Why Hurricanes’ potential ‘alliance’ matchups may not happen for a while

As part of the alliance between the ACC — the conference the University of Miami plays in — and the Big Ten and Pac-12, there’s an increased likelihood of the Hurricanes scheduling football games against teams from the other two conferences.

Just don’t expect for those dream, inter-conference matchups to happen any time soon for UM.

While speaking with 560-WQAM about how the alliance between the three conferences will affect the Hurricanes’ future scheduling, UM athletic director Blake James said the impact isn’t clear yet and may not be for a few years.

“I think that’s still to be defined,” James said. “We’ve aligned ourselves with likeminded schools that have the the same type of shared values when you look at what you want the student-athlete experience to look like.

“There’s still a lot of details to be worked out in all of this.”

James added that Miami’s football team, which usually plays four non-conference football games every year, doesn’t have a non-conference opening until 2027.

But that hasn’t stopped athletic directors from other conferences from contacting James to show interest in scheduling future matchups.

“We both know we have a very strong brand nationally, probably as strong of a brand there is in the country in college athletics,” James said. “We’re going to be attractive. I already spoke with an AD in one of those leagues. They said ‘I’m requesting we get a game with you guys as soon as possible.’

“That said, the scheduling component of it is going to come a ways down the road. I don’t think there’s a financial component to this alliance that was set [Tuesday]. Do things evolve to that? Potentially. But really the announcement was really putting a stake

in the ground to stabilize things and bring together 41 institutions that have the same vision of what that student-athlete experience should look like.”

When Joe Zagacki, one of the radio hosts of the show James was appearing on, said he wanted to see UM add a non-conference game against USC to its future football schedule, James quipped that he was going to put the matchup “on the list.”

“I don’t know if I’m going to have any say in any of that,” James said, “but I’ll make sure I take these notes with me.”

Stadium capacity

James expects for Hard Rock Stadium to operate at full capacity for the Hurricanes’ home games this season, with UM’s first home game scheduled against Appalachian State on Sept. 11.

“Under the current guidelines we’re getting and talking to Hard Rock Stadium, we’re going to have the ability to be at full capacity,” James said. “We’ve gotten a great response from our supporters in buying season tickets. It’s going to be an exciting time at Hard Rock Stadium.”