College Football

Sources cautioned that the two scheduled discussions are in the embryonic stages — one call slated with the ACC athletic directors and a separate call with the league's presidents that will play out on Monday and Tuesday. With the Pac-12 down to just four schools after the defection of five universities on Friday, the four remaining schools — including Cal and Stanford - are scrambling to find places to land. Both have elite academic reputations and Stanford consistently has the country's best top-to-bottom athletic department, but the reverberations of realignment have left them at a crossroads. There will be headwinds to a move for Cal and Stanford to the ACC, as sources on Monday cautioned about the complexities involved.

"It's complicated," an ACC source said. "There's a significant travel expense. I think it's going to be all over the board with both the ADs and the presidents in what they may want to do. [Cal and Stanford] would likely have to take a reduced share. Eventually, though, they're going to want to become a full share."

The potential additions of Cal and Stanford do not project to be financial game-changers, per sources. And while the addition of the academic prestige of schools like Cal and Stanford would certainly excite some ACC presidents, the fiscal upside appears limited.

"There's no windfall for the current members," the ACC source said, indicating that it's hard to envision any scenarios where it would be significantly additive for the current schools. As the Pac-12 crumbled last week, there were talks and ideas exchanged between as many as seven Pac-12 schools and the ACC for potentially merging, adding schools or doing something with scheduling. There were formal talks, per sources. But none appeared to be ultimately grained in reality for fiscal reasons.