New additions have ACC, Swofford settling into a period of stability

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Atlantic Coast Conference is settling into a period of stability it helped create.

Syracuse and Pittsburgh are finally here, Notre Dame is partly in, and Louisville will arrive soon.

So as the league held the first of its two-day preseason football extravaganza, the focus is squarely on the field.

Commissioner John Swofford said Sunday that "the composition for the long-term membership of the ACC has never been stronger." That's thanks to the new grant-of-rights agreement that pumped the brakes on realignment and basically locks in the current members and Louisville until 2027.

Swofford said if Notre Dame ever chooses to place its independent football program in a league through 2026-27, "that conference by contractual agreement would be the (ACC)."

He also says the ACC has "unlimited potential" in football.