When it came out that Cal, Stanford, and SMU would be joining the ACC, the logistics were immediately questioned.
For starters, none of those teams play on the Atlantic Coast. In fact, the two of them play on completely opposite sides of the country.
For basketball and football, the solution is easy. Teams will simply make the cross-country trip to play games, but what about non-revenue sports? Will they also be taking these cross-country trips?
The answer is unclear, but ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Friday morning that the answer may be a neutral site location.
Per Thamel, Cal Chancellor Carol Christ said, “The ACC is really interested in using Dallas as a place where teams may come together to minimize the travel.”
Cal Chancellor Carol Christ on non-revenue travel for sports like baseball, softball, volleyball and soccer. "The ACC is really interested in using Dallas as a place where teams may come together to minimize the travel."
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 1, 2023
Obviously, this doesn’t really solve things. Is flying halfway across the country easier than flying all the way across the country? Sure. But is it fair to the players, coaches, and fans? Absolutely not. Obviously, this wouldn’t change a matchup between, say, Boston College and Duke, but if North Carolina is scheduled to face Cal in baseball, they’d go to Dallas.
Realignment across college athletics has been rampant this year, and many view it as a necessary evil, but things like this must be considered.
Plenty of people on social media aired their complaints about the plan.
in all of this nobody asked the athletes https://t.co/RSZGXmCNgG
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) September 1, 2023
Not really interested in hearing what Cal’s leadership thinks of baseball, to be honest. Also, nothing says we care quite like sending UNC to Dallas for a home series against Cal. https://t.co/pAEUwg6is1
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) September 1, 2023
The ACC couldn’t get fan bases to go to Brooklyn, which was actually in the geographical footprint. What makes them think they’re going to go to Dallas? https://t.co/fV5hYOyCU6
— Brian Rauf (@brauf33) September 1, 2023
Love to meet in north Texas as an Atlantic coast based conference to limit travel. https://t.co/PRXbky6LU8
— Not A Basketball Fan (@drewhamm5) September 1, 2023
Yeah by 2040 there will only be about 50 college football teams and no other university sponsored athletic programs https://t.co/VXgffrPKLT
— Ben (@BenJ6257) September 1, 2023
I didn't expect this to get this dumb this fast but in hindsight I certainly should have https://t.co/F699N4JPKq
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) September 1, 2023
