Teel: Assertive and substantive, Jim Phillips vows to fight for ACC (2024)

But Phillips, in his fourth year as ACC commissioner, needed to be assertive, confident and substantive Monday during his annual state of the conference address at the league’s preseason football gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He hit each of those marks — and then some.

For the first time in his stormy tenure — most of that turbulence beyond his control — Phillips revealed specific financials that he said will sustain the ACC as the nation’s third-wealthiest conference behind the Big Ten and SEC.

He said the ACC will fight lawsuits by Florida State and Clemson challenging the league’s exit fee and grant of media rights “for as long as it takes.” He fiercely defended his predecessor, John Swofford, the subject of considerable revisionist history regarding the ACC’s television deal with ESPN.

As media, fans and industry insiders, some whispering, others shouting, question the ACC’s viability, Phillips had a forum to counter the narratives.

Routine as this event has been at times, and perhaps will be again, this was not one of those instances. Those who want the ACC to endure and thrive needed to see Phillips fight, and fight he did, without mimicking the Big 12’s Yormark, who used his league’s media days to laughably tout the conference as college football’s deepest.

“Forceful moments deserve forceful support and leadership,” Phillips said of his tenor.

Follow the money

The common thread here, naturally, is money.

Demographics, brand power and television appeal have vaulted the Big Ten and SEC far ahead of everyone financially. Moreover, as revenue sharing with players and payments to former athletes for back name, image and likeness compensation loom, the cost of doing business is mushrooming.

That combination makes ACC members anxious, especially as the Big Ten — with Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA — and the SEC — with Texas and Oklahoma — add to their coffers.

Toward bridging the revenue gap, ACC presidents last year agreed to break with decades of equal revenue shares by rewarding the top performers on the field, primarily in football, secondarily in men’s basketball. Phillips on Monday said that “success initiative” could earn a school $20-$25 million this upcoming year beyond its standard distribution of more than $45 million.

That top-end bonus is for winning football’s national championship, with other amounts available for College Football Playoff top 25 rankings, bowl appearances and NCAA basketball tournament bids and advancement. League officials believe the success initiative amounts will only increase.

This summer’s additions of SMU, California Berkeley and Stanford, Phillips added, will generate $600 million in new television revenue over the duration of the ESPN contract, which runs through 2036. On average, that’s $50 million annually.

“The ACC is one of the top three conferences in both overall revenue generated and per school distribution, and we fully expect that will remain in the years to come,” Phillips said. “The ongoing emphasis in college athletics surrounding revenue generation and financial prioritization has never been greater.

“As a conference, we have been, and will continue to be, aggressively evaluating all areas that potentially enhance our conference financials for both the immediate and long-term future of the ACC.”

Does that include private equity and conference naming rights, and are the league’s presidents and chancellors on board with such pursuits?

“I’m not going to go into internal conversations that we’ve had with the board,” Phillips said. “But I wouldn’t be doing my job if we aren’t exploring every area that’s available.”

Yet Florida State and Clemson continue their legal battles against the ACC, bemoaning the league’s television contract and attempting to escape the grant of rights, which conveys each school’s media rights to the conference.

Much has been made of ESPN’s option to exit the ACC deal in 2027, but Phillips doubled down on the partnership.

“Our relationship has never been stronger,” he said, “and we are proud to be aligned with the most innovative and forward-thinking partners in the business. … Our partnership with ESPN is not going away. It’s not going away.”

Strong is not the word anyone would use to describe the ACC’s relationship with Clemson and Florida State, its leading football programs.

“With multiple ongoing legal cases, there are limits to what I can say,” Phillips said. “But I can state that we will fight to protect the ACC and our members for as long as it takes. We are confident in this league and that it will remain a premier conference in college athletics for the long-term future.”

Emphasizing his point, Phillips recounted the ACC’s Division I-best 23 national championships over the past three years, won by nine schools, a parade led by Virginia’s five. He welcomed the opportunities inherent in the expanded College Football Playoff.

Most adamantly, Phillips decried “personal attacks” on Swofford, who steered the league for 24 years.

“He led this conference with a steady hand for over two decades and did so through consensus and compromise,” Phillips said. “The fact is that every member of this conference willingly signed the grant of rights and unanimously — and quite frankly enthusiastically — agreed to our current television contract and the launch of the ACC Network. The ACC, our collective membership and the conference office deserve better. …

“Where there are disagreements or disputes, I intend to continue to deal with them in a respectful and honorable fashion. The ACC deserves nothing less. The ACC will remain a healthy and vibrant conference that competes at the highest level.”