BREAKING NEWS: ACC Votes to Expand

The Atlantic Coast Conference voted Tuesday to expand the conference from nine to 12 teams, in a move that will shake up the face of Duke, ACC, and NCAA athletics, various newspapers reported Tuesday.

In a seven to two vote, with Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill voting against expansion, the ACC members paved the way for the University of Miami, as well as some two-school combination of Syracuse University, Virginia Tech University and Boston College to join the conference.

The expansion would transform the ACC into both a football and men's basketball juggernaut, as well as strongly bolster conference play in the various "olympic" sports. Miami and Virginia Tech are perennial favorites for the top football bowl games, and Syracuse captured the NCAA men's basketball championship this year.

Although the ACC has not offered official invitations to any of the four schools, its primary target is Miami. Officials at Miami have said the school would not consider a move out of the Big East Conference unless Boston College and Syracuse were to join them, and have also said they would consider any Big East counter-offer.

ACC member University of Virginia, however, stipulated in its vote in favor of expansion that Virginia Tech, also a Big East team, must be one of the three new teams.</p

"There are still a couple of issues, but the ACC will be expanding," John Thrasher, chairman of the Florida State University board of trustees, told the Charlotte Observer. "Miami really wants Syracuse as part of its package. We definitely want Miami, Syracuse and Boston College, but a couple of ACC schools have a different view of that."

As of Tuesday night, Duke officials, long opposed to expansion primarily because of the impact on basketball, had not issued any statements regarding their vote or the conference's.

The Chronicle will provide complete coverage of the ACC expansion when it begins summer publication this Thursday, May 15.