Jim Phillips addresses relationship between ACC, Clemson, Florida State after settlement

Florida State, Clemson and the ACC worked this offseason to strengthen their relationship after reaching a settlement to resolve the programs’ lawsuits against the conference. The main gist of the dilemma between the Seminoles, Tigers and ACC had to do with the conference’s exit fee, and revenue distribution.

In the end, both schools and the conference were able to agree, and now they’ll move forward as part of the ACC. Kicking off ACC Media Days, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips addressed the relationship between Florida State, Clemson and the conference, and where it all stands at the moment.

“Maybe everybody doesn’t get exactly what you want, but you get to a place that’s for the greater good, and that’s where I felt it was different,” Phillips stated. “I know what the Florida State and Clemson people were saying, and they said it to the entire group, about their desire to be in the ACC and all the rest of that. I believe them, I really do. I have a responsibility to make sure that our ACC schools want to be in this league. Not just have to be in this league. I think that’s important.

“Five years ago, one of the things I said was I wanted to make sure that I listened. If you were going to serve the membership, you had to listen to the membership. I think that’s what we did. In this particular case, we did that. We did it, I thought, in a very fair and equitable manner. If you want to earn more money, then you’re going to need to invest. We have two prongs to this thing. You have the overall success initiatives, where if you perform in football and men’s and women’s basketball, you will get a bigger share of the revenue from the conference than others.

“Then, viewership ends up being — go put a good team together. Invest. Play good competition. Play good non-conference games. Draw attention, like last year’s game with Georgia Tech and Florida State did, and others. I listed the Clemson–LSU game. Go fight for those dollars, from a viewership-standpoint. Everybody’s going to get a certain level of viewership dollars. There’ll be a little bit of teeter-tottering based on your performance, based on your team, and that’s healthy. I really do.”

All in all, Phillips recognizes that the model they’re going to implement works for the ACC, even if it might not work for each and every conference in the sport: “It may not fit all leagues or other leagues, but I know that that was part of what was right, and a reconciliation for the league,” Phillips added. “Since we’ve had that take place in March, I’ve not felt stronger about this league than I have in the last five months. I mean that. I’m not just saying that, it’s not hyperbole and all the rest of that stuff. I really believe that. When you think about settling those lawsuits and being committed to one another.

“You talk about viewership and success on how to distribute dollars. You talk about coming back off of the most revenue we’ve ever distributed. 29 national championships. The sport of football is getting better, and we want to take another step this year. The league is situated nicely right now. Difficult, bumpy, challenging — but let’s not let a lazy narrative, from the standpoint of not people not moving on and understanding kind of where we’re going. I feel like the league has earned that. Nobody gave that to us.

“We were steady. You didn’t see us at all move this way or that way. People said a lot of things about the league, but at the end of the day, that’s what we’re at. Also, our partnership with ESPN. which everybody said was not going to happen through 2035-36, which gives us a platform for the ACC for the next decade.”

Alas, Florida State and Clemson seem satisfied, as does Jim Phillips and the ACC. It’ll be fascinating to see what the future holds for the conference, but both teams are focusing on being the best they can be in 2025 now, it seems.