Top officials of the ACC and ESPN continue to say that they don't discuss expansion, and ESPN doesn't influence what the ACC does. I don't believe that especially with how close ACC officials and the ESPN management are in their relationship.

Remember that Raycom has spent the last 5 years negotiating distribution of ACC football and basketball games to be shown on these regional networks all over the country. In the ACC footprint there are deals with New England Sports Network (Boston), Yes Network (New York), NBC Sports Network Washington (DC, Baltimore), Spectrum Sports (Syracuse), ATT Sports Network/Root (Pittsburgh), Fox Sports Southeast (NC, SC, GA), Fox Sports Sun (FL).

ESPN has the broadcast rights to the ACC for 20 years. If they buy these Fox Regional Sports Networks, they'll need content for these networks. ACC can provide it. Could it become more important for the ACC to add a team in a major market where ESPN has a RSN? (New York, Orlando, Tampa, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio), or to add a team in a market where NBC has one that ESPN can sell content to? (Philadelphia, Chicago). ESPN also has the rights contracts for the SEC and the American. They too are in some of these places. Perhaps they do an analysis on which one is the best bang for the buck for the RSN model.