The Atlantic Coast Conference achieved record revenues and payouts in the 2023-24 season, totaling approximately $711.4 million – a slight increase from the previous year’s $706.6 million. This allowed the ACC to distribute an average of nearly $45 million to its 14 football-playing members, with Louisville receiving $46.4 million and Florida State and Clemson each securing $46.3 million. Notre Dame, operating as a partial football independent, received $20.7 million. These figures don’t account for the additions of California, Stanford, and SMU, expanding the league to 18 schools for the 2024-25 season. The league’s financial performance is significantly boosted by the launch of the ACC Network in 2019, which generated $288.6 million in TV revenue for the 2018-19 season, jumping to $487.1 million in 2023-24 – a remarkable 68.8% increase. To stay informed, sign up for AP college football poll alerts and updates: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Furthermore, the ‘Success Initiative,’ championed by Commissioner Jim Phillips, is now in effect, allowing schools to retain a greater share of revenue generated from their postseason achievements. The ACC has also restructured its revenue-distribution plan, prioritizing TV viewership and rewarding top-performing teams – a change set to take effect next year and tied to the resolution of ongoing legal disputes. This shift reflects a broader effort to compete with revenue-dominant conferences like the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference. Commissioner Jim Phillips stated, “Chaos and the constant wondering of what’s happening here or there, I just think that distracts from the business at hand. But I feel good about where we’re at.”
Despite these gains, the ACC faced substantial legal expenses, totaling $12.3 million in 2023-24, a 70.2% increase from the prior year’s $7.2 million. This surge in legal costs coincided with lawsuits filed by Florida State (December 2023) and Clemson (March 2024), stemming from disputes regarding the league’s exit fees. These legal challenges centered around the ACC’s ability to impose significant financial penalties on departing schools. The increased legal expenses also occur within the context of a larger transformation in college athletics, including the landmark $2.8 billion federal class-action antitrust settlement involving student-athletes and the NCAA. This settlement, awaiting final judicial approval, could fundamentally alter revenue sharing arrangements across the sport. Prior to 2023-24, the ACC had accumulated nearly $19.6 million in legal expenses across its two most recent tax filings, mirroring the combined total reported for the previous six years ($20.8 million).
