It’s Official: ACC Announces Plans For Football And Fall Sports

Clemson has waited “patiently”, as has the rest of the college football world, to see if their Tigers get to challenge for another ACC title, the playoff, and another shot at their fourth National title. Today they got the news that they wanted from the ACC.

The conference indeed does have a plan to move forward with not only football, but also all other fall sports. They stated that all seven ACC sponsored fall sports will start competition during the week of September 7-12.

“As we look ahead to the fall, the safety of our students, staff and overall campus community continues to be our top priority,” said Kent Syverud, Chancellor of Syracuse University and the Chair of the ACC Board of Directors. “Today’s announcement outlines a specific path for ACC fall sports to return to intercollegiate athletic competition using comprehensive protocols put forward by our ACC Medical Advisory Group. As a league, we understand the need to stay flexible and be prepared to adjust as medical information evolves in conjunction with local and state health guidelines.”

They gave the following guidelines for the sports.

Football:

1. The season’s first games will take place the week of Sept. 7th-12th.
2. The 2020 scheduling model includes 11 games (10 plus one: 10 conference and one non-conference).
3. All non-conference game opponents, selected by the respective school, must be played in the home state of the ACC institution, and all non-conference opponents must meet the medical protocol requirements as agreed upon by the ACC.
4. The 11 games will be played over at least 13 weeks with each team having two open dates.
5. There will be one division.
6. Notre Dame will also play a 10-game conference schedule and be eligible to compete in the 2020 ACC Football Championship Game.
7. All television revenue for the 2020 season, including Notre Dame’s home games broadcast by NBC, will be shared equally by all 15 institutions.
8. The ACC Football Championship Game will be played on either December 12th or 19th at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, and will feature the top two teams based upon highest conference game winning percentage.
9. All 15 teams will continue to be part of the ACC’s bowl selection process; should Notre Dame win the ACC Football Championship Game they would be eligible for the Orange Bowl, if not selected as a College Football Playoff semifinal team
10. The 2020 ACC Football week-by-week schedule and television selections will be released in the future

Fall Olympic Sports:

1. ACC Fall Olympic Sports competition may begin on Thursday, Sept. 10th.
2. Team sports will play a conference schedule that meets the NCAA minimum amount of games: field hockey (6), women’s soccer (6), men’s soccer (6) and volleyball (10).
3. ACC schools will continue to schedule regular season cross country competitions at their discretion.
4. Any additional games against ACC opponents or non-conference opponents are at the respective school’s discretion and all opponents must meet the conference’s medical standards.
5. Any additional games against conference opponents that are beyond the conference-mandated schedules would not count in the ACC standings.
6. The schedule for ACC Fall Championships:
   • The cross country championships will be held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. on October 30th and will include all fifteen member schools.
   • The field hockey championship will be held at Duke University on November 5th, 6th, and 8th.
   • The women’s soccer championship will include the top four teams and be held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. on November 6th and 8th, as previously announced.
   • The men’s soccer championship will include the top four teams and be held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. on November 13th and 15Th.
7. Television selections via the ACC’s partnership with ESPN and ACC Network will be made in the future.

They had the following to say in regards to winter and spring sports.

Winter and Spring Sports:

1. ACC Competition in the sports of swimming and diving, indoor track and field and fencing will be postponed until at least September 10th.
2. Fall competition in the sports of men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, rowing, men’s and women’s lacrosse, softball, and baseball has been canceled.
3. Student athletes in golf and tennis continue to be eligible to compete unattached.
4. Teams in all sports may continue practice at their institution’s discretion.

This is the best news since we were told that Clemson players could return to campus and begin workouts. It should make many Tiger fans happy now that the plan has been put out there where everyone can see it and start to make their plans accordingly. Even though it is looking more and more unlikely that there will be 80,000 plus Clemson fans chanting C-L-E-M-S-O-N in Death Valley, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a happy day for Tigernation and the rest of the ACC.

To view the entire report you can do so by following the link: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/acc.sidearmsports.com/documents/2020/7/29/Report_of_ACC_MAG_7_29_20.pdf