ACC Commish recognizes revenue gaps but lacks answers as ACC navigates shifting landscape

On3 imageby:Gary Ferman07/20/22

CaneSport

The ACC is on the clock to somewhat keep pace with the surging SEC and Big 10 conferences. Commissioner Jim Phillips was on the hot seat Wednesday in Charlotte as the ACC braintrust convened for its annual Media Day and he unfortunately didn’t show up with many answers or solutions.

In a nearly hour-long session, Phillips addressed all of the issues facing the conference, among them the revenue gaps from a smaller TV deal with ESPN, the elephant in the room on whether Notre Dame will join the conference, how to turn the Conference’s overall success in athletics into more revenue, and more.

Here are some highlights from comments made by Phillips in the session:

ON ACC COMPETITIVENESS: Accomplishments included winning more NCAA National Championships (7) than any other conference. ACC student-athletes won 20 NCAA individual titles. Beyond the seven team championships, eight additional ACC championships competed in the national semifinals, two for a national championship, and three teams had to face another league team in either the semifinals or finals. Over the entire academic year, 12 ACC schools captured either an ACC or NCAA title, and 11 programs finished ranked either first or second in the country in their respective sports. Academically the ACC continues to lead the country. For the 15th consecutive year the league has led the way among all football bowl subdivision conferences in best colleges rankings by U.S. News and World Report with three schools ranking in the top 25 and seven in the top 40.

ON NIL: “The lack of a single enforceable standard for NIL across the schools and all states has created an environment where inducements inaccurately labeled as NIL are disrupting recruiting. Fair regulation of recruiting is essential for fair competition. We all know NIL has upended recruiting, a result no one
desired when it came into effect last July. How did it happen? NIL rules differ from state to state. Regulation is nonexistent. Enforcement of the rules is incredibly challenging. The ACC student-athletes that make up our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee continue to engage with members of Congress
on finding a regulatory solution that is national in scope and fair while still allowing for outstanding opportunities. As state legislators continue to seek recruiting advantages and as legal challenges continue to chill the enforcement of rules, only Congress can provide consistent standards and the appropriate protection to implement what is ultimately passed. We all have kind of vowed to stay within certain boundaries as it relates to rules and regulations. This is one that doesn’t have any right now. So that’s where the bumpiness has come into, and that’s where the uneasiness that I certainly feel within our
conference and I know other commissioners feel in their conferences. We really, really need some help in
Washington. That’s a tough place to be. America has a lot of issues going on right now. I’m not sure that that’s a priority for our lawmakers, but I will say we have been engaged with quite a few congressmen and
women and senators on both sides of the aisle, and I feel like we’re creating at least a little bit of momentum here. We all hope that something can occur over the next six, eight, ten months where there is something adopted that we could all abide by across the college athletics universe.”

ON SPORTS EXPANSION AND TITLE IX: The ACC is a year away from sponsoring 28 sports with the addition of women’s gymnastics in ’23-’24. The conference will sponsor 15 women’s sports and 13 men’s sports, more than any other conference.

ON THE GENERAL PHILOSOPHY OF COLLEGE SPORTS: “We are not the professional ranks. This is not the NFL or NBA Light. We all remain competitive with one another, but this is not and should not be a winner-take-all or a zero-sum structure. College athletics has never been elitist or singularly commercial. It’s provided countless individuals with a path to higher education and, therefore, life-changing possibilities, access, opportunity at a modern rules-based structure, should all remain a priority as we
continue to evolve.”

ON NON-CONFERENCE FOOTBALL SCHEDULING: “The ACC’s nonconference football scheduling continues to be the strongest in the country with our teams playing 21 games against Power Five opponents, eight nonconference games against teams ranked in the final 2021 Associated Press Top 20 poll, and all 14 teams will play one Power Five nonconference opponent with seven of our schools playing two. There’s no shortage of exciting games this season, and we appreciate our amazing television partners providing national platforms for our fans.”

ON ACC NETWORK EXPANSION AND PROGRAMMING: The Conference has accomplished full distribution and the ACC Network is now available to nearly 90 million households. There continues to be
a priority to increase football programming year-round.

ON THE NEW ACC SCHEDULING MODEL THAT TAKES EFFECT NEXT YEAR: The ACC football scheduling model begins next season and runs through 2026. The new model will include each team playing three
primary opponents every year while facing the other ten league teams twice during the four-year cycle. Once at home, once on the road. This will eliminate the Atlantic and Coastal divisions. The top two teams now based on conference winning percentage will compete in the Subway ACC Football Championship game. “Overall, the future scheduling model provides significant enhancements for our schools and conference, but the most important being for our student-athletes having the opportunity to play
every school, both home and away, over a four-year period.”

ON AN EXPANDED COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF: “The ACC continues to be supportive of an expanded college football playoff. The ACC took what we believe was a necessary stance regarding last fall’s CFP
proposal. This was based on what we feel we must all come together to address before rushing into a new model. The implementation of a 365-day calendar, health and safety, and several other items. Engagement is ongoing with our schools, and my fellow commissioners to chart a path forward prior to the expiration of the current CFP contract in 2026. We had two great meetings in April and in June, and I’m confident that our concerns and others’ concerns will be addressed and a new model with greater access will ultimately come to pass. We will do our part in the ACC to make it happen, but there’s some more work to be done.”

ON WHETHER THE NEW SCHEDULE FORMAT WAS MOTIVATED BY A POTENTIAL EXPANDED PLAYOFF: “It had an awful lot — again, when you talk about an expanded playoff, you’d like to crown your champion in a way that you have the two best teams in your conference playing for that championship game. Prior to the passing of the recent legislation, you had to go into divisions in order to have a championship game. Now the ability for teams to line up in a singular division for there to be an opportunity to play within that singular division eight games and then we’ll crown the champion based on winning percentage. It definitely had impetus for what we did.”

ON REALIGNMENT IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL: “Of course the recent announcement of two PAC-12
schools’ pending move to the Big Ten in 2024 set off a flurry of conversations both inside and outside of our league. While I won’t go into details of those conversations, I will tell you that while the ACC is strong,
we are continually evaluating all options that could further strengthen our conference, and we are engaged in ongoing dialogue with our media partners. There’s been a lot of rumors and speculation the last few weeks, and I understand we all want answers and certainty. With that said, these decisions will impact our member institutions and student-athletes for years to come, and all options, all options, must be carefully evaluated.”

ON THE REVENUNE GAPS THAT HE IS TASKED WITH BRIDGING: “I want to maybe level-set it. The last 20 minutes I think you got a sprinkling about where the ACC is nationally. All metrics, we are one of the leaders in the country in all of those areas I talked about, except the revenue piece of it, and that’s been brought to light with the recent move of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten. A year ago we were talking about the same thing, and so truly over the last 18 months it’s been my primary focus. We were able to get distribution done. We have some other things coming forward relative to what we’re going to
do in partnership with some revenue consultants that I’m really excited about being able to release that maybe by the end of the month. We’re looking at our TV contract. We’re in engagement daily — almost daily with our partners at ESPN. I openly talk about ESPN because we are 50/50 partners on our network, and so they’re motivated, we’re motivated. We’ve come together to have some discussions about what would be the next iteration for the ACC. It doesn’t mean we’re going to make a move. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to make a move, but all options are on the table. Revenue is certainly one piece and a really big piece as we move forward, but I will say it again, we need all communities healthy. When you think about where we’re at right now, we’re probably in the gated community as one of five. Maybe people have a different line of demarcation about who is in there. We’re going to continue to try to find new ways to generate revenue for our conference. I don’t know that (expansion) is the only solution. I
think you have to look creatively. We’ve been doing that over the last year. We’re going to continue to do that. All neighborhoods need to be healthy. It’s not good for college athletics if we’re not. We understand where those two leagues are. No one is ignoring that. We’re all trying to find ways to close that gap. So I know where our 17 — or our 15 schools are. We are really aligned to try to find some solutions to that revenue gap, but it can’t be at the expense of all the other things that we’re doing.”

ON WHETHER THE ACC WILL STICK TOGETHER: “I love our 15 schools, and I’m confident in us staying together. That’s all I’ve heard in all the calls that we’ve had. We want to work together to try to provide
more resources to our student-athletes, so we’re all on the same page.”

ON THE POSSIBILITY OF NOTRE DAME JOINING THE CONFERENCE: “I sat here a year ago talking about Notre Dame and whenever I’ve been asked the question, we continue to remain close with Notre Dame. They know how we feel. They know that we would love to have them as a football member in the conference, but we also and I also respect their independence. Having worked there, having two
children there, going to school right now, one a student-athlete, I know what independence means to Notre Dame. So you respect it, and I know that if there comes a time that Notre Dame would consider moving to a conference and away from independence, I feel really good about it being the ACC.”

ON EXPANSION: “I’m not going to talk about any of the details about who we have or haven’t talked about, but we’ve had lots of really good discussions within the ACC, and I think you have to be thoughtful, you have to be smart, you have to be strategic. Making a move just to make a move doesn’t make any sense. In the end what is the value that ends up coming back to the conference if we were to expand? All of those things have to be under great scrutiny and dialogue and ultimately some kind of formation of what we think is best.”

ON REVENUE DISTRIBUTION AND POSSIBLY REWARDING PERFORMANCE AND BRAND VALUE: “All options are on the table. When you look at revenue, you look at closing the gap, you look at generating more, you look at distribution, it all is part of a similar conversation.”

ON THE GRANT OF RIGHTS AGREEMENTS WHICH EXTEND FOR 14 MORE YEARS: “Everything is on the table. We understand what that means. We understand what that revenue means moving forward, but I will also say, as I look at the next few years, I like where we’re going. But, again, the window is through ’36, so we’re going to have to address it, no question.”

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