Virginia Tech welcomes three new universities to the Atlantic Coast Conference
On Sept. 1, the ACC Board of Directors voted to formally admit the University of California, Berkeley; Southern Methodist University; and Stanford University to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Virginia Tech President Tim Sands and Athletics Director Whit Babcock welcomed the three new schools to the conference.
“In this new era of national athletic conferences, the challenges of travel are balanced by the opportunity to compete at the highest level across the country. We are excited to welcome Stanford, Cal, and SMU to the ACC,” said Sands. “These three institutions also reinforce the culture of academic excellence in the ACC, bringing enhanced exposure for Virginia Tech in California and Texas where many of our alumni, prospective students, and academic partners are located.”
"The ACC has added three distinguished academic and athletic institutions in Cal, SMU, and Stanford. I commend Commissioner Phillips, President Sands, and our other university presidents around the league for getting us to this point,” said Babcock. “It was a thorough process. The end result is something for everyone. For the schools that wanted strength in numbers, that's there. From an academic side, there's incentive there. From a revenue standpoint, we have created an opportunity to close that gap. The process was incredibly well done, and this expansion positions us to compete and achieve at the highest levels."
