Chestnut Hill, MA (My Sportsbook) - Boston College didn't take long to accept the Atlantic Coast Conference's invitation to become the league's 12th member after receiving the offer on Sunday morning.
"This morning, Boston College received an invitation to join the Atlantic Coast Conference and we have accepted it," Boston College President Rev. William P. Leahy explained Sunday afternoon.
Boston College received the offer after getting overwhelming approval from current ACC members.
"This morning the conference's Council of Presidents reached a unanimous agreement to officially offer membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference to Boston College," said Barker. "This institution represents and shares the values for which the ACC has long been known," said Clemson University President James F. Barker, chair of the Council of Presidents.
Leahy stated that academics, athletics and finances were all reasons that Boston College agreed to join the conference.
The ACC had previously invited Miami and Virginia Tech to join the conference from the Big East, beginning next year. After the NCAA denied a request for a football championship game with only 11 teams in the conference, the ACC was intent on finding another member.
Rumors of Notre Dame joining the ACC floated around, but were quickly dismissed.
The main purpose of expansion for the ACC is to create a 12-team football league that would give the conference a revenue-making football championship game, plus enhance the conference's chances of gaining a second bid to the lucrative BCS bowl package.
Although serving as the country's strongest and most storied basketball conference, the ACC has never been among the elite in college football. The conference's only football perennial powerhouse, Florida State, joined the league 12 years ago in July, 1991.
The loss of B.C. would weaken the Big East even more. With the possibility of three teams exiting the conference, expect the Big East to look toward other schools, particularly in Conference USA, to fill the current voids left by the exodus.
