How many votes are required for Stanford and Cal to join the ACC expansion? Exploring future options for Pac 12 schools

Stanford and Cal are both looking to potentially leave the Pac-12, and the Atlantic Coast Conference remains a possibility to land them.

With the Pac-12 down to eight schools, Stanford and Cal both released statements expressing their interest in seeing what is out there. After that, talks with the ACC heated up, and many insiders expected the conference to add Stanford and Cal. Recently, though, it was revealed that the ACC didn't have enough support to add them.

However, now according to CFB insider Jim Williams, the ACC now appears ready to expand and needs 12 votes of the 15 members to approve the expansion.

"LATEST UPDATE - The majority of the ACC is in favor of this expansion, but four to five of the 15 members are pushing back against the move, per the report from Yahoo sports," Williams tweeted.

"In order for the expansion to go through, the conference needs a three-fourths majority—12 votes of the 15 members—to approve any move. Notre Dame receives a vote because it is a partial conference member in football and a full member in all other sports. The Fighting Irish are in favor of adding Stanford and Cal," Williams added.

As Williams mentions, Notre Dame has been one of the schools that have been advocating for Stanford and Cal to join the ACC. Whether or not the Fighting Irish get another 11 votes needs to be seen, though.

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Stanford and Cal looking to leave Pac-12

After the Pac-12 went down to four teams, Stanford and Cal made it clear that they were looking to leave the conference and continue.

Both teams released statements saying that they wouldn't wait on the sidelines for the Pac-12 to do something. However, what hinders Stanford's realignment process if the ACC doesn't approve them is the fact that coach Troy Taylor said that the school is only interested in playing in a Power 5 conference.

"I think the players that committed to us and came here. They want to play Power 5 football, and that is what our intention is with this university," Taylor said. "I can't imagine anything else."

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Who else could ACC be interested in?

Along with looking to add Stanford and Cal, the ACC could also look to add more teams to the conference.

According to multiple reports, the ACC is also interested in adding SMU along with Stanford and Cal to add three new teams. However, reports indicate that four to five of the 15 members aren't interested in adding those three teams to the ACC.

It will be interesting to see if any of them switch their vote to allow those three teams.