![]() They had a chance to vie for a national championship and compete in the CFP. They had a chance to play a fantastic schedule. “That was a really beautiful and beneficial relationship to both Notre Dame and the ACC. “I think we all got a glimpse of what it would be like to have Notre Dame in the conference this past fall,” Phillips said, referring to the 2020 season when Notre Dame joined as a temporary member because of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the ACC’s brand just took a hit, and the Big Ten’s got even more of a boost. But the Fighting Irish now have even more leverage. There’s a reason commissioner Jim Phillips continued to put the full-court press on the Irish last summer at the ACC’s media days. Thanks in part to Notre Dame sharing its home game rights on NBC with the rest of the conference in 2020, the ACC generated $80 million-plus more in revenue in 2020-21 than it did the previous year. It’s no secret that Notre Dame would be the ACC’s first choice, and rightfully so. “Maybe there’s somebody not named Notre Dame?”īut Notre Dame already plays an average of five ACC games per season and the Fighting Irish have a national brand with standalone television money that is hard to compete with. “It’s really well known Notre Dame coming into the league would cause the TV contract to open,” the second administrator said. Perhaps the ACC will add another member, as one of the administrators suggested could be a possibility. But the way you gain leverage in any negotiation is by winning.” Is Notre Dame the only savior? The only way you reopen it is if you add another school, if there’s significant changes to the membership of the ACC. “We’re significantly below the SEC and Big Ten, but I don’t know we were fifth,” the first ACC administrator said of the TV deal. If Thursday made anything clear, it’s that the SEC and Big Ten intend to run college football for years to come, and the other three Power 5 conferences are left playing catch-up. And that was with Notre Dame joining the conference as a 2020 member because of the pandemic. Each school received an average of $36.1 million. The ACC set a league record, generating about $578 million, but still came up about $200 million shy of the SEC and about $100 million shy of the Big Ten.The Big 10 generated nearly $680 million in total revenue, with each school receiving an average of $46.1 million.The SEC generated $777.8 million of total revenue, with each member institution receiving an average of $54.6 million.Even if a school like Clemson forfeited over its media rights to the ACC through 2035-36, a super conference like the Big Ten or SEC - whom the Tigers compete with regularly anyway - might still pay the program out more money over time. The problem for the ACC, though, is that with every year that passes, it’s possible that it makes less long-term financial sense for a powerhouse like Clemson to stay in the current deal. Stanford and Cal could be intriguing options considering their high academic prowess. The administrator pointed out that with USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12, there could be other schools within the Pac-12 and Big 12 that could add value to the current ACC model, based on perceived television value. “Could that change?” the administrator added. One ACC administrator pointed out that the grant of rights hasn’t been challenged in a court of law, but that they seem “pretty airtight.” Also in 2015, the ACC struck a deal with ESPN through 2035-36. In 2016, the ACC Council of Presidents unanimously agreed upon the current rights, which run through 2035-36 and stipulate that an ACC school’s media rights remain with the conference through that period regardless of membership status. The only thing currently keeping the ACC together is the league’s grant of rights. “I hope our league can remain stable through the turmoil.” Will the ACC survive? “It is concerning that both the SEC and Big Ten are strengthening their positions at the expense of the Big 12 and Pac-12,” one ACC coach said in a text message. But the thought of Notre Dame saving the day and joining the conference in full capacity is probably an even longer shot now than it was before.Īnd with the Big Ten and SEC potentially looking to form two super conferences with 20 or more teams, the ACC could be the next Power 5 conference that’s raided. No one within the league’s 14 football schools is sure what will happen to the conference as dominoes continue to fall in the sport’s ever-changing landscape. ![]()
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