GREENSBORO, N.C.--- Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford conducted his annual press conference at the ACC Kickoff Sunday afternoon, where he touched on several different topics.

Swofford opened by discussing the additions of Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who will be joining the ACC starting with the 2013 football season, as well as talking about the new deals the league struck with the Orange Bowl and with ESPN.

"We've seen success in expanding our membership and claiming a stake within the postseason structure of college football," Swofford said. "In 2013 the ACC will stretch across nine contiguous states, and we look forward to beginning competition as a 14-member league."

"We have the entire eastern seaboard in nine contiguous states going forward. We've solidified our future in the postseason. We just need to take advantage of the opportunities and win games."

Swofford provided some insight as to why Pittsburgh and Syracuse were such good fits for the league.

"What attracted this league to Pitt and well as Syracuse relates to the balance of athletics and tradition athletically, the future that is there going forward, and then the quality of the institution, and certainly in this instance, geographic as well," he said.

The ACC's new deal with ESPN runs through 2026-2027, which will bring according to Swofford, 'substantial increase in value and exposure.'

"More ACC content than at any point in league history will be televised," Swofford said. "Every ACC-controlled football game will be accessible via one platform or another."

"The ACC network is now in every ACC bowl city, including major markets all over the country, including Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Cleveland."

The new deal with the Orange Bowl ensures that the ACC champion will play in a marquee game on New Year's Day, and if an ACC school manages to reach the national playoff semifinals, a second ACC team will take their place in Miami.

"The 12 year agreement with the Discover Orange Bowl will be part of a new and improved postseason format for college football," Swofford said. "The ACC champion will play on New Years Day beginning after the 2014 season, unless our champion is playing in national semifinals."

"We've recaptured New Years Day," the longtime Commissioner added.

Swofford reiterated that the ACC will definitely be in the national playoff debate if a team proves worthy of a spot.

"We have as much access to one of those four (playoff) spots. If we perform," he said.

For those reasons and more, Swofford purports that the league has never been on stronger footing.

"That (the strength of the ACC) has never been an issue in my mind. You're looking at a league that has a group of schools that are together for all the right reasons. We've just in the last year, with the addition of Pitt and Syracuse, have re-done our rights television-wise in an excellent way that gives us a great deal of security going forward monetarily, as well as from an exposure standpoint."

All the information leaking out this summer suggesting that the ACC was on the verge of ripping apart at the seams was discarded as hogwash by Swofford.

"For all the great things about social media and what it's added to our collective lives, it does at least with some subject matters in our profession creates some problems," he said.

"Unfortunately a lot of information is put out there that has no real basis of truth to it, or is simply inaccurate from a factual standpoint. And that's repeated over and over again."

"I suppose you have to have your internal mechanisms as such where when you see that information out there, you are systemically equipped to combat it as much you can. But it's a battle. You guys (in the media) see that as much as I do."

"In our world, it (conference realignment) is a sexy subject. But there's a lot of misinformation that gets out there," Swofford continued.

With the Orange Bowl discussion naturally comes the question of whether the ACC realistically ever has a shot of plucking Notre Dame from independence.

"I couldn't hear the question," Swofford joked, drawing laughs from the standing-room only assemblage of media. "I can't really speak to that, as you would guess. I would only speak to schools that I know will be ACC members."

"With Notre Dame, it's obvious they're very committed to their independence in football. If that changes as they go forward, we'll wait and see. But I know it's very important to them institutionally," he added.

"We're in the process of talking in regards to several different scenarios (with the Orange Bowl). It could be larger group (of possible opponents). It could be a smaller group. It's a little premature to go there yet, but we hope to have an answer for you in the not-too-distant future."

"It's a very attractive slot on the other side, which is good."

At this point, Swofford said future expansion plans are temporarily on hold.

"Our focus on the moment totally is at 14," he said.

The discussion also delved into the newly-established national playoff for college football, which Swofford was heavily involved in and will begin following the 2014 season.

"I think it's an improvement," Swofford said of the new arrangement.

"In a way it's the best of both worlds, if you will. It's a playoff, but it preserves the regular season, the bowl traditions, and the academic calendar."

Swofford said that the playoff semifinals will be played in two of six bowl games, and the national championship game will be played on a "Championship Monday," just like in the NCAA basketball tournament.

There will be a selection committee that is yet to be determined to establish the teams playing in the playoff, but Swofford told us, 'There is an emphasis on conference championships, as well as strength of schedule and head to head results' of teams in the playoff conversation.

Swofford indicated that the ACC plays 21 non-conference games this fall against teams that played in bowls last year, but admits that the league needs to play better in their games against schools from other top leagues.

"We need to continue to compete, and win, more of our high-profile games against non-conference opponents," he said. "With the quality of programs we have in this league, the quality of commitment to the sport of football, you have to believe the day will come when that 3-12 (record for ACC schools in BCS games) becomes 12-3."

The only new head football coach in the ACC this fall is North Carolina's Larry Fedora, and Swofford made a specific point to welcome him to the conference.

"Coach Fedora joins a great group of coaches in the ACC, in my opinion," said Swofford, who also mentioned Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer, the current winningest coach in all of college football, and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who holds the same distinction in college basketball.

Swofford admitted that the massive amounts of football money have changed the game as far as television negotiations and conference alignment.

Back in the mid-1990s the ACC, at a time when basketball had for years been the league's primary money maker, began to see a trend leading to the modern-day frenzy of dollars geared at college football, and began to plan accordingly.

Since that time the league has grown by a full five members, and now stretches all the way up and down the East Coast.

"We used to bid our basketball and football rights separately. For years in this conference's history, basketball brought in considerably more TV money than football," Swofford said.

"We saw that starting to change in the mid-90s and anticipated that would probably continue, and it did. Football (in the future) was going to generate more percentage-wise of TV revenues that it had in the past."

Swofford concluded his discussion by talking about the ACC's new nine-game schedule that will become a part of the newly-expanded league.

"A majority of the schools prefer moving forward with a nine-game schedule," Swofford said. "It's a little more challenging for a school that has a rival that's outside of the conference. Clemson does with South Carolina. Georgia Tech does with Georgia, and Florida State does with Florida, for instance. But it also relates to a particular school's scheduling philosophy, and that varies."

"I think our Athletic Directors, I think their feeling collectively has been that with a larger conference, it's important to see each other and play each other as much as possible in football and basketball, which is why we went to a nine-game schedule for football and an 18-game schedule moving forward for basketball."

And as might be expected, TV had some input suggesting an expanded conference schedule in the ACC wasn't a bad thing.

"Television had some interest in more conference games. They like conference games," Swofford said.