Revenue sharing, other topics set to be discussed at ACC Spring Meetings
By: Curt Weller - The OsceolaIt’s been almost three months since Florida State director of athletics Michael Alford put the ACC on notice.
For the first time since then, Alford and the rest of the administrators from across the conference will convene in Amelia Island, Fla., Monday through Wednesday for the annual ACC Spring Meetings.
It will be far from the only topic that will be discussed at the meetings. The administrators will also spend time discussing a what’s what list of current college athletics topics, of which there are many.
FSU football coach Mike Norvell and basketball coaches Leonard Hamilton and Brooke Wyckoff will also be in attendance at the meetings along with coaches from those sports from all conference teams to discuss potential regulation changes.
To Alford, though, the most important topic of discussion will certainly be revenue sharing among conference schools. Talking to the FSU Board of Trustees back in February, Alford openly advocated for the ACC to begin distributing revenue based on schools’ financial value to the conference instead of an equal share across the 14 member organizations.
“We (FSU) represent 15 percent of the ACC's media agreement but we only received 7 percent of the distribution…” Alford told the BOT. “At the end of the day, if something is not done, we cannot be $30 million behind every year compared to our peers … For Florida State to compete nationally, something has to change moving forward.”
Alford isn’t alone on this front. Clemson AD Graham Neff has also openly advocated for unequal revenue sharing. A few other ADs may be on that side of the argument as well. However, a number of schools such as Wake Forest and Boston College would see their athletic department income take a severe hit if this was enacted.
As such, it should make for a fascinating discussion in Amelia Island. On the larger scale, it’s a fascinating moment for the ACC, which is hanging on a bit precariously under commissioner Jim Phillips.
The good news for the ACC is that all of its schools are locked into a grant of rights agreement through 2036. So unless some school manages to find an escape-hatch loophole, no one is leaving any time soon due to a prohibitive buyout.
The bad news for Phillips is that Alford and others are going to be relentless in their pursuit of unequal revenue sharing for as long as they are locked in with the ACC until it happens.
Whether anytime comes of that this week remains to be seen. But whether it does or not, the Osceola will be in attendance in Amelia Island to provide extensive coverage of the conference meetings.
Media members are not permitted to observe these closed-door meetings. However, we’ll be catching up with various coaches and administrators coming out of the meetings.
