Great article from Warchant.com, subscribe today.
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/five-takes-five-ways-to-make-the-acc-a-better-conference.130719/
Five ways the ACC can be improved from an FSU perspective
1. Pressure the conference for a bigger piece of the pie
"ACC Commissioner John Swofford made it clear a long time ago that he is a strong proponent of equal revenue sharing within the conference. In fact, back in 2011, he called it “sacred." However, Swofford has already fudged from that promise by allowing Notre Dame to join the conference as a partial member. The Irish gain the benefits of being affiliated with a Power Five conference but don’t have to share the financial benefits from their huge television contract.
Since the door has been opened against the strict adherence to equal revenue sharing, there’s a case to be made for programs that drive the financial train to be rewarded accordingly. By Swofford’s own admission, football brings in about 80 percent of the revenue from the ACC’s television deal with ESPN. Considering that FSU and Clemson overwhelming carry the weight in football, shouldn’t those programs reap some extra benefits?"
2. Overhaul the ACC officiating crew
" Last year, Warchant.com published a story documenting
officiating bias in the ACC based on an independent research project. Not surprisingly, the study showed underdogs tended to receive preferential treatment in the ACC. Again, this is consistent with the bizarre disparity in holding calls involving Florida State. But what makes no sense is the trend is exactly the opposite when it comes to men’s basketball. Basketball powers Duke and North Carolina frequently lead the conference in free-throw disparity, and many believe that the conference officials bend over backwards to protect the premier basketball programs."
3. Get away from the basketball- and Tobacco Road-centric mentality
"As for the basketball-first mentality, if you attend a conference football championship as a fan or media member, and then compare that to the treatment received during an ACC men’s basketball tournament, it’s hard not to notice a significant difference. The basketball tournament is a well-staffed event with little expense spared. The ACC support staff is incredibly accommodating, the food is top notch and the whole event runs smoothly thanks to careful planning.
The same can’t be said for the ACC football championship. It almost seems like a bother for the ACC to have to put on this event every year. It’s very clear, maybe more so for a media member attending, that football doesn’t generate the same focus from ACC personnel and that logistical problems are more frequent. The ACC football championship has been a decent event, but it’s clearly not getting the support it should from the conference compared to men’s basketball, considering that football is the cash cow."
4. Foster a better working relationship with ESPN to both feature and protect the top programs
"With that in mind, why doesn’t the ACC stand up for Florida State when it becomes clear that its TV network partner is stepping over the line in its coverage of one of its member schools? Swofford and the ACC did nothing through it all, from Heather Cox badgering Jameis Winston on the field after the ACC Championship, to Paul Finebaum flat out calling him a “rapist," to Darren Rovell concocting an autograph scandal that never existed during the week of a huge showdown with Notre Dame, to Mark Schlabach digging through thousands of police reports hoping to find any transgression, even slight, to pile on a program that had already taken blow after blow from ESPN.
Nobody is saying that Florida State or Jameis Winston was perfect during his time on campus. Some mistakes were made. But there was a massive disparity between what was being reported by ESPN and others compared to what actually happened. This should have been the perfect opportunity for the ACC to reach out to its television partner and say enough is enough. But there’s been no indication that was ever done, at least not publicly. And you come away with the strong impression that the ACC doesn’t have FSU’s back. If that’s the case, then why should FSU care about the conference?"
5. Develop a financially lucrative conference television network
"The important focus here isn’t simply launching some sort of network -- because that’s happening, and probably sooner than you think. The key is having a network that results in a real monetary benefit to the member schools. The amount received by the schools must make a real dent in the growing financial disparity between the ACC and competing conferences. If not, the conference has failed in the promises it made when it convinced FSU to sign off on the Grant of Rights.
Launching a network for the sake of saying you have a conference network is meaningless without a real financial benefit behind it. And that’s the real fear if the ACC announces something later this year as expected. The new “network,” if that’s what it can truly be called, will likely be touted by the ACC as the greatest thing since sliced bread. I also expect the conference and certain writers/bloggers who push the company line to imply that all perceived financial shortcomings between the ACC and other Power Five schools will have been resolved."
"Just missed making the top five:
- Realign the divisions -
- Under no circumstances move to a nine-game conference slate. "However, a nine-game conference schedule would absolutely screw over the ACC's main powers Florida State and Clemson. Forcing an extra conference game on teams that have annual in-state clashes with out of conference opponents would drastically limit scheduling for those teams. Florida State and Clemson would have 10 games locked in every year (11 when Notre Dame slides into the rotation) and would handcuff those school's ability to schedule enough home games to meet budgets. The additional limitation could also hinder the scheduling of neutral site games like the FSU-Ole Miss game this year. It would all go back to No. 3 on the list since a nine-game conference schedule would be appease Tobacco Road but not the programs that carry the load for the conference. "
![[IMG]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Uy6vlMGJ8VEA46zTH8ivRcWRWIgmL-S4Xd7-n0B6gbWHuthQLuxLzbNWZ7tSgWwRZIq2WyzIERCXZw5qGh4PdTJEG5RYHrJdNyDFtDr7bcbwtnpJ4hoV6NlH-A4_kpYtOegopfs3_Ws/s1600/AvgViewers2015.png)
The Nielsen ratings numbers for 2015 are out, and guess which conference was #1 in TV viewers? Yeah, trick question... the ACC had a 700k per game lead over the SEC and over a 1 million per game lead over the other power conferences. In fact, I have to figure that the SEC Network is the only thing which allowed the SEC to remain as close as they did - that constant hype paid off, I guess. Curious that the Big Ten didn't perform any better...![[​IMG]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vhBlxFHjPOAPe0So9yohcu6gotcx77-aTLUkAH_ASRM3Ju4okIlJROVO5QeM6iwFlsYXYCju94t62KHsuXh65haRporq_wryYl0lYSUsikVTyyjaOiBW3AtTGplOV-cMXYUhmqvgtvUGUU-Wc2jRuBoDWtdFb00IgNw4aVROkqFUGHLfRFB-NsaoSselcd=s0-d)