ACC sets record for revenue again, distributes more than $40M to members
Posted May 19, 2023 6:29 p.m. EDT
Updated May 19, 2023 8:07 p.m. EDT
For an athletic conference whose future demise has been foretold by prognosticators who have scattered its members to various leagues, the ACC makes an awful lot of money.
The North Carolina-headquartered league set new high marks for conference revenue and distribution to its member institutions in the 2021-22 fiscal year, according to tax documents from the league obtained through a request by WRAL News.
But the ACC's $617 million in conference revenue still leaves the league well behind the SEC and Big Ten, a gap that has caused consternation among some ACC schools that want to compete more closely with those conferences and fueled social media speculation of its imminent demise.
The SEC reported $802 million in revenue, while the Big Ten reported $845.6 million.
The ACC figures are from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022. A decade ago, in 2011-12, the league generated $223.5 million as a 12-member conference.
The ACC's total revenue was up 8.3% from its previous high of $579.3 million in 2020-21. Of the $617 million, more than $443.7 million came from television rights, a 12% increase from the previous year's TV rights of $397.4 million. The ACC expected an increase, in part, due to full distribution of the ACC Network as of December 2021.
Another $90 million in revenue came from postseason football bowls, $65 million from the NCAA, including the men's basketball tournament, and $15 million from conference championships.
The league paid out more than $569.7 million in grants and benefits to league members.
Payouts to 14 full member schools ranged from $37.9 million to $41.3 million for Pitt, which won the league's football title. Notre Dame, a member in all sports but football, received $17.4 million. The Irish received a full share in 2020-21.
The ACC, which was third in total revenue, was fourth among payouts to member schools trailing the SEC ($49.9 million per school), Big Ten ($58.8 million per school with newer members receiving less) and Big 12, which distributed between $42 million and $44.9 million to its 12 members, according to USA Today, which obtained financial information from all five leagues, including the Pac-12.
The gap in per-member distributions is expected to balloon in future years as the SEC and Big Ten begin new television contracts with new high-profile members: Texas and Oklahoma for the SEC, USC and UCLA for the Big Ten.
"There's no magic bullet that closes that gap, so we're going to have to be creative," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said earlier this week at the league's annual spring meetings.
The ACC is locked into a long-term deal with ESPN through 2036, limiting its ability for large bump in rights. That long-term agreement, which was agreed to in order to secure the launch of the ACC Network, is accompanied by a Grant of Rights agreement among the 15 members.
No school has yet challenged the legality of the Grant of Rights, which holds that the ACC would keep any media rights for a school that left until 2036.
NC State received $40.17 million and UNC received $40.13 million from the league. Duke received $38.8 million and Wake Forest got $39.2 million.
The schools' totals are slightly different due to reimbursements from the league for bowl travel and other events.
The league is considering an unequal revenue distribution model that would allow programs with greater on-field success to earn more revenue. The specifics of that plan have not been agreed to or voted on, but league officials said progress was made during the meetings.
"How do you reward those that are having success and so everybody has a chance to have success?" Phillips said at the meetings during an appearance on the ACC Network. "But those that compete at the highest level, those that can be national championships and get into the College Football Playoff or the NCAA Tournament, they should be rewarded at a higher rate than maybe those that aren't."
The Orange Bowl served as a national semifinal in 2021, which means it was not a contracted bowl with the ACC. That cost the ACC roughly $2 million per school, according to the conference.
Commissioner Jim Phillips received more than $2.5 million in compensation ($2.4 million base salary), according to the tax forms that nonprofits are required to file with the federal government.
