Even if the 7 schools had landing spots, I think the rest of the ACC should stick together. You can create the best BBall conference and the FB conference would still get the conference champ into the playoffs. Plus look at all that exit fee money.
Let's assume the 7 leave for the B16 and SEC:
B16- Miami, UNC, UVA
SEC- FSU, Clemson, NC State, VA Tech
I would think the B16 also grabs GA Tech, which leaves 6 ACC schools and Notre Dame. Notre Dame wants to stay Indy so you can convince them to add a 6th ACC game per year. That helps the new TV contract. Also if you keep the conference at 12 or less teams, you get Notre Dame every other year. Which means one home in 4 years vs the current one in 6 years. That is more money from attendance.
Then you add teams to fill out the conference.
IMO the best options are USF (for Florida recruiting and TV market), UConn (for BBall and increased Northeastern market presence), and one of Temple or Villanova (for BBall and TV market). That gets you to 9 teams and you will need at least one more add.
Realistic options (I don't think you can get WV, Cincy, UCF to leave the B12):
-Florida Atlantic (increased Florida presence and added market)
-James Madison (add state of VA)
-Army and Navy as football only
I like the idea of Army and Navy. They fill in geographic holes. For TV $ you get the Army/Navy game. You can then stop at 11 teams or you can add one of FAU and JMU to get to 12.
Since Army/Navy are football only, I would take Georgetown and St Johns for all other sports. You fill in those markets for BBall, and you kill off the Big East. That means the ACC has no real competition in the Northeast, which will bring more TV money.
Can you imagine a BBall conference of SU, Duke, Louisville, UConn, GTown, Nova, St Johns, Notre Dame, Pitt, BC, Wake, USF (and maybe FAU or JMU)? Oh and an ACC Tournament yearly in MSG?
With all that exit fee money, reduced travel costs, regional rivalries for attendance, major TV markets, BBall brands, splitting FB playoff money only 12 ways, one would think financially the remaining ACC schools are better off sticking together vs going to the B12. On top of that you have easy access to making the football playoffs.