Correct my math if I’m wrong, but…
The most recent revenue figures from the 2021-22 season showed the average ACC payout per school was about $40M. If Cal and Stanford come in at 60-70% of a full share, and SMU forgoes ANY shares for 5+ years (they’re not called Southern Millionaires University for nothing), that’s suddenly an additional $64-72M annually that can be shared amongst the existing ACC schools. Then, a few other revenue generators to consider:
- ESPN is willing to provide additional revenue to “existing ACC members for increasing travel costs”; to me, this is just another way to add a slight bump in the media deal without actually renegotiating the contract.
- The ACC would potentially receive additional revenue from carriage fees via the ACCN entering into California and Texas
- The Tier 3 rights contract comes up in 2027; some have estimated that this could result in an additional $8M+ per school
If you split that money between the top 4-5 finishers in the ACC conference standings, that would equate to an additional $14-18M to schools like Clemson and FSU, and that doesn’t even include the ESPN “traveling expenses” or increase in ACCN revenue. It wouldn’t match what the Big Ten and SEC are paying out, but it at least closes the gap. It would also significantly widen the gap between us and the Big 12. The math is starting to make sense on this.
