouts.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
LOS ANGELES — Aside from his ability to pitch and hit and stretch the boundaries of imagination, Shohei Ohtani has displayed another singular trait in his time in the major leagues: an ability to meet the moment. Or, perhaps, for the moment to meet him.
And so on Wednesday night, with his Los Angeles Dodgers looking to stay unbeaten, the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, and more than 50,000 fans standing and clenching the Ohtani bobbleheads they lined up hours in advance for, Ohtani approached the batter’s box — and his teammates expected greatness.
“He’s going to end this right here,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said he thought to himself.
“We knew,” starting pitcher Blake Snell said. “It’s just what he does.”
Validation came instantly. Ohtani stayed back on a first-pitch changeup from Raisel Iglesias near the outside corner and shot it toward straightaway center field, 399 feet away, for a walk-off home run, sending the Dodgers to a 6-5, come-from-behind victory over the reeling Atlanta Braves.
“I don’t think anybody didn’t expect him to hit a walk-off home run there,” Dodgers utility man Tommy Edman said. “It’s just a question of where he’d hit it.”
The Dodgers are now 8-0, topping the 1933 New York Yankees of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth for the longest winning streak to begin a season for a reigning champion. The Braves, meanwhile, are 0-7, the type of record no team has ever recovered from to make the playoffs. And Ohtani, with three home runs and a 1.126 OPS this season, just keeps meeting moments.
“He’s pretty good, huh?” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “It’s Shohei. He’s going to do that. He’s going to do things better than that.”
On Aug. 23 last year, Ohtani reached the 40/40 club with a walk-off grand slam. Five days later, the Dodgers staged a second giveaway of his bobblehead — one that saw his now-famous dog, Decoy, handle the ceremonial first pitch — and Ohtani led off with a home run. On Sept. 19, Ohtani clinched his first postseason berth and ascended into the unprecedented 50/50 club with one of the greatest single-game performances in baseball history — six hits, three homers, two steals and 10 RBIs. Barely two weeks later, he homered in his first playoff game.
When Ohtani came up on Wednesday, he had what he described as a simple approach.
“I was looking for a really good pitch to hit,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “If I didn’t get a good pitch to hit, I was willing to walk.”
Of course, though, he got a good pitch.
And, of course, he sent it out.
“You just feel that he’s going to do something special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And I just like the way he’s not pressing. He’s in the strike zone, and when he does that, there’s just no one better.”
The Dodgers began their much-anticipated season with a couple of breezy wins over the Chicago Cubs from Japan, even though Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman did not play in them. They returned home, brought iconic rapper Ice Cube out to present the World Series trophy on one afternoon, received their rings on another and swept a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Then came the Braves, and the Dodgers swept them, too — even though Freeman, nursing an ankle injury caused from slipping in the shower, didn’t participate.
The Dodgers already have two walk-offs and six comeback wins this season.
Wednesday’s effort left Roberts “a little dumbfounded.”
A nightmarish start defensively, highlighted by two errant throws from Muncy, spoiled Snell’s start and put them behind 5-0 after the first inning and a half. But the Dodgers kept inching closer. They trailed by just two in the eighth and put runners on second and third with two out. Muncy came to bat with his batting average at just .083. He had used the ballyhooed “Torpedo” bat for his first three plate appearances, didn’t like how it altered his swing plane, grabbed his usual bat for a showdown against Iglesias and laced a game-tying double into the right-center-field gap.
An inning later, Ohtani ended it.
“Overall, not just tonight, there is a really good vibe within the team,” Ohtani said after recording his fourth career walk-off hit. “I just think that’s allowing us to come back in these games to win.”
The Dodgers’ 8-0 start has allowed them to stay just ahead of the 7-0 San Diego Padres and the 5-1 San Francisco Giants in the National League West. Tack on the Arizona Diamondbacks (4-2) and the Colorado Rockies (1-4), and this marks the first time in the divisional era that an entire division has combined for at least 25 wins and no more than seven losses, according to ESPN Research. The Dodgers’ and Padres’ starts mark just the fifth season in major league history with multiple teams starting 7-0 or better, and the first time since 2003.
The Dodgers famously overcame a 2-1 series deficit to vanquish the Padres in the NL Division Series last year, then rode that fight to their first full-season championship since 1988.
That fight hasn’t let up.
“It feels like this clubhouse is carrying a little bit of the attitude we had last year that we’re never out of a game and we’re resilient, and we’ve been carrying it into this season,” Muncy said. “It’s been fun to watch. The guys don’t give up. Bad things have happened, and no one’s really been down or out on themselves. Everyone’s just, ‘All right, here we go, next inning, let’s get after it.’ The whole team, top to bottom, has been doing that. It’s been making it really, really fun to play.”
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death of the teenage son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, authorities in Costa Rica said Wednesday night.
Randall Zúñiga, director of the Judicial Investigation Agency, said 14-year-old Miller Gardner was tested for carboxyhemoglobin, a compound generated when carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in the blood.
When carboxyhemoglobin saturation exceeds 50%, it is considered lethal. In Gardner’s case, the test showed a saturation of 64%.
“It’s important to note that adjacent to this room is a dedicated machine room, where it’s believed there may be some type of contamination toward these rooms,” Zúñiga said.
The head of the Costa Rican judicial police added that, during the autopsy, a “layer” was detected on the boy’s organs, which forms when there is a high presence of the poisonous gas.
Gardner died March 21 while staying with his family at a hotel on the Manuel Antonio beach in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific.
Asphyxiation was initially thought to have caused his death. After an autopsy was performed by the Forensic Pathology Section, that theory was ruled out.
Another line of investigation centered around whether the family had suffered food poisoning. Family members had reported feeling ill after dining at a nearby restaurant on the night of March 20 and received treatment from the hotel doctor.
Brett Gardner, 41, was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 and spent his entire major league career with the organization. The speedy outfielder batted .256 with 139 homers, 578 RBIs, 274 steals and 73 triples in 14 seasons from 2008 to 2021.