What’s ahead for North Carolina’s four Atlantic Coast Conference members is a favorite chatter topic for sports-obsessed alumni and leadership. Conventional wisdom is that the ACC is a likely loser in conference realignment because its three strongest football programs — Clemson, Florida State and UNC Chapel Hill — may bolt if they can maneuver through a legal thicket that has kept them in the fold so far.
Here’s a best-guess, status report on the four N.C. ACC members as conference realignment unfolds, based on media reports and interviews with about a dozen knowledgeable observers who agreed to talk provided they were not identified.
Right now, no one knows what will happen, because power is distributed widely among executives at TV powerhouses Disney, Fox and Comcast; university officials and boosters; coaches; and politicians. But fast, furious change is occurring in college sports, reflected in the May settlement that requires NCAA members to pay former athletes $2.8 billion in back damages and share as much as about $20 million a year per school directly with their athletes. ■
