Should the Mountaineers Try Again for ACC Membership?
Jared Vallorani
| 
MORGANTOWN, WV—Even though the West Virginia Mountaineers were snubbed for membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in the past , should the Mountaineer leadership attempt to join again? Or should the Mountaineers remain in a rejuvenated Big 12?
Over the past two weeks, the Big 12 acted boldly by adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. This come on the heels of adding BYU, Cincinnati, University of Central Florida and University of Houston last year. The Big 12 is sitting very strong as a top 3 power conference now with 16 teams. Just a few years ago after being raided by the Big 10, Pac 12 and SEC, the Big 12 appeared to be in trouble.
Brett Yormark, who replaced Bob Bowlsby in 2022, has done a miraculous job of creating a new and expanded conference that stretches across the Mountain West, Central, and Eastern Time Zones. The schools he added come from major TV markets and have strong and loyal fan bases.
There are reports that the ACC could be in trouble like the failing PAC-12 Conference. WVU could conceivably help the ACC by joining and would be able to play old rivals Pitt, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Louisville and Miami annually, plus not travel too far for away games.
I think most Mountaineer fans would love to see WVU finally get a chance to play in the ACC and have regional games that fans could travel more easily to. But the reality is, the ACC is in trouble. They have one of the worst media contracts among power 5 conferences. SEC signed a 10 year deal with Disney for $3 billion ($300 million annually) with each school earning $51 million per year. Meanwhile, ACC schools are making around $23 million per year and cannot renegotiate their contract until 2036! Yikes!
Florida State has already said they plan to leave the ACC and are looking at ways to raise the money to pay off their contract. Because of the media contract issues and other teams showing interest in jumping ship on the ACC, it may be best for WVU to sit tight and make the most of a rebuilt Big 12.
What does the Mountaineer fanbase think?