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ACC votes to add three teams, creating fourth power conference

The Atlantic Coast Conference voted to add Stanford, California and Southern Methodist University to the league next year. 

The decision to pluck three teams from the shrinking Pac-12 means there will be a fourth major conference in the college sports arena. It’s part of a trend toward conferences growing membership and expanding westward.  

As of August 2024, the ACC will increase its number of football schools to 17, and 18 in most other sports.

Meanwhile, the Pac-12 is now left with just two members, Oregon State and Washington State.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State, Clemson, and Florida State voiced opposition to expansion when the conference presidents chose not to vote three weeks ago on adding the three schools. Before Friday’s vote, two North Carolina trustees had released a statement saying they were opposed to the ACC's expansion plan.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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