The ACC has made its decision on college football this fall, as well as its other fall Olympic sports. The conference announced Wednesday that its soccer season will begin playing during the week of September 7, originally scheduled as Week 2 of the 2020 season. ACC teams, plus partial league member Notre Dame, will play 11 games, including 10 ACC contests and one conference game against an opponent residing in the home state of the league members.
“Today’s decision was made after months of careful planning by numerous people throughout the conference,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. “The Board’s decision presents a way, if the public health guide allows it, to advance with the competition. Our institutions commit to taking the necessary measures to facilitate the return in a safe and responsible manner. We recognize that it is possible that we have to be agile and agile. make adjustments in the future. We will be as prepared as possible in case it is necessary. “
Notre Dame will participate in the festivities and play a full 10-game ACC conference schedule, making it eligible to compete in the ACC Championship Game as a 15th temporary conference member in 2020. The ACC Championship will be held between the two teams at the top of the standings as the ACC will not play divisions in 2020. The ACC Championship will be played on December 12 or 19 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
All games not related to the Notre Dame conference will be televised on NBC, and television revenue from both Notre Dame and the other 14 ACC schools will be counted and distributed equally among the 15 schools.
The full schedule, which ACC says “will be released in the future,” will run for at least 13 weeks, allowing each team two open dates. These will be used as free weeks or as possible replacement dates in the event of interruptions.
For a complete team-by-team breakdown of the local and visiting calendar for each program, Click here.
As for the non-conference games each team will play, the programs have control of the scheduling of those contests; however, all non-conference games must be played in the home state of the ACC school. This preserves potential annual rivalry games, such as Florida State-Florida, Louisville-Kentucky, Georgia Tech-Georgia, and Clemson-South Carolina.
Outside of soccer, the ACC announced plans for its fall Olympic sports. The seasons for field hockey, women’s soccer, men’s soccer and volleyball will begin on Thursday, September 10. All schools will play a conference schedule that meets the minimum number of NCAA games, but may schedule additional games against conference or non-conference opponents at their discretion as long as potential opponents “meet ACC medical standards.” Any additional games against conference opponents that are not part of the mandatory conference hours will not count in the ACC ranking.
The ACC also announced that sports such as swimming and diving, indoor running track and fencing are postponed until at least September 10. All fall competitions in sports such as golf, tennis, rowing, lacrosse, softball, and baseball have been canceled. Practice in all sports will be permitted at the discretion of each school.
