Report: ACC 'Still Evaluating' Stanford, Cal Additions After Exploratory Call

The ACC is "still evaluating" the possibility of adding California and Stanford to the conference, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.

Thamel reported ACC presidents held an exploratory call Tuesday to discuss the idea. On Monday, he reported the conference was weighing expansion amid a new round of realignment.

The Pac-12 as we knew it is basically extinct at this point with just four schools among its remaining ranks. Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State are left to fend for themselves and make the most of an almost impossible situation.

As ironic as it would be for two schools on the West Coast to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC is probably the only plausible landing spot in the Power Five for the Golden Bears and Cardinal.

The Big Ten already picked off the Pac-12's most valuable programs. The SEC won't be jumping at the chance to get a pair of football also-rans. And the Action Network's Brett McMurphy reported Monday that the Big 12 has "no appetite" to poach any of the Pac-12 holdovers or San Diego State.

However, exchanging the Pac-12 for the ACC might be a case of going out of the frying pan into the fire.

Florida State is making clear its desire to leave the conference, and FSU isn't the only school that's pondering its long-term future. Within a few years, the ACC might plausibly be going the way of the Pac-12, and Cal and Stanford could once again be left in the wreckage.

Then you have the logistical challenges and added costs presented by regularly crisscrossing the country for conference contests involving the two. Thamel cited an ACC source who said the proposed expansion is "complicated" in part because of the "significant" travel costs.

Thamel noted Cal and Stanford "do not project to be financial game-changers," which is another consideration for the ACC when the revenue gulf between it and the Big Ten and SEC is widening.

Should Cal and Stanford fail to find a new home out east, a partnership with the Mountain West Conference might start looking better and better for the Pac-12.