By Brett Daniels
ESPN has exercised its option to extend the ACC broadcast deal through the 2036 season. The agreement that was originally ratified by the conference presidents in 2016 and created the ACC Network has been under fire by several of the ACC schools most notably Clemson and Florida State. Had ESPN declined to exercise the option the contract would have ended in 2027, and the ACC would have been free to negotiate a deal with other networks.
Clemson and Florida State have been involved in litigation with the ACC over the past year to nullify the Grant of Rights agreement that each ACC school signed which would allow them to leave and join a conference with a bigger broadcast deal. The two schools allege that the discrepancy in revenue between the ACC and Big Ten/SEC prevents them from having the resources to compete for National Championships.
There is no guarantee however that if Clemson and Florida State exit the conference they would find a home in either the Big Ten or SEC. The SEC wouldn’t gain anything in terms of geographical footprint or viewership with South Carolina and Florida already members of the conference. The Big Ten likely would not invite either school due to their relatively low academic profile and lack of membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU).
To smooth things over with the schools, the ACC has negotiated as part of the extension a tiered revenue-sharing model that would reward schools based off viewership numbers and on-the-field success rather than an equal share for all schools. The ACC has also stated that they will have Notre Dame play two of Florida State, Miami, and Clemson every year to boost TV ratings for interconference games.
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In 2024 the highest-rated games involving ACC teams were out-of-conference games with Georgia Tech–Georgia topping the list at 8.5 million viewers. Clemson vs Georgia at 7.9 million viewers was the only other game involving an ACC team to crack the top 20 most watched. In ACC vs ACC games, the highest-rated games were the first two games for Florida State vs Georgia Tech Week Zero, (4.99 million viewers) and vs Boston College Week One (4.44 million viewers). After the Seminoles 2024 season went up in flames most viewers that weren’t hardcore fans of the team tuned out.
For comparison, the highest-rated regular season game was the SEC Championship rematch between Georgia and Texas which drew 16.6 million viewers, even the Week 1 contest between North Dakota State and Colorado outdrew all but one ACC game with 4.76 million viewers.
The ACC/ESPN deal reinforces the divide between the “haves” (SEC/Big 10/Notre Dame) and the “have nots” (everyone else) in college sports and as the years progress this divide will only serve to get larger. The lack of guardrails or any sort of regulation on NIL agreements and enticing players to enter the Transfer Portal with large sums of money will only add to this.
