The Atlantic Coast Conference made talks over the last few weeks official Friday morning, announcing the expansion of the conference. The trio of Stanford, Cal and SMU are joining the ACC, moving up to 18 teams over all sports including Notre Dame, with 17 for football.

For the expansion to go through, 12 of the 15 schools needed to vote “Yes” and the ACC was able to achieve that. The Clemson Insider confirmed that three big schools in Clemson, Florida State and North Carolina voted “No” all throughout the process and it created difficulty for this day to come to fruition.

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips spoke to the media Friday afternoon after the announcement, and one of the big topics was the dissenters during the decision. Clemson acknowledged their disagreement and Phillips elaborated on how he was able to get 12 teams to say “Yes.” The approach had to change and that’s how it all came together.

“I would just say it wasn’t the same proposal as it was two weeks ago. I can’t go into the details of it, but there were some specific things that changed, that I think really got several of our schools either across the line or close to it, and, and so, again, I give our schools credit, and tried to take those two weeks that you describe when we first kind of gotten together and we never really took an official vote two weeks ago, it was more about just what are you thinking, what’s the reaction to it, etc. Today was really the first and only formal vote that we took. So again, just massaging the deal points and putting something together that was more attractive to the group this time around.”

Football is at the center of this decision, and Phillips said this will include “three or four trips” for the new additions. Looking at the current members, Clemson and Florida State disagreed and those two hold every ACC championship but one year since 2011.

It’s important to note this considering both schools are in the rumor mill on leaving the ACC. Phillips gave his message about the teams that disagreed, and how he hopes to keep the conference together. He mentioned the ‘success initiative’ and how that plays into the optics.

“I know that there’s something in this for everybody. No one can deny that. It also takes a step forward towards it. Maybe it’s not enough. Maybe it is. But we are doing everything we can within the conference to address that piece of it. And the success initiative, let’s let that play out. Let’s see what that looks like. Let’s see how much revenue was generated and distributed to those that may have more success in football. So I’m not ready to say that it doesn’t or will or might, I want to get this thing involved, get this structure in place and let us move forward. And I would, you know, I’d encourage you to talk to the folks that that voted no on this and see what their thoughts are. But I felt came away and my staff and the chair came away that this was a very good outcome for the ACC. It has something for everyone, may not have everything for everyone, but whether you voted for or not, you’re going to benefit from this new arrangement and these three world class schools joining the ACC”

It’s still very early in this era of conference realignment, and Phillips didn’t rule out adding more teams to the pool. Watching how this develops around the country will be key, and the ACC is right in the center of it all.