1. Culturally ACC never really like for expansion, they liked the original seven/eight. South Carolina was always the rougue and when they left, no one cared. They were ok with GT, culturally like the ACC, then FSU was a no brainer to get into florida. 2. The expansion with Miami and VT and finally BC. really shacked the country club. (they wanted Miami to buy the football brand (and Miami demanded cuse and BC). Well ACC didnt do a good job on counting the votes especially UVA. well and guess what VT came in first, before it was allowed to take miami and finally BC. And ACC culture the tobacco road element spent alot of time reworking the conference and divisions to preserve as much they can the old ACC and the new. (atlantic and coastal)... (they didn't see VT early dominating the Coastal and FSU and Clemson fading .. it was planed every year Miami and FSU. all fat and happy. 3. clemson and FSU was starting to rattle alot about increasing TV share. and Swofford worked it. Guess what simply the objective numbers with ESPN showed ACC didnt have the football ratings or programs to 1) raise rights and generate an ACC network. So Swofford worked it and FSU, particularly demanded a network. ESPN said the conference needed more TV markets and brands. Therefore, they picked Cuse and Pitt alone with the drug deal with ND. Also, ACC had to find a way to ensure the branded teams dont leave. Therefore, the idea was the iron clad GOR. At the team ACC rights were great. FSU got what it wanted so bad a network. and they signed the GOR. However, with that money most of the conference didn't re-invest the money into football, but other supports and supplement operational expenses. (that's the president's directive). Therefore acc football flatlined while product got worse. (VT did it too, with weaver management, Beamer and Stegar retirement and boom. all the football brands flatlined .. except Clemson... It not public or private I would say, it was more these schools are really academic schools, and they embrace a balance. They inherently didnt want a 'football factory'// however, they liked the publicity for being in the national stage. However, by locking in the GOR, this forced the members to stay as a conference until 2035. Big 10 takes a different model than the SEC, their philosophy is they can have a great athletic dept and be a great academic institution.. its not one or the others. However, they are big land grant universities who have large enrollments that can cover the costs. (except Northwestern)... VT is the big 10 model, probably NC state and clemson...