Football is the glue. Any football brand with any kind of agenda will not remain in the conference. Miami definitely will not stay put. I would hope VT wouldn't stay put. Who knows with UNC, but I doubt they would stay put either. Your question implies that these schools would stay in the ACC before they went to the Big 12 in this scenario, which at this point should be laughable. The Big 12 is stable; it's a rock. The ACC is currently an extremely top-heavy three story house, sitting on a foundation of wet, but drying sand. I'm not sure what is so hard for you and others on this board to understand about the hypothetical - when it comes to football, the ACC is a national joke NOW, with FSU and Clemson still in the conference. If they leave, especially if they leave around 2030, the stock is going to tank, and it will tank right when the ACC will have to begin re-negotiation of its media rights contract with Disney. We have seen this movie before, so I'm not sure why you're acting like you don't know how it's going to end. If (when) FSU and Clemson leave, it's going to trigger a domino effect - anyone that can leave, will leave, even if it's to the Big 12, because the Big 12 isn't a G5, and it isn't going anywhere. The alternative will be to stay in an ACC that will have to backfill with G5 programs, diluting even further what is already universally recognized and laughed at as the worst "power" football conference. If you think I'm wrong, stop and consider why the ACC basically gave FSU and Clemson everything they wanted to drop their lawsuits.