Atlantic Coast Conference athletic directors held a video call to discuss – once again – the possibility of adding California, Stanford and SMU to the league and what to do with the additional revenue that could arise from expansion.
ACC university presidents and chancellors have the final say on expansion and the full board of trustees was not involved in Thursday night’s negotiations. As of Friday morning, the next formal meeting of ACC leaders had not yet been scheduled.
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips has been looking for ways to generate more revenue for a conference that is tied to a media rights deal with ESPN that runs through 2036 and leaves its members in danger of ending up far away. behind Big Ten and Southeastern Conference schools.
Florida state leaders have gone so far as to say that if nothing changes, they will. forced to try to find a way out of the conference, even though severing contracts with the ACC could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
If the ACC adds schools, ESPN is obligated to increase its total annual payment to the conference to cover an equal annual share for each new member, estimated at about $30 million per year. Any new member would probably benefit from a reduced rate upon entry… perhaps significantly reduced – and the outgoing members would share the rest.
Stanford and California are desperate for a landing spot for next year with the Pac-12 reduced to four schools. Eight members of the Pac-12 have already announced that this will be their last season in the league.
SMU, the private Dallas school in the American Athletic Conference, has informed the ACC that it would be willing to forgo any distribution payments for several years if invited to join, the Associated Press told a person with direct knowledge of the school’s projects on condition of anonymity. because SMU does not make its strategy public.
The issue within the ACC is how that money will be distributed, according to several people involved in the discussions, all speaking to AP on condition of anonymity to share private internal discussions.
With Florida State, Clemson, Miami and North Carolina leading the way, ACC leaders agreed earlier this year to a “ initiative to encourage success » This would allow schools to earn a greater share of the money generated by their own postseason performances in football and men’s basketball, as well as other potential bonuses.
How much revenue generated by the expansion goes toward the incentive initiative instead of being distributed equally among members is a key question that could determine whether Phillips can get 12 of the required 15 schools to approve the addition new members, a person briefed on the ACC talks told AP.
Two weeks ago, the ACC presidents refused to hold a formal vote on expansion, knowing that it likely would have failed, at least Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and State North Carolina not supporting the plan.
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football And https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
