Now that’s it 2014, another myth from the 2012 realignment message board era has been blown away. The ACC would be shredded to pieces, didn’t happen. The ACC would be left out of a playoff systems. That wasn’t close to happening. The ACC couldn’t win a national title in football. Florida State pulled that feat off this past year. The ACC would be financially dwarfed by the other 4 power conference. Today that myth was put to rest.
The ACC for the 2013-2014 will distribute $20.8 million per team. This is a whopping $100K less than the mighty SEC. From ESPN’s article on this topic.
The $20.8 million average each school is in line to receive is nearly identical to what will go to the 14-team SEC, which announced last week it will hand out slightly more than $20.9 million to its member schools after a record $292.8 million in total revenue.
This is good news for ACC schools. They are not being left behind in terms of conference revenue distributions. Don’t let some of the mis-information confuse you. A big deal was made about the Pac 12 taking over as the highest revenue producing conference. That’s great, but starting a network a network isn’t free. The Pac 12 actually distributed slightly less than $20 Million per school.
Here are the revenue distributions of the other power conferences also from ESPN.
the Big 12 continued to show its stability under commissioner Bob Bowlsby by reporting a record $220.1 million in distribution revenue Friday at the conclusion of the conference’s spring meetings.
and
This month, the Big Ten reported almost $26 million in distribution to its schools; the Pac-12 handed out just under $20 million in distribution to its members.
Well there you have it. The Big 10 distributed nearly $26 Million. The Big 12 distributed $22 Million. The SEC was at $20.9 Million. The ACC came in at $20.8 Million, and Pac 12 brings up the rear at $19.8 Million.
The important things to remember is you don’t have to be first on this list. In fact, in today’s world of $150 Million revenue producing schools some conference distributions can account for as little as 15% of a school’s revenue source. Some schools are simply going to make more because of ticket sales, boosters, etc. Nothing will change that, so when it comes to conference distributions you just want to be in the ball park of everyone else, and the ACC is certainly in the ball park. That said now is not the time for the ACC to just pat itself on the back.
On twitter I chatted a bit with the dean of ACC journalists David Teel about how it more than appeared the ACC was right in line financially with the other power conferences.
@TalkinACCSports @hokiesmash Believe they will.
— David Teel (@DavidTeelatDP) June 7, 2014
@TalkinACCSports Best I can tell. But ACC channel a must to keep up w/Joneses.
— David Teel (@DavidTeelatDP) June 7, 2014
This is where Teel nails it. The ACC is currently in solid financial position, but a network must happen. Eventually the Pac 12 and SEC networks will make money, so an ACC Channel needs to get off the ground within the next 3 years.
Become a fan of the ACC on Facebook and follow the ACC on Twitter.
Leave a Reply