From the sidelines
By Marty Gordon
The future of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has been played out in the media in many different ways this week. Let’s consider what is going on. At the heart of this discussion is money. Yes, we said money.
At least seven different schools, including Virginia Tech, have expressed concern over the amount of money, or should we say the lack of, from a national television contract signed seven years ago. At the time, the deal made sense. But now, two other major athletic conferences have publicly said the ACC deal is chump change compared to theirs.
This week, ACC leaders discussed the matter during its spring meetings at Amelia Island, Florida. The table talk has centered around a revenue sharing system that would benefit the more successful programs who would earn more money.
Seven schools — Clemson, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia and Virginia Tech — have explored the possibility of leaving the ACC. Blame it on the Grant of Rights Contract, which was signed in 2016 and runs through 2036. The ACC sold the right to air football games on the ESPN family of networks at a dollar amount of around $36 million.
The SEC and Big 10 schools are scheduled to rake in more than $100 million from their deals.
If the ACC-7 move to break the agreement before 2036, each school could owe the league over $100 million and forfeit any TV revenue.
No vote was held on this proposed new revenue distribution model, which includes possible additional monies from the College Football Playoff and other postseason games.
So, ESPN must now step up and rework the ACC deal.
This week, the “threat” of an ACC breakup and/or divorce has fueled the need to renegotiate the deal. Meanwhile, the breakup and demise of the conference needs to come to a squelching halt for at least the moment.
The idea of North Carolina joining the Big 12 and Tech going to the SEC is in the clouds. Both would be deals that would add to the Power Conference 3. A move by Florida State could do that as well.
The national media would like you to believe the ACC is on the verge of splintering all over the country.
The ACC Commissioner said the issues aren’t going away anytime soon. Jim Phillips said there is no magic bullet that closes the gap so the conference will have to be creative.
This idea of divorce will also loom out there as the Big 12, Big 10 and SEC want a bigger piece of the pie and a larger group of schools would aid that.
Let’s just hope the ACC can hold out as long as possible until the pot of money gets a little bigger.
