First, this "reoccurring theme" as you put it is nothing more than two or three internet posters out of 500 (?) regulars on this board theorizing about Wake leaving. It's not VT, it's not the VT fan base, and it's not even a small minority of TSL posters.

Secondly, what is the purpose of your notion that the conference favors Wake vs. the new guy on the block, VT? It sounds as though you're implying that if a contraction vote did actually come up, then VT would get the boot before Wake would. I would certainly hope and expect that Wake and the ACC did have very close ties. However I also hope and expect that the ACC has very strong ties to Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Louisville and Notre Dame, even though none were founding members.

Third, I agree with you wholeheartedly that contraction is nonsense. It's worth remembering though the extraordinary circumstances of VT's conference affiliations over the last 30 years or so. To put it mildly, VT struggled and overcame a lot to get into the ACC. So when you see an argument here about everyone pulling their weight or not, please keep in mind the burden and threshold VT had to meet in regard to market size, on-field success, fan base size, financial stability and TV attractiveness, to even sit at the table. VT is in this league full-bore, and we want everyone in it to make it great.