ACC can do better than ESPN

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The ACC was one of the five conferences that came away almost unscathed the past 15 years from conference realignment. They gained memberships from 6 football programs since 2004 and only lost one member in 2013 (Maryland). It is definitely safe to say commissioner John Swofford went the proactive route, and beat the Big East for survival. In 2013 when Maryland departed for the Big Ten, commissioner John Swofford put all of his cards into ESPN to show strength in stability. To show any other conference members that departure was no longer an option, that the ACC now owned all of your media rights and that stability was the key. This killed any rumors of members such as Clemson and FSU leaving for the Big 12. Putting the conferences hopes into ESPN worked shot term, but it seems like long term it can fall behind financially from other P5 conferences. Truth be told the ACC can do better than ESPN in the future, bring in NBC!

Notice: This is a hypothetical scenario, to where if I was the ACC commissioner I would be turning over every rock to ensure my schools do not fall even further behind financially. If I saw better alternative to ESPN, I would try my best to depart from the 20 year deal.

Fun Fact: The Florida State Seminoles have defeated their arch rivals the Florida Gators six of the past seven games.

The fact above looks superb in the short sight of things, but as we know in a rivalry the tide can shift in an instance. The right situation starts brewing, low in behold you are losing the recruiting battle to your rival, which leads to losing on the field to your rival. In college football money creates the wow factor (facilities, amenities, opportunities, etc), and if you are behind financially you are behind the wow factor. If you are behind the wow factor you are behind in recruiting. Knowledgeable Seminole fans realize that they are tens of millions behind their arch rival in the payout range each fiscal year. 
2016 Fiscal Year Payouts
Florida Gators: >40 Million
FSU Seminoles: 27.6 Million
The Florida State Seminoles will always be okay on the gridiron, they have spent every post season in a bowl game since 1980. But, one cannot help to wonder if the surplus of 12 million more in finances will help put the Gators on top in the long term. This has to be bothersome to the knowledgeable Seminole fan. A huge payout for the Florida Gators has definitely helped them build a well rounded athletics programs, winning a national championship in all three major sports now.

Fun Fact: There is no ACC Network on cable/dish packages yet.

This past season the tech savvy ACC fans could watch every sporting event televised on the ACC Digital network. The older folks will have to wait until 2019 to find availability to their ACC Network. It is no secret that ESPN is losing subscribers left and right from the cord cutting trend, and lets face it they do a terrible job at sports now a days. With ESPN losing gigantic chunks of money each year, the ACC network is definitely on the back burner. All of the college football focus seems to be going towards the cash cow SEC Network. The dominant success for the SEC is terrible for majority ACC programs but especially Florida State, Clemson, Louisville, and Georgia Tech.
With ESPN having bigger troubles than worrying about a future conference network it brings many questions. The main one is, will they put the adequate resources needed for a successful ACC Network?

Fun Opinion: NBC/NBC Sports could have a cash cow with ACC football

NBC’s parent company is Comcast and they have coverage in many ACC states such as Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Currently until 2025 NBC benefits from a exclusive contract with Notre Dame. In my opinion there is a ton of money to be made in college football, and NBC needs to get back into the game. The college football world is begging for a competitor to come and compete with ESPN, to give an alternative. NBC Sports take a nose dive each Saturday during the college football season, and lose out on potential money. A NBC/ACC deal would be beneficial to everyone. Think of these match ups that could be produced by NBC and out of conference match-ups every other year.

Gem Match-ups each season
FSU vs. Clemson
FSU vs. Louisville
FSU vs. Miami
Clemson vs. Louisville
Clemson vs. Georgia Tech
Miami vs. Notre Dame (make it happen each year!)
Miami vs. Pittsburgh
Miami vs. Virginia Tech
North Carolina vs. Duke
North Carolina vs. North Carolina State
Pittsburgh vs. Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech vs. Virginia
Every other season
FSU vs. Florida
Clemson vs. South Carolina
Louisville vs. Kentucky
Georgia Tech vs. Georgia
Pittsburgh vs. Penn State
(Insert unique out of conference games like FSU vs. Alabama)

These match ups and having the ACC to support the network will come in place nicely for when Notre Dame has a 4-8 season like they did in 2016. The insurgence of ACC football the past couple of seasons, competing nicely on the field with the SEC, would not be hard to market at all. The casual college football fan knows all fourteen programs in the ACC, and many know they have historical programs.

NBC currently pays Notre Dame 15 million each year from their TV contract. With ESPN, once it is split fourteen ways, and partially to Notre Dame majority of the ACC schools make less from TV money. This past year the ACC saw its TV revenue reach a total of 226 million. Once that is split fourteen ways, and a portion given to Notre Dame, each ACC program would be worth 12-13 million of TV revenue from ESPN.

If NBC were to invest/market wisely with the ACC they could definitely compete prime time with ABC on Saturday nights. This past season three full time ACC members and Notre Dame took part in the most viewed college football games this season. FSU/Clemson seems to be one of the biggest featured conference game in the next ten years. Put that game against almost any mid season game, and it has a good chance to come out on top.

Fun Opinion: Certain programs within the ACC do not deserve anywhere near the equal amount of revenue as premier conference members

Universities such as Wake Forest, Duke, Virginia, and Boston College will always have bigger priorities than their football programs. Which is fine, but why would Wake Forest need the same revenue than Florida State? The Demon Deacons have only been to eleven bowl games in their long history, and is one of the smallest Universities in Division One football. They do not have the same room of growth as other premier programs.

If NBC took a chance on the ACC, I for one hope it would come with unequal pay. Reward the programs that have been performing well consistently, that draw views, and put the money where it is needed. (Before we all whine about the academics side of things, let us remember that five ACC institutions are apart of the Association of American Universities (AAU), which receive large grants for academic research. Academics will always be fine.)

Bottom line even if unequal pay was given out, but still “fair” everything would still be okay. Schools like Wake Forest and Boston College have no where to run to anyways.

NBC/ACC Hypothetical Payout ranges
(tiers can be switched if a program proves worthy)

Tier One 16-18 million each
Notre Dame
Florida State
Clemson

Tier Two 13-15 million
Georgia Tech
Louisville
North Carolina
Miami
Virginia Tech
Pittsburgh
North Carolina State

Tier Three 10-12 Million
Duke
Wake Forest
Boston College
Syracuse
Virginia

Even if each program was paid to its highest tier payout, NBC would be paying less than what ESPN is paying for the ACC. The key difference is that this would allow the ACC to protect its gems, and let programs earn their way to more money.





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An NBC/ACC partnership could be a whole new independence from ESPN. It could bring into a new golden age of sports and media relations. There is a lot of money to be made for any company willing to compete against ESPN and do it the right way.