Commissioner Phillips: ‘We will fight to protect the ACC‘

By Jerry Ratcliffe

As expected, the opening day of Monday’s ACC Football Kickoff event in Charlotte was dominated by the drama surrounding Florida State’s and Clemson’s threats to exit the league and the ensuing legal battles.

Somewhat unexpected was ACC commissioner Jim Phillips’ strong language concerning the distractions that the court case has caused for the past six months. Phillips didn’t hold back with his emotions or criticism about defending the conference, which welcomed three new members — SMU, Cal and Stanford — this month.

“We’ve had six months of disruption,” Phillips said about the lawsuits against the ACC by FSU and Clemson. “I think we’ve handled it incredibly well.

“With multiple ongoing legal cases, there are limits to what I can say, 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. These disputes continue to be extremely damaging, disruptive and incredibly harmful to the league.”

The ACC filed counter suits against Florida State and Clemson, two schools that have complained about the large gap in revenue between the league as opposed to the SEC and Big Ten. According to sources, both schools intend to allow the current deadline to leave the ACC during the upcoming academic year to pass.

Meanwhile, the SEC and Big Ten don’t appear to be interested in adding either of the ACC programs to their respective leagues, which begs the question, where would FSU and Clemson go even if they were permitted to exit? The only other option would be the Big 12, which ranks behind the ACC in television revenue.

Should either school leave, it is contractually bound to surrender future TV revenue under the ACC’s Grant of Rights, which appears to have an ironclad grip on keeping the league together until 2036.

“The fact is that every member of this conference willingly signed the Grant of Rights and unanimously — and quite frankly, eagerly — agreed to our current television contract and the launch of the ACC Network,” Phillips said. “The ACC, our collective membership and conference office, deserves better.

“We intend to continue to fight every day for the ACC and its members, and to do so in a way that I hope makes our membership proud. The ACC will remain a healthy and vibrant conference that competes at the highest level.”

Phillips reported that the ACC surpassed $700 million in total revenue for the first time in league history, with a 14-percent increase with distributable revenue from last year.

Each ACC school (prior to the most-recent expansion) received an average of $45 million in annual distribution, also the most in league history.

“The ACC is one of the top three conferences in both overall revenue generated and per-school distribution,” Phillips said. “We fully expect that will remain in the years to come.”

The commissioner pointed out that the ACC’s new footprint now includes four of the 10 largest DMAs: and the league spans a coast-to-coast presence in five of the most populated states in the country, the only Power Four conference with more than two.

Virginia’s football program will be one of the schools showcased in Tuesday’s media sessions with Coach Tony Elliott and three players: Tony Muskett, Cam Butler and Chico Bennett representing the Cavaliers.