Cal and Stanford agreed to join the ACC in the summer of 2023, signing their lives away for 12 years and partial shares of the conference’s revenue.

This week, the schools received confirmation their new home will remain intact for the duration of the agreement.

ESPN exercised the option to extend its media rights contract with the ACC until the summer of 2036. The outcome was widely expected but well received nonetheless across the bicoastal conference.

“We appreciate the ongoing partnership with ESPN and their enduring commitment that further solidifies the ACC as a premier league in all facets,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said Thursday in a joint statement from the conference and its network partner.

ESPN’s decision to extend the deal, which was first reported by ESPN (naturally), likely means the end of realignment at the highest levels of college sports, at least for the remainder of the decade.

Had the network declined the option, there would have been panic in the streets and ivory towers alike. The media rights agreement with the ACC would have expired in two years, potentially leaving the longstanding members and the newcomers to scramble for a new deal or membership in other leagues.

Cal and Stanford might have been rendered homeless just as they were getting comfortable.

Instead, the realignment wave that propelled the Bears and Cardinal into the ACC in the first place — after the collapse of the Pac-12 in the summer of 2023 — should come to an end for the power conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC).

In our view, the next rupture point is 2028-29, when the Big Ten likely will assess its membership situation in advance of media rights negotiations for the contract cycle that begins in the summer of 2030.

ESPN’s report on the ACC partnership contained an additional piece of news — one deeply connected to the contract extension — that could impact on the Bears and Cardinal as they attempt to field consistently competitive football teams.

The conference is restructuring its revenue model in an attempt to satisfy Florida State and Clemson and prompt the duo to end their lawsuits against the conference. If approved, the change likely will exacerbate the disparity in annual revenue sent to the Bay Area campuses. (More on that momentarily.)

Per ESPN: “Under the proposed plan, a percentage of the ACC’s television revenue would be included in a ‘brand’ fund, and that money would then be distributed to schools that annually generate the most revenue for the conference in football and men’s and women’s basketball — with Clemson, Florida State, Miami and North Carolina likely at the top of the pyramid, sources told ESPN.”