Brown: ACC can show leadership amid latest round of conference realignment — by doing nothing

With all the recent conference realignment moves that have shaken up college athletics, the Atlantic Coast Conference needs to take a bold stance.

And do nothing.

The league is toying with the idea of adding Stanford and California, two of the scraps from what remains of the Pac-12 carcass, along with SMU, which is so thirsty to join a so-called "power" conference that it's reportedly willing to waive receiving its distribution rights for five to seven years.

None of those schools add the kind of value the ACC needs to satisfy its disgruntled members looking for a way to close the revenue gap with the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference broadcast deals, though. And none would be worth the logistical contorting the ACC would have to do in travel and scheduling to make it make sense for all the Olympic sports.

Staying put would be the first sign that there’s still some leadership in college athletics. Last week, a lot of moves were being made out of panic, not from university presidents and athletic directors actually thinking things through for the long haul and thinking about more than just broadcast money.

Panic from a few has a way of making everyone in the room nervous.

The situation in the league is so jumpy that last week, North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham held a conference call within his school's department just to reassure them the Tar Heels were not leaving the ACC.

If any school understands the skittish feelings the latest rounds of conference realignment created, it’s the University of Louisville.

It wasn’t too long ago that the Cardinals and their football team were members of a crumbling Big East. The Big 12 life raft that floated past offered up a seat to West Virginia, even as U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell lobbied the league on behalf of U of L, his alma mater. It left the Cards wondering about their survival.

U of L accepted the short-term fix of joining the American Athletic Conference but stayed prepared and made the pitch for ACC membership — which some believed was a longshot at the time — when Maryland announced it was leaving for the Big Ten.

It worked. Now, the ACC needs to show the same patience.

The league should continue to explore other means of generating revenue that would make an impact. I’ve said it before — don’t be surprised if ACC schools begin selling ad space on their jerseys or maybe even on their courts and playing fields.

It’s amazing what can happen when administrators stop adhering to the farce of collegiate amateurism and embrace what this whole realignment phase has fully illustrated: college sports have drifted closer to the professional ranks than even most minor leagues.

Expanding now, with the available schools, would only be a move out of desperation. And haven’t we seen enough of that lately? (Notre Dame is the only available school that would be a game changer. But unless NBC doesn’t come correct on its next broadcast deal in two years, the Fighting Irish will stay Independent.)

The ACC’s grant of rights agreement, it appears, is going to hold the league together for the immediate future. It probably won’t last until the terms end in 2036, but it’s strong enough to keep schools from leaving until the math works out.

Even as froggy as Florida State has been with statements coming out of Tallahassee, the Seminoles are not ready to jump without a clear-cut landing place.

The start of the expanded College Football Playoff, which will include 12 teams beginning in 2024, is another reason the ACC doesn’t need to be hasty. Unless the Pac-12 finds a satisfactory way to stay together — which would probably come from either raiding or merging with the Mountain West — those six automatic playoff bids will probably be cut to five.

Seven at-large teams will make the playoff and it’s worth seeing how many deserving ACC teams could earn a spot. It certainly seems like an easier path going through the league as currently constructed than to attempt to endure the 16-team SEC crucible, with Texas and Oklahoma added, or the 18-team Big Ten, with USC and Oregon among the additional potential pitfalls.

There's so much that can still play out without the ACC adding members in a futile attempt to keep up with the Joneses. The best move, for now, is no move at all.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on Twitter at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his column.

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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Conference realignment news: ACC can show leadership by doing nothing