Jim Phillip’s was hired as the ACC Commissioner back in 2021. He basically had one job to do, and that was to raise the revenues of the ACC.
Last season with the move of USC and UCLA to the Big 10, and the mega deals of the Big 10 and SEC not far off he was put on the clock in @ASD_Hokiesmash’s piece. A contentious as well as somewhat embarrassing ACC spring meetings added even more pressure, Phillips. Unequal revenue distribution was one of the results of the meetings. That was fine I suppose, but certainly didn’t address the underlying revenue issues.
This is what we’ve heard from Phillips for more than a year.
We’ve hired consultants, and cloudy references that we have a great partner in ESPN, and things are in the works. We said Phillips couldn’t be vague with his revenue plans back in August 2022.
Nobody cares how concrete these plans are, fans and boosters just want to hear something is in the works.
These days silence is not seen as a sign of working behind the scenes, it’s perceived as a sign of relative inactivity.
That is not going to work in 2022.
It’s not going to work in 2023 either.
This is what we feel confident about.
- ESPN will not orchestrate the demise of the ACC – not in the next 5 years, that’s for sure. If someone throws this out as an option they have no insight into the ACC.
- The ACC Network makes ESPN a ton of money.
- The ACC must address its revenue issue, not to catch the Big 10 and SEC necessarily – but simply generate more revenue at this point.
If the Raycom deal for more than 10 ACC Football games, and dozens of basketball that ends in 2027 is an option for revenue however small say so.
If there is an ESPN lookin coming up to the ACC’s contract which could be looked at in the next few years say it.
If there are true discussions with the Pac12 or any other conference for a scheduling or media agreement then talk about it.
Phillips says all options are on the table, but we hear little about it.
With the ACC Football Media Days just a little more than a week away, we’ll be looking for Phillips to again address the revenue issue yet again with something concrete. To be honest it doesn’t even have to be all that concrete. Just say something/anything publically rather than vague admissions things are being worked on.
ACC Media Days would be a great place to start.
