As the yearly realignment drama flares up again, the focus of news will go from what occurs on the field to what happens in courtrooms and corporate boardrooms throughout the country as we enter the college football offseason. One such scenario came to light this week when it was revealed that ESPN had activated their option to carry on ACC sports programming until 2036. Additionally, Clemson and Florida State, two universities that have sued the ACC to contest the league’s grant of rights arrangement with ESPN, might be significantly impacted by one alleged tidbit in that piece.
The ACC is thinking of implementing an uneven revenue-sharing plan among its colleges, according to an ESPN piece by David Hale and Andrea Adelson. Clemson and Florida State’s worries over the size of their yearly conference rewards would probably be much allayed by that.
There have been “…discussions between the ACC and Clemson and Florida State on a new revenue distribution model aimed at alleviating the schools’ biggest concerns over financial disparities with peers in the Big Ten and SEC, both of which have more generous TV contracts signed over the past two years.” This is in addition to the league’s efforts to find ways to create more marquee football matchups in order to generate more television revenue
“Under the proposed plan a percentage of the ACC’s television revenue would be included in a ‘brand’ fund, and that money would then be distributed to schools that annually generate the most revenue for the conference in football and men’s and women’s basketball — with Clemson, Florida State, Miami and North Carolina likely at the top of the pyramid, sources told ESPN.”
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