Sources – ACC, Clemson, FSU renew revenue sharing talks

Clemson, Florida State and the ACC have discussed in recent weeks, according to sources, a proposal that would allocate a larger share of revenue to schools based on brand evaluations and television ratings, as well as potentially changing tenure. Granting the league rights — which currently run through 2036 — in exchange for the Tigers and Seminoles dropping their lawsuit against the conference.

Conversations are preliminary and the sides are not close to an agreement, but the conversations represent a strong signal that Florida State and Clemson are open to staying in the conference on more favorable financial terms, according to multiple league sources.

The proposal, which was drafted by Clemson and Florida State and discussed by league presidents at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting, includes additional money going to schools with better-rated success in football and basketball.

While the proposal has not been widely circulated or discussed among conference athletic directors, administrators at more than a half-dozen schools ESPN spoke with said they would be open to at least some altered revenue sharing.

In 2022-23, the ACC distributed an average of $44.8 million per school, about $7 million less than the SEC; However, the difference is expected to increase to more than $30 million when accounting for the SEC’s new television contracts that begin this year.

Florida State athletic director Michael Alford called the looming revenue gap an existential threat, and he pressed the ACC to split revenue unequally at the league’s 2023 spring meetings, while also requesting more money go to schools that have success on the field. who draw the highest ratings for television. The league eventually agreed to introduce a new revenue-sharing policy called a “success initiative” that would award bowl games, the College Football Playoff or the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments with a higher share of postseason revenue, but at the time, ADs in any such plan were not interested in that included brand evaluations or television ratings.

In the following months, however, Florida State and Clemson filed suit against the ACC in an attempt to free themselves from the league’s grant rights, which would bind each member’s media rights to the ACC until June 2036. ACC addresses both sides in the answer. carolina To date, there has been little movement on the legal front, and if the cases go to trial, final resolution of the cases could still be years away, according to attorneys on all sides. As part of a judge’s ruling in Leon County, Florida, the parties were required to enter into arbitration, while discussions about rating-based revenue sharing took on new life.

Among the proposals floated by Clemson and Florida State, the rights grants would also be shortened — potentially as early as the 2030s — to better fall in line with the expiration of TV contracts in the Big 12 and Big Ten.

While the basic discussion points of the proposal had some support among member schools, there were important questions about the details. As one athletic director who supported the general idea noted, something like TV ratings can be difficult to accurately assess because of the many outside factors that affect kickoff times, networks and ratings shares that may not directly reflect a program’s value.

Several administrators who did not support the proposal acknowledged that there was a potential incentive to continue negotiations if it helped secure the conference’s future for the foreseeable future, with one noting that it would be better than the ACC disbanding entirely, and another suggesting a brand -based revenue sharing may be inevitable for each league as TV contracts continue to grow and leagues continue to expand.

The ACC is also in talks with ESPN, which holds an exclusive option to extend the league’s television contract from 2027 to 2036.

The ACC declined to comment on the status of negotiations to change the revenue distribution model, but in May, commissioner Jim Phillips said he was open to options that would protect the league’s position.

“You’ve got to stay optimistic,” Phillips said, “and you work through these things. We’ll handle what we’ve got to handle and I’m always optimistic about a real good ending to this situation. I won’t be. A change until someone else says so.” , but I am absolutely my responsibility?