CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Financial might has the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences leaving the rest of the college leagues in the dust.
Even with the ACC as one of the conferences falling behind in that metric, league commissioner Jim Phillips said Wednesday he doesn’t fear an impending defection of a school.
“I love our 15 schools and I’m confident in us staying together,” Phillips said. “That’s all I’ve heard in the calls we’ve had. We want to work together to provide more resources to our student-athletes. But we are all on the same page.”
Phillips spoke during a news conference with reporters at the ACC’s football media event in Charlotte.
While acknowledging the growing revenue gap, he was steadfast the ACC should take a back seat to no one.
“It remains my belief there is no better conference in the country,” Phillips said. “When you combine our incredible student athletes, world class institutions, broad based sports offerings, and our commitment to maximizing the educational and athletic opportunities for students.”
He said the league and ESPN, which are 50-50 partners in the ACC Network, are having daily conversations about how to increase revenue.
“They’re motivated, we’re motivated and we’ve come together to have some discussions about what would be the next iteration for the ACC,” Phillips said. “Doesn’t mean we’re going to make a move. Doesn’t mean we’re not going to move. But all options are on the table.”
The league, ESPN and revenue consultants are looking at the current contract, seeking ways to help both sides.
“Really excited about being able to release that maybe by the end of the month,” Phillips said.
Conference realignment once again became a top issue last month when Pac-12 stalwarts UCLA and Southern California announced they were leaving that league for the Big Ten in 2025.
That gives the Big Ten 16 schools, matching what the SEC will grow to once Texas and Oklahoma join that league officially no later than 2025.
The Big Ten and SEC are the two financial behemoths among college conferences due to their lucrative television deals. Schools in those two leagues already earn at least $25 million more, on average, than ACC schools do from their media deals.
So the rest of the conferences scramble to keep up.
“In all metrics we are one of the leaders in the country, except the revenue piece of it,” Phillips said. “And that’s been brought to life in the recent moves of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten.”
Phillips said everyone involved in college athletics should be pulling on the same rope to keep college athletics strong for all.
“We are all responsible for the greater good of the enterprise,” he said.
As for the SEC and Big Ten becoming a power two, Phillips believes such moves are bad for college athletics as a whole.
“The ecosystem is not dissimilar to our respective neighborhoods that we live in, keeping them healthy and diverse is a priority,” Phillips said. “There will always be a variety of communities. Gated upper class, middle class or more modest.
“This is not and should not be a winner take all or a zero sum structure. I will continue to do what’s in the best interest of the ACC but will also strongly advocate for college athletics to be a healthy neighborhood, not two or three gated communities.”
On one hand, the ACC doesn’t appear to be in imminent danger of losing schools because of the grant of rights contract member school presidents signed in 2013. That contract ties the schools together, stipulating a school must forfeit any media revenue from its home games through 2036 no matter what conference it calls home.
That means a school wishing to leave the ACC could face hundreds of millions of dollars in financial penalties to do so.
Phillips said decisions by USC, UCLA, Texas and Oklahoma to stay in their current leagues until their grant of rights expires is a sign of how strong that document is.
But, since no one has challenged the grant of rights in court, some doubt remains.
“I think it holds, but your guess is as good as mine,” Phillips said.
At his address during the SEC’s media event Monday in Atlanta, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey indicated his league is not currently in expansion mode following the Big Ten’s move, saying “we know who we are.”
He also said grant of rights contracts factor greatly, saying “we’re not going to get in the middle of those.”
While the grant of rights appears to give the ACC stability, the ACC’s television deal with ESPN, which expires in 2036, puts the league schools in a negative financial position compared to the SEC and Big Ten. The SEC just inked a new television deal with ESPN and the Big Ten is negotiating new deals to replace its expiring contracts.
In the 2020-21 fiscal year, the SEC brought in $833 million in revenue followed by the Big Ten ($680 million) with the ACC lagging at $578 million. Those figures were, of course, before the SEC added Texas and Oklahoma, the Big Ten landed USC and UCLA and those two leagues see increased revenue from new television deals.
While wanting all of college athletics to remain strong rather than two leagues taking control, Phillips admitted once again the ACC must find a way to increase its revenue. It remains, he said, top of mind.
