Conference Expansion
In 1990, the eight-team Atlantic Coast Conference added Florida State to the league, creating a new nine-team ACC. Though Florida State was the only school added to the conference, some league officials discussed offering one or more other schools—Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, South Carolina, Miami, West Virginia, Boston College, Rutgers, or Virginia Tech—an offer to join the league. For various reasons, however, no other team was extended an offer. Throughout the 1990s, the Atlantic Coast Conference remained at nine members.
The nearby Southeastern Conference (SEC), which also encompasses college football teams in the American South, also expanded in 1990. Instead of adding one team, as did the ACC, the then 10-team SEC added two—the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina. The expansion made the SEC the first college football conference eligible to hold a conference championship game under NCAA rules, and the first game was held in 1992. Throughout the 1990s, the SEC enjoyed growing television ratings, revenue, and success on the football field. By 2003, the league was earning over $100 million annually, with the proceeds split among the member schools.
The SEC's earnings and success on the football field proved attractive to Atlantic Coast Conference representatives, who began publicly pursuing the possibility of expansion anew in 2003. On May 13, 2003, representatives voted in favor of extending invitations to three schools. The only certain school was the University of Miami, while the other two spots were still being debated. Initially, the league favored admitting Miami, Syracuse University, and Boston College. After a month of debate, however, the ACC elected to extend formal invitations to Miami, Boston College, and Virginia Tech, which joined after initially being overlooked.
Miami and Virginia Tech began official ACC play with the 2004 college football season. After the league settled a lawsuit resulting from the departure of the three former Big East Conference teams, Boston College began ACC play in the 2005 season. With the league officially at 12 teams, it became eligible to hold a conference championship football game.
Read more about this topic: ACC Championship Game
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