re: Colorado to Big 12

Members of the ACC want to expand and get SMU and get West Virginia to leave the Big 12, but it sounds like they need the ok from ESPN.

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ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has been against the idea of ACC expansion in the past, but it appears that he’s changed his tune. In an interview with ESPN’s David Hale, Phillips was not against the idea of adding to the conference.

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“The ACC has been and remains highly engaged in looking at anything that makes us a better and stronger conference,” Phillips told ESPN. “We’ve spent considerable time on expansion to see if there is anything that fits. We have a tremendous group of institutions but if there was something that made us better, we would absolutely be open to it.”

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It would be very difficult for the ACC to do much of anything right now, in terms of adding or subtracting, as the current grant-of-rights agreement is very iron-clad — and expensive.

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The current ESPN TV deals runs through the 2036 season, and ESPN has a very tight hold on revenue even in the event of an exit. It would take a costly legal battle to get out of the ACC at this point.

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