Report: George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice Lobby for SMU, Stanford to Get ACC Invites

Conference realignment is reportedly becoming more political.

Sort of.

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated reported former President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are among those lobbying the ACC to make some notable additions. Rice has lobbied on behalf of Stanford, while Bush has done the same for SMU.

Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports noted Rice is a Stanford professor, while Bush's wife, Laura, attended SMU.

Bush's presidential library is also located on SMU's campus.

Conference realignment has dominated college football headlines of late with Texas and Oklahoma set to join the SEC after the upcoming season; USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington heading to the Big Ten on the same timeline; and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah going to the Big 12.

The Pac-12 will essentially be gone after the 2023 campaign, leaving Stanford and Cal among the programs searching for a new home.

The ACC could be a landing spot, especially if Florida State and Clemson will eventually be on the way out.

Forde reported Florida State may "serve formal notice of a 2025 move in a matter of days or weeks," which could be notable to Clemson since a source told the reporter the two schools are "very connected."

Yet even amid an uncertain future with the league, Florida State and Clemson have joined North Carolina and North Carolina State as the four schools opposed to adding Stanford and Cal, per Forde.

Bush and Rice aren't the only ones lobbying, as some with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have pushed for the addition of Stanford and Cal in discussions with North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham.

Both schools regularly produce a number of Olympians, and the fear is a diminished athletic department for either would hurt the United States Olympic movement in the future.