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Atlantic Coast Conference had $418.1 million in total revenue for FY17, its new tax return shows. That’s a 12% increase over total for FY16.
— Steve Berkowitz
Power 5 conference per-school distributions for FY17:
–SEC: $42.M to $39.9M
–Big Ten: $37.2M to $37M
–Big 12: Roughly $34.3M per school except Baylor
–Pac-12: $30.9M per school
–ACC: $30.7M to $25.3M except Notre Dame— Steve Berkowitz
Notre Dame, who was paid $4 million by the ACC last year, was given a distribution of $5.8 million due to its affiliation with the ACC in other sports outside of football.
With $15M from NBC (plus bowl money), it seems like ND athletics is lagging behind the other P5 schools.
Some things seem obvious to me:
– Decision to go to ESPN and play second fiddle to the SEC was a poor one.
– ESPN/ABC is over paying, so that SEC money is bound to come down. It also means that renegotiating with ESPN/ABC probably isn’t going to “find” more money.
– Nice find on ND. If they’re indeed “down” on the revenue side because of their deal, then that might create an incentive for them to join the ACC as a full member.
– It would stand to reason that if the ACC added ND and another school, then that would effectively render the current deal with ESPN as invalid and open up another round of negotiation. Of course that crazy future viewing rights thing may cover ESPN, but I doubt that would stand up in court.
– If the ACC break with ESPN/ABC were to happen, it would seem to make sense to pursue NBC (Comcast) to be their “only” college league. Given they’ve not got a NFL division or a real presence in major college sports, one would think NBC would pay a premium.
– The key for the ACC would be to get the per member payout up. I’m not convinced these mega-leagues have been great for per school revenue. That would have to be the focus.
– I am not convinced that a 15 team league is that appealing. It seems like 16 by adding another team (S. Florida / Texas, as I doubt it is UConn due to the bad blood and Navy due to a general mismatch). That per member payout has to cover both new teams.
– If we go to 16, does that mean 2 divisions of 8, or 4 divisions of 4? Seems like it is 2 x 8 with home and home per side, a double round robin on one’s side in basketball, etc.. If one only plays 1/2 the league, is it really a league?
– Time for Swoff to earn that $3M………… I’ll sort it all out for 1/3rd.The ACC won’t be splitting with ESPN anytime soon.
Commissioner John Swofford said Thursday the ACC Network will launch in August 2019 as part of an extended media deal with ESPN that now runs through the 2035-36 season.
– It would stand to reason that if the ACC added ND and another school, then that would effectively render the current deal with ESPN as invalid and open up another round of negotiation. Of course that crazy future viewing rights thing may cover ESPN, but I doubt that would stand up in court.
I don’t think that this is true. The past ACC expansions have resulted in new media deals, but the reports I saw made it sound like the possibility of expansion was always included in the existing contract.
– The key for the ACC would be to get the per member payout up. I’m not convinced these mega-leagues have been great for per school revenue. That would have to be the focus.
Every new deal that I’ve read about has increased the per-school payout. While it’s obvious that this is what schools would want, it also makes sense for the networks. More power schools in “your” conference increases the odds of having a national “power” team under contract (as long as you’re sure that the conference isn’t going to add an ECU to the conference.)
You may be right on that one. The ACC may be permanently in bed with ABC/ESPN. I think if the ACC wanted they could break it if they added ND, and I cannot see how being dead last in per team payouts from the Power 5 leagues is what the schools want.
I’m going to have to retract my ND conclusion. Here’s a year-old article that says that ND’s total athletic revenue exceeds all of the ACC schools….by a fair margin.
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/teel-blog/dp-teel-time-acc-money-post.html
The ACC numbers discussed in the original post only cover the money that the schools receive from the ACC (media rights plus football bowl money).
The day Notre Dame joins ACC football will be the day the NCAA punishes UNC. Dream on.
I’d give the Irish an ultimatum to join the ACC fully or leave. It’s absurd to give Notre Dame, of all schools, partial ACC membership and they keep their football money to themselves. That would be like giving Duke and UNC the same deal and letting them be independent in basketball.
The ACC is already too big. Unless West Virginia was added, right now no other team would be a sensible economic fit. And any additional Florida teams coming into the league would be like the BC admission- get Boston or Orlando in our footprint. I don’t think the Boston footprint is working too well, John.
If the ACC is looking for revenue, recurring revenue, maybe it’s time to allow a return of ACC rivalries that built this league in the first place, still would make money and build fan interest, such as State-Duke twice a year in basketball and every year in football. Same for Wake Forest-UNC. Put the ACCT in Greensboro permanently, and start allowing baseball to have home-and-away series between the Big Four schools every season.
The bigger this league gets, the further it gets from its roots. NASCAR should be the Exhibit A example of what trying to re-invent the wheel will do to this league. Expansion ain’t working, and I think it’s going to continue to pull this league apart in the long run, especially if more teams are added.
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