Ranking Conferences & ACC 3rd in TV ratings

Great article from ACC Football Rx.  It touches on a topic I have focused on repeatedly.  ACC tends to trend 3rd overall in TV ratings.  The ONLY metric that matters when it comes to TV contracts.  

The other data is very interesting, but I especially concentrate on TV ratings.  It is tough to find much data on this topic, so we document it when we can.

I have suggested that if the ACC regularly trends 3rd overall in TV ratings (and this doesn't even factor basketball).  No way should the ACC have the 5th lowest payout in TV contracts.



Ranking Conferences - 1/21/19

From Definitive Overall College Football Conference Ranking (based on data from the past 5 seasons), in which the author ranks the conferences on several objective measures, then proposes an overall ranking (you know I have to massage it a little to add some value here...)

Attendance.

Average Home Attendance SEC 77,226 Big Ten 66,314 Big 12 57,458 Pac-12 51,064 ACC 49,375 AAC 30,329 MWC 24,557 C-USA 19,983 Sun Belt 17,919 MAC 15,633

80 _ SEC 75 70 65 - B1G 60 _ XII 55 50 - Pac, ACC 45 40 35 30 - AAC 25 - MWC

Average attendance is not an ACC strength - not surprising, given how small some of the stadiums are. Even so, it's in a virtual tie with the Pac-12 and 19,000 higher than the highest G5 conference - the American (AAC).

Non-Conference (P5, non-bowl only).

Non-Conference P5 Record Pac-12 0.585 Big Ten 0.530 SEC 0.507 ACC 0.479 Big 12 0.400 AAC 0.315 MAC 0.180 MWC 0.171 CUSA 0.071 Sun Belt 0.056

0.600 - Pac 0.567 0.533 - B1G 0.500 - SEC 0.467 - ACC 0.433 0.400 - XII 0.367 0.333 0.300 - AAC

Here the ACC is a little closer to the middle of the power five conferences - right behind the SEC and well ahead of the Big XII. The big surprise? The Pac-12 leads the way (possibly because they rarely play the SEC or the ACC?)

Bowl Games.

Overall Bowl Records Sun Belt 0.609 SEC 0.552 Big Ten 0.541 MWC 0.515 Big 12 0.514 ACC 0.500 CUSA 0.458 Pac-12 0.450 AAC 0.353 MAC 0.241

0.600 - SBC 0.575 0.550 - SEC, B1G 0.525 - MWC,XII 0.500 - ACC 0.475 0.450 - USA,Pac 0.425 0.400 0.375 0.350 - AAC

Again, the ACC is comfortably in the middle in terms of bowl win%.

AP Top 25.

#Ranked, Final AP Poll SEC 27 Big Ten 23 Pac-12 20 ACC 18 Big 12 16 AAC 9 MWC 6 CUSA 2 MAC 1 Sun Belt 0

27 - SEC 24 - B1G 21 - Pac 18 - ACC 15 - XII 12 9 - AAC 6 - MWC 3 - USA 0 - MAC, SBC

The ACC is ahead of only the smallest P5 conference in terms of number of ranked teams in the final AP poll (and would be 5th in terms of percentage of ranked teams) - but still within the P5 range and well ahead of the G5 conferences.

Playoffs.

#Playoff Appearances SEC 6 ACC 5 Big Ten 3 Big 12 3 Pac-12 2

6 - SEC 5 - ACC 4 3 - B1G,XII 2 - Pac

Playoff appearances are where the ACC really starts to shine, beating out every conference except the SEC.

#Championships SEC 2 ACC 2 Big Ten 1 Big 12 0 Pac-12 0

2 - SEC,ACC 1 - B1G 0 - Pac, XII

Likewise the ACC looks good so far in terms of national championships over the last 5 years (a fortuitous choice of date range by the OP author).

Television.

#Top10 Most-Watched SEC 38 Big Ten 28 ACC 15 Big 12 9 Pac-12 7

38 - SEC 27 - B1G 16 - ACC 7 - XII, Pac

ACC football holds its own in terms of TV viewership, thank you very much!

NFL Draft.

Number of NFL Draft Picks SEC 260 ACC 203 Big Ten 180 Pac-12 171 Big 12 112 AAC 66 MWC 52 CUSA 44 MAC 36 Sun Belt 19

260 - SEC 240 220 200 - ACC 180 - B1G,Pac 160 140 120 - XII 100 80 60 - AAC

Even when ACC football was bad, the NFL draft was one area the league could point to - and it still is. On the other hand, the Big XII is even lower than their small size would indicate.

Final Ranking.

Overall Score/Ranking SEC 11 Big Ten 19 ACC 27 Pac-12 31 Big 12 33 AAC 47 MWC 47 CUSA 54 SBC 54 MAC 59

10 - SEC 15 20 - B1G 25 _ ACC 30 - Pac 35 - XII 40 45 - AAC,MWC 50 55 - USA,SBC

*note: lower is better here.

CONCLUSION.
The ACC comes in as a solid #3 in terms of college football conference overall power ratings behind the big two (SEC, B1G). And while I suppose one could quibble with certain aspects of the OP author's methodology, it's hard to argue with the final result (with the Big XII and Pac-12 so close, does it really matter who's 4th/5th?)

One mild surprise for me at least - 6th place isn't just a virtual tie, it IS a tie between the American and the Mountain West (P7, I guess?). Those teams will give you a real game - and maybe more than you bargained for! (No surprise: C-USA, the Sun Belt, and the MAC are not all that good).


More evidence ACC is 3rd in TV ratings even though last in revenue

ACC TV ratings vs other P5 conferences