The ACC will hold winter meetings this week in Charlotte, and there’s one certain topic of conversation that administrators in attendance expect to be prevalent.

“We’ll have a lot of discussions on how to close the revenue gap in the ACC,” Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said last week.

More specifically, is the league on the verge of going to an unequal distribution of revenue? Neff said he’s spoken to league commissioner Jim Phillips as well as administrators at the other 13 ACC institutions, who have indicated to him that the idea might not be as far-fetched as it may seem. 

“Now everybody has their hat or their polo on for different schools based on where you invest, what your priorities are and probably what your appetite is, but everybody is at the table and understands it’s time to order,” Neff said. “So I’ve been pleased and optimistic about the general understanding within the league that, hey, this is something we really need to look at, and that’s not easy.

“I emphasize that because I don’t take it lightly. Because forever, the ACC, let alone all other conferences that I’m aware of, has been equal revenue share. So the notion of kind of jumping the ditch or really considering rolling up the sleeves on, hey, we need to look at this differently, I think there’s a really good understanding of that.”

Locked into a media rights agreement with ESPN until 2036, the ACC is well behind many of its Power Five counterparts when it comes to revenue generation, particularly the SEC and Big Ten, which are driving the latest round of conference expansion. Those conferences, which will soon add Texas (SEC), Oklahoma (SEC), Southern Cal (Big Ten) and UCLA (Big Ten), recently inked massive television contracts that come with much larger payouts for its member institutions.

The expanded College Football Playoff, which will go to 12 teams beginning with the 2024 season, will help. For the time being, though, the money the ACC’s media rights generates is split evenly among its schools (Notre Dame, a partial member, also gets a cut). But if distribution of those funds was based on performance, which is one of the new revenue models Neff said is being discussed within the league, then the schools that receive higher payouts could shrink the gap between themselves and their competition in the more lucrative conferences.

In that scenario, it’s easy to understand why Clemson would be in favor of getting a bigger slice of the financial pie.

The Tigers have been the gold standard in the ACC for much of Dabo Swinney’s tenure. They’ve won eight conference championships since 2011, earned six CFP berths and won a pair of CFP titles. Clemson is responsible for all but one of the ACC’s CFP appearances (Florida State in 2014).

For league schools that aren’t football powers, the idea of decreasing their cash flow may be a hard sell, though Neff said it’s a “fair take” to assume those schools also want the stability that comes with being part of the ACC. Neff also said he believes there’s an understanding around the league that distribution can be constructed in a way that incentivizes future success.

“And by way of that, there’s some relationship to investment,” Neff said. “So it’s not just, hey, Clemson, Florida State and Miami, because you’re big brands, you’re going to get more slice of the pie. It’s not the rudimentary, and that’s not my lens either. But it should be based on performance – football success, postseason, CFP, how you help drive television viewership and metrics, things like that.”

Neff used Wake Forest, a private school with little history of sustained football success that’s won 19 games the last two seasons, as an example.

“A different type of school, but how they’ve performed (recently), they’ve invested,” Neff said. “They’ve invested in coach retention and facilities. So they’re a great example of investment breeds success, which in theory would breed distribution. That’s kind of the sequence of which we discuss.”

Ultimately, Neff said he believes the ACC will adopt a different revenue distribution model.

“We certainly have our lens at Clemson about how some of that should work,” Neff said. “So I certainly have been pushy and very much have tried to drive that task. But, again, it’s top of mind and very present for everybody.”

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