An encouraging sign for the Syracuse Orange and its Atlantic Coast Conference peers, although the league still continues to significantly trail the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten Conference as it pertains to revenue generation.
Top ESPN writer David Hale reports that in the 2023-24 academic year, the ACC generated $711 million and distributed "an average of $45 million to each of its 14 full-time member schools, a record for the conference."
In his article, Hale cited new tax documents released by the ACC. Naturally, this is an encouraging development for the ACC, as the Orange's league, the Big 12 Conference and others try to close the financial gap between them and the two giants in college sports, the SEC and the Big Ten.
Hale says that the financial data from 2023-24 (the final season before the ACC added California, SMU and Stanford) "show a small uptick in revenue year-over-year and a roughly 56% increase from five years ago." The ESPN writer notes that this revenue distribution places the ACC "solidly in third place among conferences."
The Syracuse Orange and its ACC peers have much work to do.
The SEC and the Big Ten far outpace everyone else, buoyed by lucrative television contracts, primarily in college football. ACC members Florida State and Clemson had been embroiled in lawsuits with the conference to challenge the ACC's media rights deal with ESPN, although in early March of this year, the parties said that they had resolved all their legal disputes.
That development, along with ESPN exercising an option to extend its media rights deal with the ACC through 2035-36, do provide Syracuse's conference with more financial stability and viability, some experts have said.
However, I don't envision any sort of scenario in the near future that would enable the ACC to catch up to the SEC and the Big Ten, so to speak. Then again, might there be more conference realignment coming up? You never know.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, per Hale's piece, believes that the legal settlement and other key initiatives will give the conference more stability over the next several years.
Phillips said, "I think college athletics needs to settle down, not just the ACC. I think we've positioned ourselves for that. The chaos and constant wondering of what's happening here or there, that distracts from the business at hand. I feel good about where we're at, and while I do take things one day at a time, I think there's a period of time where let's settle in and get things done."
Personally, I don't see the ACC imploding any time soon, although moving beyond the No. 3 overall spot seems unlikely.