The Atlantic Coast Conference is adding three new institutions with the addition of the University of California, Berkeley (Cal), Southern Methodist University (SMU) and Stanford University as full members with full voting participation.
SMU’s first official day in the ACC was July 1, 2024, while Cal and Stanford will become official members on Aug. 2, 2024. All three institutions will begin conference competition this fall.
The additions of Cal, SMU and Stanford enhance and strengthen the ACC academically, athletically and financially as well as create a true national conference that spans coast to coast. The incoming universities enrich the league’s competitiveness in all sports and further demonstrate the ACC’s commitment to broad-based programs for both women and men. More than 2,200 student-athletes from Cal, SMU and Stanford will join the nearly 10,000 current ACC student-athletes competing at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics.
“This summer marks a momentous occasion for the ACC with the addition of three prestigious institutions – Cal, SMU, and Stanford,” said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. “Since our announcement last September, the conference has been diligently preparing to become an 18-member league that spans from coast to coast. We look forward to the future of this incredible league and extend a warm welcome to the student-athletes, coaches, staff, campus communities, alumni, and supporters of Cal, SMU, and Stanford into the ACC.”
Established in 1953 with seven charter members, the ACC’s expansion is the seventh in the league’s history and gives the league the most members that it has had in the conference’s illustrious history. The conference moved to eight members right away in December of 1953 with the addition of Virginia. After Georgia Tech joined the league in 1979 to remain at eight, the conference expanded to nine members in 1992 with Florida State. The ACC added three members in 2004 and 2005, as both Miami and Virginia Tech joined the league in 2004, followed by Boston College in 2005. Syracuse and Pitt joined in 2013, as did Notre Dame, who agreed to join the ACC in all conference-sponsored sports except football. Louisville accepted an invitation to become a full member of the ACC in 2014.
Cal, SMU and Stanford will begin competing in the ACC across their respective sponsored sports beginning in the 2024-25 academic year. No conference offers more than the ACC’s 15 women’s sports and 28 total sponsored sports.
The University of California, Berkeley, is the flagship of the 10-campus University of California system. Enrolling more than 42,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
Cal Athletics is a broad-based NCAA Division I athletic department that sponsors 30 varsity sports and includes over 900 student-athletes. The department has approximately 300 staff members. Cal Athletics has produced 104 team national championships and 223 Olympic medals. Notable alums include Aaron Rodgers, Jason Kidd, Natalie Coughlin, Marshawn Lynch, Jaylen Brown, Layshia Clarendon and more.
Southern Methodist University is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU brings the highest level of collegiate competition to Dallas, which was recently named the No. 1 city for sports business by the Sports Business Journal, and continues to build on recent success, with all 17 programs reaching the postseason and 16 programs winning conference championships since 2013. SMU is the only NCAA FBS program in Dallas, and has claimed 10 overall national championships, almost 200 team conference championships, over 100 individual national championships, more than 150 NCAA top-10 finishes, nearly 2,000 All-American honors and over 150 Olympic appearances.
Founded in 1885, Stanford University campus is home to seven schools, a distinguished faculty that includes 20 living Nobel laureates, and more than 7,800 undergraduates and 9,600 graduate students. Stanford’s Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation leads the nation with 136 NCAA team championships, has won the Women’s Capital One Cup four of the last seven years, and has achieved the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup for 27 of the 30 possible seasons. Nearly 900 Cardinal student-athletes compete as members of 36 intercollegiate athletics teams.
Stanford is the nation’s all-time leader in NCAA team championships, having won 136 NCAA titles (71 men, 65 women) and 167 national championships overall (77 men, 88 women, 2 coed).
Atlantic Coast Conference
