Miami Hurricanes News: Bats battle for ACC title, ACC realignment potential

The Miami Hurricanes baseball team hosts Duke in a pivotal weekend series that begins on Thursday night. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported late on Wednesday afternoon that ACC schools have reached an agreement to stay in the conference after reaching a new revenue deal.

The Miami baseball team enters the weekend 35-17 overall and 16-11 in the ACC tied for first place in the Coastal Division with Virginia. Miami hosts Duke who enters the weekend 15-11 in the ACC and North Carolina is 14-11. Any one of those four has a chance to win the Coastal and earn the second seed in the ACC Tournament.

Number one Wake Forest has clinched the ACC Atlantic title and is the top seed in the ACC Tournament in Durham, North Carolina next week, If the weekend results in tiebreakers, Miami was swept this season by Virginia and won its series at North Carolina. The Hurricanes are also competing to host an NCAA Tournament regional.

The new distribution deal in the ACC will reportedly provide bigger shares of conference earnings based on postseason success. Currently, teams share earnings equally. The well-publicized exit fee from the ACC is $120 million. That number makes it extremely unlikely that an ACC team would leave for another conference.

If an ACC team did leave for another conference in addition to the $120 million exit fee, the AACC would own the television rights of the schools that leave through 2036 because of the grant of rights contract. Jackson reported that the Big 10 nor the SEC were actively recruiting Miami.

David Lake of Inside the U wrote about the rise of the Miami Hurricanes transfer class to sixth nationally and first in the ACC. Miami added defensive lineman Anthony Campbell and wide receiver Tyler Harrell over the weekend. The Hurricanes have 13 transfers which are the least in the top seven tied with LSU.