Expansion might be the incentive to do that. Replacing ACC conference games with more SEC games with the best ACC schools playing against SEC competition creates more valuable inventory. It commands higher ad buy rates. It maximizes the value of those ACC brands while shedding the league’s dead weight. That gives ESPN every incentive.

Also, it gives the SEC incentive because it has a pro rata clause with ESPN. The SEC will make 2Xs as much in media revenue than the ACC. Bringing in 4 ACC schools at 50% allows the newbies to make as much as they do in the ACC in media revenue while netting the 16 SEC members now $8M extra a year through 2032. That number gets bigger with playoff base distributions.