ACC revenue continues to rise, but it’s 4th among Power Five
The ACC’s annual tax filing shows a revenue increase of more than 10% for the fourth time in five years, though average distributions to member schools continue to lag behind their Power Five peers.
Neither trend is surprising as the conference’s teams perform better than ever and the league awaits August’s launch of the ACC Network. Television partner ESPN and conference officials believe the channel will be a windfall for the ACC’s 15 schools.
The conference released its 2017-18 federal tax return Friday to the Daily Press, Virginian-Pilot and other outlets. Total revenue was $464.7 million, up 11.1% from 2016-17 and double the $232.4 million of 2012-13.
More than 90 percent of the ACC’s revenue was distributed to its schools. Shares averaged $29.5 million for the 14 full members. Notre Dame, which does not play ACC football, received $7.9 million.
As always, television accounted for most of the league’s revenue — $277.2 million, a 17.5% increase from the previous year. The largest percentage bump was from the NCAA basketball tournament, which more than doubled from $24.2 million to $56.6 million.
Commissioner John Swofford’s total compensation was $3.3 million, the same as 2016-17.
The ACC’s total revenue ranked fourth among the Power Five, ahead of the Big 12, but its growth rate trailed only the Big Ten. Big 12 and Southeastern Conference revenue was flat,
Revenue by the year
while the Pac- 12’s declined.
The ACC’s average distribution, which does not include schools’ individual multimedia deals with firms such as Learfield/ IMG College, trailed the Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 and was essentially even with the Pac-12.
Here are the 2017-18 revenue, distribution and salary numbers from the other Power Five conferences, the first three reported by USA To d ay ’s Steve Berkowitz, the last by the San Jose Mercury News’ Jon Wilner.
• Thanks to new television contracts, Big Ten revenue increased by nearly half, 48 percent, to a record $759 million. That translated to $54 million average distributions to the league’s 12 longstanding members — relative newcomers Maryland and Rutgers have yet to receive full shares. Commissioner Jim Delany, who is scheduled to retire next year, earned $5.5 million.
• The SEC reported $660 million in revenue, up
The Big 3 are still very much around. They’re still leading the rankings, still collecting the biggest trophies. And they’re still the dominant figures in men’s tennis, responsible for the main storylines when the French Open starts today.
Roger Federer returns to Roland Garros for the first time since 2015 — and a decade after he completed the career Grand Slam by winning his only trophy there. Rafael Nadal seeks a record-extending — and hard-to-fathom — 12th title in Paris. Novak Djokovic bids to win his fourth major championship in a row for the second time in his career, something neither of his two great rivals ever did even once.
They occupy the top three spots in the rankings, with Djokovic followed by Nadal, then Federer. They occupy the top three slots on the list of most men’s Grand Slam titles, with Federer’s 20 followed by Nadal’s 17 and Djokovic’s 15. And they have combined to win the past nine major tournaments.
“Nadal’s reign is never over. Just like Federer’s reign isn’t ending,” said Riccardo Piatti, who coached Djokovic when the Serb was a teen and has worked with other top-10 players. “As long as they play, they’re always very dangerous. But let’s not forget that Djokovic is No. 1.”
It might seem silly now, but there was a stretch when some wondered whether this group might be done with all of that winning.
Federer, who’s now 37, went 4½ years without adding to his Slam count. He dealt with knee surgery and recurring back problems. He sat out the 2016 French Open, ending a streak of 65 straight major appearances, then missed the U.S. Open and Rio Olympics that year, too. He skipped the entire claycourt circuit each of the past two years before finally coming back this season and reaching the quarterfinals in Madrid and Rome, where he withdrew, citing an injured right leg.
“In practice in Switzerland, I felt good right away,” Federer said about what it initially was like for him on the slow surface, which requires extra footwork and lengthy, grind-it-out exchanges. “Very happy where I’m at, to be quite honest. I was a bit surprised that it went as easy as it did.”
Nadal, who turns 33 during the French Open, did not win a title all season until last week at the Italian Open, which is mainly surprising because it means he kept faltering on his beloved clay.
He’s been sidelined by 1.5 percent from the previous year. The average full share for 13 schools was $43.7 million, with Ole Miss receiving less because of its postseason football ban. Greg Sankey, newest of the Power Five commissioners, made $2 million.
• Unlike other Power Fives, the Big 12 allows its 10 schools to independently negotiate local television deals. Conference revenue was $373.9 million, up 0.78 percent, with shares ranging from Oklahoma’s $36.6 million to Kansas’ $33.6 million. Commissioner Bob Bowlsby’s salary was $3.3 million.
• Pacific-12 commissioner Larry Scott made $5.3 million, even as league revenue declined 2.4 percent to $497 million. The conference’s tax form showed average distributions of $29.5 million, and officials said “actual cash distributions” averaged $31.3 million.
Despite the revenue gap of recent years, fueled by the success of the Big Ten and SEC networks, ACC
Breakdown by team
teams are thriving. Virginia, North Carolina and Duke have combined to win three of the past five NCAA men’s basketball tournaments; Clemson (two) and Florida State (one) have earned three of the past six football national championships.
ACC programs have won the football and men’s basketball national championships in the same academic year twice in the past three seasons, including 2018-19 with Clemson and U.Va. The only other conference to enjoy two sweeps in such a brief stretch was the Pacific Eight with Southern California (football) and UCLA (basketball) in 197273 and1974-75.
Seven ACC schools, including No. 10 Virginia and No. 30 Virginia Tech, rank among the top 30 nationally in the latest Directors’ Cup all-sports standings. Notre Dame, the 2018 national women’s basketball champion and 2019 runner-up, leads ACC schools in the Cup standings at ninth. David Teel, 757-247-4636, dteel@dailypress.com