The Atlantic Coast Conference generated $711 million for the 2023-24 academic year, according to new tax documents released by the league, distributing an average of $45 million to each of its 14 full-time member schools, a record for the conference.
The financial reports, which cover the final year of ACC athletics prior to the additions of SMU, Stanford and Cal, show a small uptick in revenue year-over-year and a roughly 56% increase from five years ago.
Though the revenue distribution puts the ACC solidly in third place among conferences, it still trails the SEC and Big Ten by a sizable margin. Those relative deficits have remained a source of consternation for members and resulted in lawsuits filed by Florida State (in December 2023) and Clemson (in February 2024) to challenge the ACC’s grant of rights, which binds the league together through June 2036. The framework of a settlement of those lawsuits was reached earlier this year, however, as the conference conceded to a new revenue-distribution model that would prioritize the biggest brands.
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Commissioner Jim Phillips said at this week’s annual spring meetings that he believed the agreement would provide stability for the ACC for at least the next three to four years.
“I just think you’ve got to settle down,” Phillips said. “I think college athletics needs to settle down, not just the ACC. I think we’ve positioned ourselves for that. The chaos and constant wondering of what’s happening here or there, that distracts from the business at hand. I feel good about where we’re at, and while I do take things one day at a time, I think there’s a period of time where let’s settle in and get things done.”
After Florida State pushed for changes to the revenue-distribution model in 2023, the league adopted a set of “success initiatives” that would offer a higher payout of postseason revenue to schools that won the postseason in football and men’s and women’s basketball. Those success initiatives were not implemented at the time frame covered by the latest Form 990 reports, however. Sources at several programs have said they expect those success initiatives combined with the new brand payouts (based on TV ratings over a five-year span) would help bring the top programs in the ACC closer in line with the revenue generated by SEC and Big Ten schools.
In its last 990 filing, the Big Ten showed $880 million in revenue for the 2022-23 year, but those numbers will be significantly higher in subsequent filings that reflect a massive new TV deal for the conference.
In February, the SEC distributed $808 million to its membership for the 2023-24 year, averaging about $53 million per school.
