Recently the Big 10 announced a whopping $51 Million per team revenue distribution. Frankly that’s an incredible number, and hats off to their commissioner Jim Delany and their university leaders for an extremely savvy handling of the conference’s TV deals over the last 10 years.
Check out this report from AwfulAnnouncing on the subject.
The Big Ten has incredibly been able to double their revenue distribution for schools in just five short years. Yes, double. It’s astounding. And it shows that maybe Jim Delany wasn’t all that crazy in making sure he got BTN on cable systems on the east coast to expand the league’s footprint.
For the ACC schools we follow, what does this mean? The ACC’s 2016-2017 Fiscal year average per team was $26.6 Million per the Daily Press. Remember what the Big 10 is reporting is one year ahead of the ACC’s figures. That said the ACC isn’t making up $25 Million in 1 year, and this is a concern for ACC schools. It has to be, but what can the ACC do? So far the ACC has still thrived athletically as the Daily Press article states.
The ACC has the most national titles of any conference in the 4 biggest Collegiate Sports since 2013.
The ACC has 6 and the Big 10 despite tremendous financial advantages has just 1.
There simply isn’t much the ACC can do in the next 12-18 months. We’ve said before on this blog that the ACC missed an opportunity 10 years to start a network when they had the chance. The Orange Bowl deal for the ACC trails the other contract bowl Rose and Sugar Bowls for the other Power 5 conferences. This can tied back to the conference’s poor quality of football through most of the BCS era.
Mistakes were made by the schools through the ACC leadership. Those mistakes have been rectified through athletic improvement, and the coming ACC Network. Now ACC fans just have to read the numbers – cringe and wait. The ACC Network is coming, and the conference is well positioned athletically. The ACC probably won’t catch the Big 10, but closing the gap will be enough to keep the conference members satisfied.
If it fails? John Swofford will have a failed legacy, and even with a GOR signed until 2035-2036, ACC schools and fans aren’t going to be happy. As I said I’m optimistic on the ACC’s future though.
