The SEC won’t be going to 9 conference games next year due to ESPN not guaranteeing it will increase the conference’s payout. The issue is that even if there is a way out of the Grant of Rights (which as of now, there seems to be no indication of), financial pressures on the SEC and Big 10 to deliver on bigger TV viewership means those conferences and their network partners will be more selective. With the new model, Phillips acknowledged the ACC’s new reality but outside of getting ESPN to agree to some kind of new TV deal (the chances of which are essentially zero), there is little to stop schools from continuing to search for backup options. This model doesn’t touch any TV revenue, which negates the TV viewership metrics that Alford has publicly championed showing that FSU was amongst the most highly-viewed teams in college football. The band-aid-on-a-bullet solution the ACC voted on was an unequal revenue-sharing model based on athletic success, with an exact model and parameters still to be determined. It may ultimately be band-aids on bullet wounds, but it's commendable.The news of the “ Magnificent Seven” in the ACC sent shockwaves across the college football landscape just before the league’s annual meeting in Amelia Island earlier this year.įlorida State athletic director Michael Alford had been at the forefront of lambasting the ACC’s current media deal, but the day that ACC athletic directors and commissioner Jim Phillps were set to meet, it became public knowledge that Florida State, Clemson, Miami, UNC, NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech had explored all possible avenues to get out of the ACC’s Grant of Rights and into greener pastures. “Those were non-starter talks for a decade. “In the past 12 months, Jim Phillips & ACC leadership have gotten rid of divisions & built the framework for a success-based revenue sharing model,” Hale added. Get offseason and recruiting intel on your favorite college team for $1 for first month. The league is searching for answers and has taken steps to remain competitive on the national stage, but its long-term outlook remains very much in flux. Swarbrick wasn't in Amelia Island & no one I've talked to even has it on their radar.”ĭespite the challenges facing the conference, the ACC regularly competes with the other Power Five leagues for championships and is likely to continue to do so in the short term, but the financial gap between it and the SEC and Big Ten will only continue to grow. “The notion the Irish would join the ACC was always unlikely. The Fighting Irish’s football program remains independent but joined the ACC for one season during the COVID-19 pandemic and has a scheduling agreement with the league to play multiple ACC programs every year.įull membership, however, does not appear to be on the table after Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick was absent from the ACC’s spring meetings. One possible solution to the ACC’s uncertainty is the addition of Notre Dame to the conference. But bigger issue is this should've happened years ago.” “I've heard some very outside the box ideas that are at least intriguing. “There are some admins who are frustrated the ACC isn't considering some more aggressive expansion tactics to at least do *something*,” Hale added. The ACC is expected to announce 2021-22 distributions of $43 million per school, which falls $30-40 million short of the payments the SEC and Big Ten are likely to dish out when their new television contracts take effect. The key in adding universities to any conference is ensuring the revenue generated from those newcomers is great enough to raise the league’s annual payments to each member institution. From what I've been told, the $$ just aren't there.” “ACC has looked at a few (expansion options),” Hale wrote on Twitter, “including Oregon, Washington, SMU and West Virginia. In an effort to stabilize the conference and keep pace with the SEC and Big Ten, which continue to grow both in membership and financial prosperity, the ACC explored options for expansion, ESPN’s David Hale reported. With seven of the ACC’s most prominent programs – Clemson, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Virginia Tech – reportedly weighing their options, questions about the league’s future are aplenty. The latest round of major college football conference realignment continues to stir up uncertainty within multiple Power Five conferences, and the ACC is the most recent league to jump to the forefront in that regard.
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