UNC System Board of Governors now has power to control conference moves among state schools
The UNC System Board of Governors on Thursday formally approved a policy change that will make it more complicated, and perhaps more difficult, for state universities to move from one athletics conference to another.
The board’s action comes at a moment of immense change throughout college athletics, with major conference realignment and consolidation at the forefront of those changes, and with the future of the ACC more uncertain than it has ever been since its founding in Greensboro in 1953.
With the change, state universities must now seek approval from the system president before switching conferences. The chancellor of any school planning a conference move must provide to the president “advance notice” of that move, as well as a “financial plan” associated with it.
The president can either approve or reject the plan. If approved, the president must notify the Board of Governors, which could then bring the proposal to a vote. If the board rejected it, the school would have to submit a new financial plan, restarting the approval process.
At the least, the system president and Board of Governors will now know of any conference move involving a state school before it happens. That comes in contrast to what transpired in California in the summer of 2022, when state leaders appeared blindsided by the news that UCLA planned to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.
Beyond receiving advance warning, though, the UNC System Board of Governors and its president now have more authority to shape the makeup of college athletics throughout the state. In North Carolina, one of the central questions surrounding the ACC – beyond how long it can remain intact – is whether the state’s four conference schools will stay in the same league.
Two members of the state’s so-called Big Four, Duke and Wake Forest, are private. As public schools, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State now must seek higher approval if they planned to leave the ACC. The change comes at a time rife with speculation, especially about UNC-Chapel Hill, which is seen as a desirable expansion target for either the Big Ten or the SEC.
UNC and N.C. State were on opposite sides of the ACC’s decision late last summer to expand, with UNC remaining firm in its opposition to the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU. After originally opposing expansion, too, N.C. State changed its position and eventually cast the decisive vote that allowed the ACC to add those three schools.
One of the questions surrounding the new Board of Governors policy concerning conference realignment is whether one of its intentions is to bind UNC and N.C. State together. They were both founding members not only of the ACC, but also of the Southern Conference in 1921.
In recent years, though, thanks to an infusion of television money, the so-called Power Five in college athletics has been reduced to a Power Two, with the Big Ten and SEC separating themselves financially. That separation has led to Florida State’s attempt to sue itself out of the ACC, and it has led to the implosion of the Pac-12.
Several schools with high profiles in athletics, and especially in football, have accepted invitations in recent years to join the Big Ten or SEC. In addition to UCLA’s move, Oklahoma and Texas are going from the Big 12 to the SEC, while Washington and Oregon, along with USC, are going from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten.
The ACC has been insulated, so far, because of a Grant of Rights agreement that has made it all but impossible to leave. Several of its members, though, including Florida State and UNC, among others, would be attractive expansion candidates for the nation’s two wealthiest leagues.
If the Tar Heels were to leave the ACC, the moving process would now be more complex.
