ACC Leaning on Initiatives for Retention - Today's Take

Inside Carolina senior reporter Greg Barnes on the steps the ACC is taking to keep the league together while other conferences are taking advantage of the financial gains from the widening gap in media deals.

“For the longest time, the ACC was all about the concept of rising tide lifts all boats. When you start looking at the revenue gaps from the SEC and Big 10 that we’ve hit on for years and years now, those have continued to grow. And so if you look at the top teams in the ACC, whether it be in football or men’s basketball, how are they supposed to be one of the best programs in the country with that type of deficit?

“The ACC finally came to the understanding of they have to give them reason to stay and the easiest way and the most fair way is to base this around merit. ‘If you’re one of the best programs in the ACC, and you’re willing to invest money in your program to be one of the best in the ACC and to be one of the best nationally, we’re going to reward you’. It’s completely different than what the ACC has ever done — they’ve created the success initiative along with viewership initiatives. There’s still this big pot that they are sharing with everybody equally, because everybody’s a member, but here’s this other amount of money that they’re going to award the teams that put the money in and make the investment in their programs to have success. It’s splitting the approach a little bit, but it’s had a little bit of success. 

“To be honest, I really thought the revenue gap between the Big 10 and the SEC would be more significant right now than what it is. It’s still sizable, and you’re still looking down the road at the end of the decade, these projections, if they maintain, are going to be quite significant. And that’s what the ACC is up against, so they are trying to make sure they can bring in enough money for their top programs to entice them to stay instead of looking for a bigger paycheck elsewhere.”