Report: ACC 'Likely' to Follow SEC's Lead in Potential Move to Nine-Game Conference Schedule

The SEC has been mulling a potential move to a nine-game conference schedule for years, but has been hesitant to pull the trigger. Now, not only is push coming to shove on this front, it seems that the ACC could join them as well.

SEC athletic directors met earlier this week, and ultimately came away moving closer to adopting a nine-game conference schedule, according to Yahoo! Sports' Ross Dellenger.

So... how does this involve the ACC?

Dellenger also reports that the league "would likely follow suit" should the SEC go through on adding an additional conference game. The Big Ten and Big 12 already play nine league games, and the ACC would be the odd man out amongst the power conferences should the SEC add a ninth game.

During the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte last month, commissioner Jim Phillips touched on this very topic. Phillips said that he was in favor of staying at eight games, mainly so that various ACC members could retain non-conference rivalries, and because the league has 17 teams.

However, he did say that there had been discussions regarding the subject in the past, and that it was a "work in progress" when having talks about scheduling.

"We have discussed nine," Phillips said. "We discussed nine several times in my five years as commissioner. The group has always felt that, at the end of the day, those non-conference games have really been good for the league and we have really scheduled well. It isn't as if our league has just kind of looked aside about strength of schedule. They have.

"If you go to nine, if the SEC ends up going to nine and maybe we end up going to nine, I think there's a few challenges. Those rivalry games that we really enjoy, I think that the fans really enjoy, I think some of those go away, and it now focuses on everybody's conference schedule than it is a mix of conference schedule and non-conference.

"Also, I think it's a challenge for us with an odd number of schools at 17 and how you exactly work that out. That in itself, there's some difficulty there. I continue to talk to Greg, and I talk to Tony and Brett all the time. We have frequent conversations. I mean, no one's kind of moving in a vacuum on this. We're exchanging thoughts there. We'll see."

So what finally got the SEC to start favoring a nine-game schedule? A couple reasons.

Back in May, The Athletic reported the ESPN was willing to "increase its payment to the SEC" should they move to nine conference games, and that this additional money would "likely be in the range of $50-80 million annually" for each member.

Additionally, on Wednesday, the College Football Playoff selection committee announced that they had enhanced the metrics that they use to "assess schedule strength and how teams perform against their schedule." They also added an additional metric, dubbed "record strength," as part of their process.

For Louisville, this move could have a domino effect for them as it pertains to their future non-conference slate. Currently, the Cardinals have future home-and-home arrangements with two SEC teams: Georgia (2026 and 2027) and Texas A&M (2028 and 2029).

But with the anticipation that the SEC could move to nine games, many program across the conference have cancelled future home-and-homes against power conference competition. Should the SEC go through with a nine-game slate, the Bulldogs and Aggies could cancel their upcoming series with the Cardinals.

Most importantly, the future of the Governor's Cup would be in serious jeopardy with the move to a nine-game SEC schedule. Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart has stated in the past that, if this scenario comes to pass, he wouldn't guarantee that the UofL-UK rivalry would continue.

“I want to see where we go with that deal,” Barnhart told the Courier-Journal in 2022. “That certainly makes our schedule way different. We’ve done a really good job of managing the eight and the four non-conference games. With Louisville, that gives you nine (Power 5) games.”

According to the current contract between Louisville and Kentucky, the final Governor's Cup matchup is set for the 2030 season.