$55 million extra profits to be shared among ACC teams as Stanford and Cal agree for lesser ACC media deal money: Reports
The Atlantic Coast Conference reportedly is set to expand by three teams with Stanford, Cal and SMU joining the league. This move is going to net the conference a lot of money as a result of the move. So, how much money will it be?
Yahoo Sports college football insider Ross Dellenger reported that the ACC is going to make a significant amount of money with expansion.
"ACC stands to make $72M in additional revenue from ESPN if it expands by three, sources tell @YahooSports," Dellenger tweeted. "Given $$ concessions from Cal, Stanford & SMU, a large portion (~$55M) would be distributed annually, likely via athletic-performance incentives."
It makes a lot of sense as the models are showing these ACC expansion schools are taking reduced revenue distribution.
In Dellenger's story, he mentioned the cuts that are expected by these three new teams:
"Two of the three expansion targets, Stanford, the bell cow of the group, and Cal, are proposing to take a significantly reduced revenue distribution for multiple years, starting at about 30%. SMU is proposing to take no distribution money for as many as seven years. ... Options range from adding all three, adding only Stanford and Cal, adding only SMU or adding none of them."
These numbers are going to change as the conference discusses the distribution of additional revenue. It is a key issue, and this will be interesting to dissect going forward.
Can the ACC become on par with the top three conferences in college football?
These reported ACC moves make them a clear-cut fourth option in the Power Five conferences. The Pac-12 at this point, even with a merger, will be in the final spot. However, the Atlantic Coast Conference is not on the level of the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten or Big 12 in 2024 with the conference realignment going on.
The ACC is the only non-SEC conference to win a college football national championship since 2015. The addition of Cal, Stanford and Cal widens the gap between them and the Pac-12, but there is another gap with the other three conferences ahead of them. This move would help create more money and keep Clemson and Florida State happy in that sense.
Right now, the ACC needs to figure things out to take the podium of conferences. It is going in the right direction but it's heading in the right direction.