What’s it going to take to convince the ACC schools against expansion to flip their potential votes? Money, money and money.
As the ACC renewed expansion efforts kicked into high gear Wednesday afternoon, with a few ACC Presidents meeting to discuss revenue models surrounding expansion, those financial numbers have come out.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, the ACC could earn just about $72 million in new money by adding Cal, Stanford and SMU to the conference.
“The ACC’s television contract with ESPN includes a pro-rata clause requiring the network to increase the value of the deal by one Tier 1 share for every new member — believed to be about $24 million a share, or about 70% of a full ACC share, which includes Tiers 1-3,” Dellenger wrote.
He further reported that Cal and Stanford have agreed to take roughly 30% of the $24 million share, and after those shares and travel costs are factored in, the ACC could earn at least $30 million in revenue to be distributed via incentive pools based on athletic success. Those incentives are likely to be weighted heavily toward football success — championships, bowl assignments and end-of-the-year rankings.
SMU, which is currently a member of the AAC, would reportedly propose taking no revenue for the first seven years of its ACC membership.
Cal, Stanford and SMU, who have received national support from the likes of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former President George Bush, need to receive 12 ‘yes’ votes in order to be accepted into the ACC. The 14 member schools, plus Notre Dame, which votes as a full member, will still need to flip one of the dissenting voters.
It was Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and North Carolina State that initially opposed adding Cal, Stanford and SMU. Which, of course, means that Pitt is in favor of expansion. But with new financial opportunities, that could tip the scales.
It appears that any talk of ACC exits has been halted for now, with expansion more feasible— and more widely accepted than splitting apart. Adding the likes of Cal, SMU or Stanford won’t close the gap between the ACC and the Big Ten or SEC, but it’s the required move when it comes to staying afloat in college athletics these days.
The financial situation of adding the Pac-12 leftovers and SMU will clearly be major talking points moving forward, as financial discussions will dominate realignment talk as a whole, but expansion could be imminent as additional meetings continue to take place through the end of the week.
The ACC’s continued expansion talks bear watching going in the days and weeks to come.
with SMU is it closer to $55M? That is not insignificant. If Florida State can actually win, it may get them some more money. It makes ACC the clear 3rd place conference with a fighting chance. The move also appeases ND, which is silly, but necessary.
If ND joined they would be talking about 3 super conferences…
ACC is in pods already. SMU, Cal, Stanford is a pod (plus one other?) – this is not any more absurd than B1G’s geography.
Probably Louisville would be in that pod with SMU, Cal, and Stanford. Only bc they are the most Western team currently in the ACC that is the closest to Texas and the West Coast.
I really think they should look to Rice. Adding a school in the 4th largest metro in the US and in Texas would serve well. plus great school academically. Not a particular threat to the big boys in football, so adds a win to the conference schedule.
Sounds like this would only be a temporary influx of cash that would mostly go away after the expansion teams graduate to receiving a full share.
definitely. but 7 years (SMU?) is a long time. good chance some ACC schools are gone by then anyway. It kicks the can down the road, and gets some extra money in the short term. It’s a desperation move, but the Big 12 did the same to stay alive, and they are pretty well positioned now as the 2nd tier P5 conference. It’s been 10 years and I am just getting used to the ACC as a Pitt grad, and fan. Admittedly, I want it to work so I am a bit biased in my rationalization for the ACC to… Read more »
Notre Dame needs to fully commit and join in football. Let them get SMU’s share to offset losing their NBC deal.
This all makes sense now, use the incremental revenue as the performance bonus. Academically Cal, Stanford, and SMU fit well. Down the road i forsee an ACC/BIG merger