College football expansion: North Carolina 'aiming for' move to SEC, per report

Another major move on the college football expansion front could be on the horizon if the right conditions present themselves, according to a new report.

North Carolina is aiming to join the SEC if events conspire to allow the school to leave the ACC at some point in the future, according to Inside Carolina’s Adam Smith.

Carolina “could even be considered at the front of that pack, alongside Clemson,” according to the report.

Fleeing the ACC will become a much cheaper proposition in the years to come, thanks to the settlement of recent lawsuits Clemson and Florida State brought against the conference.

The exit fee to leave the ACC will drop from around $93 million in 2029-30 to a more manageable $75 million starting with the 2030-31 academic year.

That appears to be a crucial date on the calendar not just for North Carolina, but for any current ACC school looking for an exit in search of a more profitable conference.

That search culminated in Florida State and Clemson suing the ACC in an effort to challenge the enormous exit fee the conference charged to members who wanted to leave before 2036, when the league’s current grant of rights agreement expires.

That rule effectively prevented any school from leaving the ACC until that date, as any departing member would sacrifice any media money that would be earned in their new conference.

The lawsuit was settled in early June, drawing new terms for how the league distributes money to members, and scoring a short-term win for the ACC to remain intact for at least the next few years, but the current composition of the conference could change very suddenly after that time.

The settlement of that lawsuit proved a “substantial victory to member schools for exploring possible pathways toward leaving the conference and relocating to greener pastures,” according to the Inside Carolina report.

North Carolina chancellor Lee Roberts is also said to have worked behind the scenes in helping to negotiate the ACC’s settlement with Florida State and Clemson, per the report.

UNC was also among the so-called “Magnificent Seven” schools that rebelled behind the scenes against the ACC two years ago amid other conference realignments, asking the league for a bigger share of the financial pie, illustrating its discontent with the existing revenue-sharing terms.

The timing of the ACC’s new arrangement is noteworthy, as the Big Ten’s media rights deal with various networks will expire in 2030, and the SEC’s pact with ESPN ends in 2034.

That could lay the groundwork for another round of conference realignment in the future, and North Carolina could be at the forefront.

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