Florida State, Clemson, and Miami are decent jobs. FSU and Clemson do have strong fan bases, and probably enough rich boosters to stay competitive on the NIL market. Miami has plenty of money, but a weak fan base and no on campus stadium. I'd rank them below FSU and Clemson.
UNC, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and NC State all have potential. Populus states, access to a strong high school talent pool, and likely some $$$ in the booster pool. Especially UNC and Virginia. But a lot of that is probably getting directed to basketball. Don't know. But I'd rank that bunch a rung below the top 3.
Places like Louisville, Georgia Tech have some potential but will never break through to the upper level. Although I'd bet Georgia Tech has a ton of untapped funds if they want to spend them.
SMU is a wildcard. Small fan base, but extremely deep pockets. They have literally bought their way into the ACC and could continue buying their way top the top of the league while barely averaging 30k fans a game.
The rest of the league that resides east of the Mississippi is too weak to consider. And Cal and Stanford do not fit, being all the way across the country, and already in a bad spot with horrible administrations that don't value football in any meaningful sense. I do not understand why the ACC thought they would add value apart from giving the league games in the late night TV window, but who watches those games?
Notre Dame would be an obvious #1 if they were a full fledged member. When you break all of this down, it becomes obvious how weak the ACC is. In fact, I'd rank Auburn squarely in the upper tier of jobs in this league were they an ACC member.
