2003
■ ACC university presidents vote 7-2 in favor of adding schools to the nine-member conference.
2004
■ The conference expands to 11 members with the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech.
 |
Virginia Tech plays Miami during their first season as ACC members.
Photo by: Getty Images |
■ ABC/ESPN and the ACC agree to a new seven-year deal for football rights, worth $258 million.
■ The ACC, Jefferson-Pilot Sports and Raycom Sports enter into a seven-year deal giving syndication rights for ACC football to Raycom and JP Sports through the 2010 season. Raycom and JP Sports also increase their financial commitment to the ACC men’s basketball television package, which runs through the 2010-11 season.
2005
■ Boston College becomes the ACC’s 12th member.
■ Florida State defeats Virginia Tech in the inaugural ACC football championship game in Jacksonville.
2006
■ The ACC and the Orange Bowl Committee reach a four-year deal for the winner of the ACC championship game to play in the FedEx Orange Bowl if the team does not qualify for the BCS title game.
2007
■ The conference football title game is awarded to Tampa for the 2008 and 2009 seasons and to Charlotte for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
2010
■ ESPN and the ACC announce a 12-year agreement through the 2022-23 season, worth $1.86 billion. The deal is to begin in July 2011.
2011
■ The ACC extends formal invitations to Pittsburgh and Syracuse to join the conference. The schools would
 |
The ACC Digital Network went live in 2011.
|
officially join on July 1, 2013.
■ The ACC, Raycom Sports and Silver Chalice launch an ad-supported digital network, the ACC Digital Network.
■ The conference votes to keep its championship football game in Charlotte for 2013 and 2014; Commissioner John Swofford hints that he would like to see Charlotte be the game’s permanent host.
2012
■ ESPN and the ACC restructure their television rights deal to run through the 2026-27 season. The agreement boosts the deal’s value to $3.6 billion ($240 million per year.)
■ The ACC and the Orange Bowl Committee announce a new 12-year tie-in that places the ACC football champion in the Discover Orange Bowl. If the ACC winner makes it into the future four-team playoff, a replacement ACC team will play in the Orange Bowl.
■ Notre Dame announces that it will join the ACC in all sports but football, making the Fighting Irish the first ACC member that doesn’t participate in all sports. As a concession, Notre Dame agrees to play five ACC schools per season in football, while retaining its TV rights deal with NBC for home games in South Bend, Ind. The ACC secures a commitment from Notre Dame that should the Irish ever decide to join a conference in football, it will be the ACC.
■ The University of Maryland’s Board of Regents votes to withdraw from the ACC and join the Big Ten Conference, effective in 2014. The ACC files a lawsuit against Maryland in regard to the payment of a $52 million exit fee to leave the conference.
■ The conference announces that the University of Louisville will join on July 1, 2014. The addition of the defending national champions, as well as Notre Dame and earlier additions Syracuse and Pittsburgh, firmly puts the ACC back in the position of being the most powerful college basketball brand in the nation.
 |
ESPN and the ACC revised their television rights deal for $4.2 billion through 2026-27.
Photo by: Getty Images |
2013
■ The ACC forms a committee of athletic directors and hires Wasserman Media Group to explore the possible financial benefits of launching its own conference network.
■ All 15 ACC institutions sign over their media rights to the conference through 2026-27, the same year the ACC’s deal with ESPN expires. The assignment of rights effectively ends speculation that the Big Ten, Big 12 or the SEC might expand by poaching one or more ACC schools. Not only did the rights transfer stabilize the ACC and secure its future, it brought an end, at least temporarily, to the rampant speculation associated with conference realignment.
■ ESPN and the ACC revise their television rights deal for $4.2 billion ($300 million per year) through the 2026-27 season.
— Compiled by Brandon McClung
